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Columbia  (HnitJersittp 
mtljfCttpoflrttigork 

THE  LIBRARIES 


THE  STORY  OF  THE 
IRISH  R.\CE 

A  Popular  History  of  Ireland 


BY 
SEUMA5  MacM-IXUS 

Assisted  by  Sfv'ejlai.  Isish  :^cholaa5 


O  wind-drifted  Erarch.  lift  Tc:ir  bead  to  the  son. 
For  the  sap  of  cew  life  in  jotzt  reiiis  iisxh  begnn. 
And  a  little  jocng  bnd  of  the  tenderest  green 
Mine  eves  throiLgh  the  snow  sad  the  scrrow  hare 

O  little  green  bnd.  break  and  How  into  flower. 

Break  and  blew  thrcngfa  the  welcome  of  sprrshme  and  siiowrr; 

Twas  a  long  night  and  dreary  jou.  hid  there  futlutu. 

But  n:w  ±e~cc-i  '--~!1>  wear  the  radiance  of  Baom! 


Secoxd  Editiox 


1 


XEW  YORK 

THE  IRISH  PUBLISHING  CO. 

P.  O.  Box  1300 

1921 


^^.  -  a  ^  ^  ^  "? 


Copyright,  1921,  by  Seumas  MacManus 

All  rights  reserved 

Published  October,  1921 


^4-l.b 

I^A^U'1' 


This  Book  is  Inscribed 

to  the  haloed  memory  of  one  who,  ponder- 
ing the  heroic  records  of  her  race,  dedi- 
cated her  life  to  ireland's  holy  cause, 
and  in  undying  strains  sang  the  glories 
the  sorrows  and  radiant  hopes  of  her  land 

BELOVED 

Eire's  Queen  of  Song, 
ETHNA   CARBERY. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER 

I. 

II. 

III. 

IV. 

V. 

VI. 

VII. 

VIII. 

IX. 

X. 

XI. 

XII. 

XIII. 

XIV. 

XV. 

XVI. 

XVII. 

XVIII. 

XIX. 

XX. 

XXI. 

XXII. 

XXIII. 

XXIV. 

XXV. 

XXVI. 

XXVII. 

XXVIII. 

XXIX. 

XXX. 

XXXI. 

XXXII. 

XXXIII. 

XXXIV. 

XXXV. 

XXXVI. 

XXXVII. 

XXXVIII. 

XXXIX. 

XL. 

XLI. 


PACK 

E.ARLY  Colonisations 1 

The  Tuatha  De  Danann 5 

The  Milesians 7 

So.ME  Notable  Milesian  Royalties 15 

Ireland  in  the  Lore  of  the  Ancients    ....  19 

Conor  MacNessa 23 

cuchullain         28 

Two  First  Century  Leaders 36 

Conn  of  the  Hundred  Battles 40 

Cormac  ALacArt 45 

TAR.A 54 

The  Fairs 58 

FioNN  and  the  Fian 64 

The  Break  of  Ulster 74 

Niall  of  the  Nine  Hostages 77 

Irish    Invasions  of   Britain 84 

General  Review  of  Pagan  Ireland 90 

Irish  Christianity  Before  St.  Patrick.  .      .      .      .  103 

St.   P.atrick 109 

The  Brehon  Laws 129 

St.   Bridget 142 

Women  in  Ancient  Ireland 151 

COLM  CiLLE 160 

The  Poets 176 

The  Irish  Kingdom  of  Scotland 192 

The  Centuries  of  the  Saints 196 

Learning  in  Ancient  Ireland 212 

The  Irish  Missionaries  Abroad 232 

Irish    Scholars   Abroad 256 

The  Vikings  in  Ireland 267 

Hospitality  in  Ancient  Ireland 287 

The  Tribe 293 

Manner  of  Living  in  Ancient  Ireland     .      .      .  296 

Structural  Antiquities 301 

Various  Arts  of  Ancient  Ireland 307 

The  English   Invasion 319 

Norman  and  Gael 331 

Trade  in  Medleval  Irel.and 340 

Learning  in  Medieval  Ireland 346 

The    Geraldinls 353 

Henry  VIII's  Policies 362 

ix 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

XLII.  Shane  the  Proud 368 

XLIII.  Elizabeth  Continues  the  Conquest     ....  373 

XLIV.  Red    Hugh 379 

XLV.  The   Nine  Years'  War 385 

XLVI.  Suppressing  the  Race 399 

XLVII.  The  Ulster  PlantatiOxNt 405 

XLVIII.  The   Rising  of   1641 408 

XLIX.  The  War  of  the  Forties 415 

L.  Cromwell 422 

LI.  The  Cromwellian  Settlement 428 

LII.  The   Williamite   Wars 436 

LI  1 1.  The  Later  Penal  Laws 454 

LIV.  "The    Wild    Geese" 470 

LV.  The  Suppression  of  Irish  Trade 483 

LVI.  The    Volunteers 493 

LVII.  Theobald  Wolfe  Tone 499 

LVIII.  The    United    Irishmen 505 

LIX.  The   Rising  of    1798 515 

LX.  The  Union 526 

LXI.  Robert  Emmet 532 

LXII.  Daniel    O'Connell 538 

LXIII.  O'Connell  the  Idol 545 

LXIV.  Catholic  Emancipation 551 

LXV.  O'Connell's  Power  and  Popularity     ....  560 

LXVI.  Through  the  Thirties 567 

LXVII.  The  Great  Repeal  Fight 574 

LXVIII.  The  End  of  O'Connell 584 

LXIX.  Young  Ireland 590 

LXX.  The  Great  Famine 602 

LXXI.  The    Fenians 611 

LXXII.  Charles  Stewart  Parnell 621 

LXXIII.  The  Land  Struggle  Begins 631 

LXXIV.  The  Land  League 636 

LXXV.  The  Ladies'  Land  League 644 

LXXVI.  Fall  of  Parnell  and  of  Parliamentarianism  .      .  659 

LXXVII.  The  Modern  Literature  of  Ireland     ....  669 

LXXVIII.  Sinn    Fein 684 

LXXIX.  Easter  Rising 691 

LXXX.  The  Last  War? 706 

LXXXI.  The  Dawning 712 

An  Honor- Roll 715 


THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

FOREWORD 

This  is  an  attempt  to  sketch  a  roii^h  and  ready  picture  of  the 
more  prominent  peaks  tluit  rise  out  of  Ireland's  past — the  high 
spots  in  the  story  of  our  race. 

The  story  is  developed  with  the  object  of  interesting  and  in- 
forming the  man  who  can  not,  or  will  not,  afford  the  time  to  read 
studiously.  Yet  it  is  earnestly  hoped  that  it  may  whet  the  appetites 
of  many,  and  stimulate  them  to  go  browsing  in  broader  and  richer 
pastures — in  anticipation  of  which  there  are  set  down,  at  ends  of 
chapters  or  periods,  titles  of  some  of  the  more  important  books 
dealing  with  the  subject  just  treated  of. 

The  writer  was  impelled  to  the  compilation  of  this  story  of  our 
race  by  the  woeful  lack  of  knowledge  on  the  subject  which  he  found 
in  the  four  corners  of  America,  among  all  classes  of  people,  alike 
the  intelligent  and  the  ordinary.  With  the  vast  majority  of  Amer- 
ica's intellectual  ones  he  found  Ireland's  past  as  obscure  as  the  past 
of  Borneo.  On  three  occasions  he  was  asked  by  educated  women 
who  were  pillars  in  their  Societies,   Has  Ireland   got   a   history? 

To  a  large  extent  the  blame  for  American  ignorance  of  Ire- 
land's story  rests  upon  the  ignorance  of  our  own  exiles,  and  the 
children  of  those  exiles.  Were  these  possessed  of  a  general  knowl- 
edge of  Ireland's  past,  and  the  proper  pride  that  must  come  of 
that  knowledge,  the  good  Americans  around  them  would  catch  in- 
formation by  contagion.  The  writer  hopes  that  even  this  crude 
compendium  may  put  some  of  the  necessary  knowledge  and  pride  in 
the  minds  and  hearts  of  his  people — and  also  the  incentive  to  seek 
out  and  study  the  history  of  the  country  that  endowed  them  with 
the  rare  riches,  spiritual  and  mental,  that  characterises  the  far-wand- 
ered children,  and  children's  children,  of  the  Gael. 

Also  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  many  of  the  general  American  public, 
ever  sympathetic  toward  Ireland,  may,  through  the  aid  of  this 
rough  record,  graduate  from  a  state  of  instinctive  sympathy  and 
love  to  the  beginning  of  an  intelligent  one. 

In  making  this  compilation,  the  political  narrative  common  to 
all  Irish  histories  is  given  briefly.  But,  non-political  phases  of  our 
race's  history — often  far  more  important  than  the  political,  and 


xii  FOREWORD 

usually  omitted  or  only  hinted  at — are  gone  into  more  largely:  such 
as  the  ancient  customs,  laws,  learning,  literature,  scholars,  teachers, 
saints,  missionaries — and  in  more  modern  times  the  spiritual  strug- 
gles and  sufferings  of  our  people. 

In  spelling  the  ancient  Irish  proper  names  the  Gaelic  form  is 
usually  employed — except  in  cases  where  a  modern  form  has  been 
popularised.  For  sake  of  readers  who  know  nothing  of  Irish  pro- 
nunciation, the  confusing  aspirate  has  been,  in  most  cases,  omitted — 
except  with  g  ov  c  where  the  aspirate  is,  to  English  speakers,  a 
help  rather  than  a  hindrance.  The  Gaelic  reader  will  know  where 
to  supply  the  missing  aspirates. 

For  the  inquiring  reader's  benefit  it  may  be  useful  to  quote  here 
a  passage  from  an  article  on  The  Ancient  Language,  History  and 
Literature  of  Ireland,  which  Dr.  Douglas  Hyde  kindly^contributed 
for  this  volume — but  which  was  unfortunately  received  too  late  for 
inclusion. 

Says  Dr.  Hyde :  "The  numerous  Irish  annals  in  which  the  skele- 
ton of  Irish  history  is  contained,  are  valuable  and  ancient.  We 
have  of  course  no  outside  testimony  by  which  we  can  verify  their 
statements,  but  there  is  abundance  of  internal  testimony  to  show  the 
accuracy  with  which  they  have  been  handed  down.  The  Annals  of 
Ulster,  to  take. one  of  several  compilations  of  a  like  character,  treat 
of  Ireland  from  about  the  year  444,  and  record  numerous  natural 
phenomena  as  they  occurred.  If  it  could  be  proved  that  these  phe- 
nomena actually  took  place  upon  the  very  date  ascribed  to  them  in 
the  annals,  we  should  be  able  to  conclude  with  something  like  cer- 
tainty that  they  were  actually  written  down  at  the  time  and  recorded 
by  eye-witnesses.  The  illustrious  Bede  in  recording  the  great  eclipse 
of  the  sun  which  took  place  only  eleven  years  before  his  own  birth 
is  two  days  astray  in  his  date,  while  the  Irish  annals  give  cor- 
rectly not  only  the  day  but  the  hour.  This  proves  that  their  com- 
piler had  access  either  to  the  original  record  of  an  eye-witness,  or 
to  a  copy  of  such  a  document.  These  annals  contain,  betsveen  the 
end  of  the  fifth  century  and  the  year  884,  as  many  as  eighteen 
records  of  eclipses,  comets,  and  such  natural  phenomena — and 
modern  science  by  calculating  backwards  shows  that  all  these  rec- 
ords are  absolutely  correct,  both  as  to  the  day  and  hour.  From 
this  we  can  deduce  without  hesitation  that  from  the  fourth  or  fifth 
century  the  Irish  annals  can  be  absolutely  trusted." 

The  compiler  expresses  his  earnest  thanks  to  the  Irish  scholars 
and  writers  whd  generously  aided  his  work. 


FOREWORD  xiii 

The  fine  chapter  on  the  Danish  period  '  i<;  contributed  by  one 
eminently  well  versed  on  the  subject,  Dr.  Joseph  Dunn,  translator 
of  the  Tain  bo  Chuailgne,  and  Professor  of  Celtic  and  Lecturer  on 
Romance  Philology  at  the  Catholic  University  of  America. 

The  noted  worker  in  Irish  history,  biography,  archaeology,  and 
literature,  "Sean-Ghall" — whom  Arthur  Griffith  characterised  as 
"the  greatest  living  authority  on  Irish  history" — gives  us  the  fruit 
of  years  of  research  in  the  picture  which  he  contributes  of  the  ob- 
scwre  period  from  after  the  advent  of  Shane  Buide  to  the  eve  of 
Shane  0'Xeill.= 

Miss  L.  MacManus,  the  admired  author  of  "The  Silk  of  the 
Kine"  and  other  fine  Irish  historical  novels,  and  an  authority  upon 
the  periods  of  which  she  has  here  treated,  supplies  the  chronicle  of 
Ireland  during  the  Wars  of  Elizabeth,  and  during  those  of  William 
of  Orange.^ 

The  bright  chapter  on  the  Wild  Geese,*  and  the  record  of  those 
momentous  decades  of  Irish  militancy  1782-1803  '"  have  been  treated 
by  another  of  the  distinctive  Irish  writers,  Helena  O'Concannon 
(Mrs.  Thomas  O'Concannon),  author  of  "The  Book  of  Irish  Wo- 
manhood," and  several  other  valuable  works. 

Rev.  Tomas  O'Kelly  of  the  National  University  (Galway), 
whose  writing  both  in  Irish  and  in  English  is  not  yet  as  well  known 
as  it  ought  to  be,  tells  the  story  of  the  Parnell  period.® 

Another  of  the  new  generation,  one  who  is  making  a  name  in 
fiction,  essay,  and  poetry  (Gaelic  and  English)  Aod  de  Blacam, 
author  of  "Holy  Romans,"  and  "Towards  the  Republic"  con- 
tributes the  informing  chapters  on  Gaelic  literature,  and  those 
on  the  Sinn  Fein  period.^ 

For  the  Gaelic  design  on  the  cover  of  the  book  earnest  thanks 
are  due  to  a  worthy  Irish-American  artist  who  is  admirably  striving 
to  make  Gaelic  art  live  again  here,  in  stained-glass  work,  Thomas 
Augustus  O'Shaughnessy  of  Chicago. 


1  Chap.  XXX.  5  Chaps.  LVI-LIX  and  Chap  LXI. 

=  Chaps.  XXXVII-XLI.  «  Chaps.  LXXII-LXXVI. 

3  Chaps.  XLII-XLV  and  Chap.  LI  I.  •  Chaps.  LXXVII-LXXIX. 
*Chap.  LIV. 


THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 


CHAPTER  I 

EARLY    COLONISATIONS 

The  Irish  Race  of  to-day  is  popularly  known  as  the  Milesian  Race, 
because  the  genuine  Irish  (Celtic)  people  were  supposed  to  be 
descended  from  Milesius  of  Spain,  whose  sons,  say  the  legendary 
accounts,  invaded  and  possessed  themselves  of  Ireland  a  thousand 
years  before  Christ/ 

But  it  is  nearly  as  inaccurate  to  style  the  Irish  people  pure 
Milesian  because  the  land  was  conquered  and  settled  by  the  Mile- 
sians, as  it  would  be  to  call  them  Anglo-Norman  because  it  was 
conquered  and  settled  by  the  twelfth  century  English. 

The  Races  that  occupied  the  land  when  the  so-called  Milesians 
came,  chiefly  the  Firbolg  and  the  Tuatha  De  Danann,"  were  cer- 
tainly not  exterminated  by  the  conquering  Milesians.  Those  two 
peoples  formed  the  basis  of  the  future  population,  which  was  domi- 
nated and  guided,  and  had  its  characteristics  moulded,  by  the  far 
less  numerous  but  more  powerful  Milesian  aristocracy  and  soldiery. 

All  three  of  these  races,  however,  were  different  tribes  of  the 
great  Celtic  family,  who,  long  ages  before,  had  separated  from 
the  main  stem,  and  in  course  of  later  centuries  blended  again  into 
one  tribe  of  Gaels — three  derivatives  of  one  stream,  which,  after 
winding  their  several  ways  across  Europe  from  the  East,  in  Ireland 
turbulently  met,  and  after  eddying,  and  surging  tumultuously, 
finally  blended  in  amity,  and  flowed  onward  in  one  great  Gaelic 
stream. 

1  Many  scientific  historians  deny  this  in  toto.     See  Chapter  III. 

2  De  Jubainville  denies  a  De  Danann  race  to  Ireland.  He  asserts  they  were 
mythological.  AlacNeill  agrees  with  him.  But  many  students  of  the  question  dis- 
agree with  both  of  these  able  men.  The  fact  that  myths  grow  around  great  people 
must  not  lead  us  to  conclude  that  the  people  were  mjthical.  Fortunately  Fionn 
and  his  Fian  fell  within  historical  time  when  actual  facts,  countering  the  myths  that 
have  gathered  around  them,  were  set  down ;  otherwise,  by  the  same  process  of  rea- 
soning, they  might  have  been  classed  with  the  De  Danann  as  an  entirely  imaginary 
people. 

1 


2  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

Of  these  three  certain  colonisations  of  Ireland,  the  Firbolg  was 
the  first.  Legend  says  they  came  from  Greece,  where  they  had 
been  long  enslaved,  and  whence  they  escaped  in  the  captured  ships 
of  their  masters. 

In  their  possession  of  Ireland  the  Firbolgs  were  disturbed  by 
the  descents  and  depredations  of  African  sea-rovers,  the  Fomorians, 
who  had  a  main  stronghold  on  Tory  Island,  off  the  Northwest 
Coast. 

But  the  possession  of  the  country  was  wrested  from  the  Firbolgs, 
and  they  were  forced  into  partial  serfdom  by  the  Tuatha  De  Danann 
(people  of  the  goddess  Dana),  who  arrived  later. 

Totally  unlike  the  uncultured  Firbolgs,  the  Tuatha  De  Danann 
were  a  capable  and  cultured,  highly  civilized  people,  so  skilled  in 
the  crafts,  if  not  the  arts,  that  the  Firbolgs  named  them  necroman- 
cers; and  in  course  of  time  both  the  Firbolgs  and  the  later-coming 
Milesians  created  a  mythology  around  these. 

The  great  Irish  historiographer,  Eugene  O'Curry,  says:  "The 
De  Danann  were  a  people  remarkable  for  their  knowledge  of  the 
domestic,  if  not  the  higher,  arts  of  civilized  life" — and  he  further- 
more adds  that  they  were  apparently  more  highly  civilized  than 
even  their  conquerors,  the  Milesians. 

In  a  famed  battle  at  Southern  Moytura  (on  the  Mayo-Galway 
border)  it  was  that  the  Tuatha  De  Danann  met  and  overthrew  the 
Firbolgs.  There  has  been  handed  down  a  poetical  account  of  this 
great  battle — a  story  that  O'Curry  says  can  hardly  be  less  than 
fourteen  hundred  years  old — which  is  very  interesting,  and  wherein 
we  get  some  quaint  glimpses  of  ancient  Irish  ethics  of  war  (for  even 
in  the  most  highly  Imaginative  tale,  the  poets  and  seanachles  of  all 
times,  unconsciously  reflect  the  manners  of  their  own  age,  or  of 
ages  just  passed).  The  Firbolgs,  only  too  conscious  of  the  supe- 
riority of  the  newcomers,  used  every  endeavour  to  defer  the  fatal 
encounter.  When  the  armies  were  drawn  up  in  seeming  readiness, 
the  Firbolgs  refused  to  begin  battle.  And  they  coolly  replied  to 
the  Impatient  enemy  that  they  could  not  say  when  they  would  be 
ready  to  begin.  They  must  have  time  to  sharpen  their  swords, 
and  time  to  put  their  spears  in  order,  to  furbish  their  armour,  and 
brighten  their  helmets.  The  Tuatha  De  Danann  had  better 
restrain  their  Impetuosity.  Tremendous  things  hung  upon  the  out- 
come of  this  fight,  and  they,  wisely,  were  not  going  to  be  rushed 
into  it  until  the  last  rod  In  the  last  (wickerwork)  shield  was 
perfect. 

Moreover,  they  observed  that  their  opponents  had  a  superior 
kind  of  light  spear:  so  time  must  be  given  them  to  get  like  weapons 


EARLY  COLONISATIONS  3 

made.  And  they  magnanimously  pointed  out  to  the  Tuatha 
De  Danann  that,  on  the  other  hand,  as  they,  the  Firbolgs,  had 
the  advantage  of  possessing  craisechs,  heavy  spears  that  could  work 
great  destruction,  the  De  Danann  needed  to  provide  themselves 
with  craisechs.  Anything  and  everything  to  stave  off  the  dread 
matching  of  courage  and  skill.  Altogether  they  most  skilfully 
managed  to  keep  the  enemy  fretting  and  fuming  with  impatience 
for  a  hundred  days  and  five  before  the  great  clash  resounded  to 
the  heavens. 

But  the  De  Danann  gained  an  important  point  also.  For,  as 
the  Firbolgs  were  possessed  of  overwhelming  numbers,  the 
strangers  demanded  that  they  eliminate  their  majority  and  fight  on 
equal  terms,  man  for  man — which  the  laws  of  battle-justice  unfor- 
tunately compelled  the  reluctant  Firbolgs  to  agree  to. 

The  battle  raged  for  four  days.  Then  the  Firbolgs,  finding 
themselves  beaten,  but  pretending  not  to  know  this,  proposed  that 
the  doubtful  struggle  be  ended  by  halting  the  great  hosts  and  pit- 
ting against  each  other  a  body  of  300  men  from  each  side.  So 
bravely  had  the  losing  ones  fought,  and  so  sorely  exhausted  the 
De  Danann,  that  the  latter,  to  end  the  struggle,  were  glad  to  leave 
to  the  Firbolgs  that  quarter  of  the  Island  wherein  they  fought, 
the  province  now  called  Connaught.  And  the  bloody  contest  was 
over. 

The  Firbolgs'  noted  King,  Eochaid,  was  slain  in  this  great  bat- 
tle. But  the  greatest  of  their  warriors,  Sreng,  had  maimed  the 
De  Danann  King,  Nuada,  cutting  off  his  hand — and  by  that  stroke 
deposed  him  from  the  kingship.  Because,  under  the  De  Danann 
law  (and  ever  after  in  Eirinn)  no  king  could  rule  who  suffered 
from  a  personal  blemish. 

The  great  warrior  champion  of  the  De  Danann,  Breas  (whose 
father  was  a  Fomorian  chief)  filled  the  throne  while  Nuada  went 
into  retirement,  and  had  made  for  him  a  silver  hand,  by  their  chief 
artificer,  Creidne. 

Breas,  says  the  legend,  ruled  for  seven  years.  He  incensed  his 
people  by  indulging  his  kin,  the  Fomorlans,  in  their  depredations. 
And  he  was  finally  deposed  for  this  and  for  another  cause  that 
throws  light  upon  one  of  the  most  noted  characteristics  of  the 
people  of  Eire,  ancient  and  modern,  Breas  proved  himself  that 
meanest  of  all  men,  a  king  ungenerous  and  inhospitable — lacking 
open  heart  and  open  hand — "The  knives  of  his  people"  it  was  com- 
plained, "were  not  greased  at  his  table,  nor  did  their  breath  smell 
of  ale,  at  the  banquet.  Neither  their  poets,  nor  their  bards,  nor 
their  satirists,  nor  their  harpers,  nor  their  pipers,  nor  their  trum- 


4  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

peters,  nor  their  jugglers,  nor  their  buffoons,  were  ever  seen  en- 
gaged in  amusing  them  in  the  assembly  at  his  court."  So  there 
was  mighty  grumbling  in  the  land,  for  that  it  should  be  disgraced 
by  so  unkingly  a  king.  And  the  grumbling  swelled  to  a  roar,  when, 
in  the  extreme  of  his  niggardliness,  he  committed  the  sin,  unpar- 
donable in  ancient  Ireland,  of  insulting  a  poet.  Cairbre,  the  great 
poet  of  the  time,  having  come  to  visit  him,  was  sent  to  a  little  bare, 
cold  apartment,  where  a  few,  mean,  dry  cakes  upon  a  platter  were 
put  before  him  as  substitute  for  the  lavish  royal  banquet  owed  to 
a  poet.  In  hot  indignation  he  quitted  the  abode  of  Breas,  and  upon 
the  boorish  king  composed  a  withering  satire,  which  should  blight 
him  and  his  seed  forever.  Lashed  to  wrath,  then,  by  the  outrage 
on  a  poet's  sacred  person  the  frenzied  people  arose,  drove  the 
boor  from  the  throne,  and  from  the  Island — and  Nuada  Airgead 
Lam  (of  the  Silver  Hand)  again  reigned  over  his  people. 

Breas  fled  to  the  Hebrides,  to  his  father,  Elatha,  the  chief  of 
the  Fomorians,  where,  collecting  a  mighty  host  of  their  sea-rob- 
bers, in  as  many  ships  as  filled  the  sea  from  the  Hebrides  to  Ireland, 
they  swarmed  into  Eirinn — and  gave  battle  to  the  De  Danaan  at 
Northern  Moytura,  in  Sligo.  In  this,  their  second  great  battle, 
the  De  Danann  were  again  victorious.  They  routed  their  enemy 
with  fearful  slaughter,  and  overthrew  the  Fomorian  tyranny  in  the 
island  forever.  The  famous  Fomorian  chief,  Balor  of  the  Evil 
Eye,  whose  headquarters  was  on  Tory  Island,  off  the  Northwest 
coast,  was  slain,  by  a  stone  from  the  sling  of  his  own  grandson,  the 
great  De  Danann  hero,  Lugh.  But  Balor  had  slain  King  Nuada 
before  he  was  himself  dispatched. 

This  famous  life  and  death  struggle  of  two  races  is  commemo- 
rated by  a  multitude  of  cairns  and  pillars  which  strew  the  great 
battle  plain  in  Sligo — a  plain  which  bears  the  name  (in  Irish)  of 
"the  Plain  of  the  Towers  of  the  Fomorians." 

The  De  Danann  were  now  the  undisputed  masters  of  the  land. 

So  goes  the  honored  legend. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  TUATHA  DE  DANANN 

Over  the  Island,  which  was  now  indisputably  De  Danann,  reigned 
the  hero,  Lugh,  famous  in  mythology.  And  after  Lugh,  the  still 
greater  Dagda — whose  three  grand-sons,  succeeding  him  in  the 
sovereignty,  were  reigning,  says  the  story,  when  the  Milesians  came. 

Such  a  great  people  were  the  De  Danann,  and  so  uncommonly 
skilled  in  the  few  arts  of  the  time,  that  they  dazzled  even  their 
conquerors  and  successors,  the  Milesians,  into  regarding  them  as 
mighty  magicians.  Later  generations  of  the  Milesians  to  whom 
were  handed  down  the  wonderful  traditions  of  the  wonderful 
people  they  had  conquered,  lifted  them  into  a  mystic  realm,  their 
greatest  ones  becoming  gods  and  goddesses,  who  supplied  to 
their  successors  a  beautiful  mythology. 

Most  conquerors  come  to  despise  the  conquered,  but  here  they 
came  to  honor,  almost  to  worship  those  whom  they  had  subdued. 
Which  proves  not  only  greatness  in  the  conquered,  but  also  bigness 
of  mind  and  distinctiveness  of  character  in  the  conquerors. 

The  De  Danann  skill  in  the  arts  and  crafts  in  course  of  time 
immortalised  itself  in  beautiful  legends  among  the  Milesians.  Lugh^ 
was  not  only  the  son  of  a  god  (of  Manannan  MacLir,  the  sea-god), 
and  the  greatest  of  heroes,  but  tradition  gave  him  all  the  many 
mortal  powers  of  his  people,  so  that  he  was  called  Sab  Ildanach, 
meaning  Stem  of  all  the  Arts.  When  the  De  Danann  had  first  ar- 
rived in  Ireland  Lugh  went  to  the  court  of  Eochaid,  the  Firbolg 
king  at  Tara,  and  sought  an  office.  But  no  one  was  admitted  a 
member  of  this  court  unless  he  was  master  of  some  art  or  craft  not 
already  represented  there.  The  doorkeeper  barring  Lugh's  way 
demanded  on  what  ground  he  sought  to  be  admitted.  Lugh 
answered  that  he  was  a  saer  (carpenter).  No,  they  had  a  good 
sacf  in  the  court  already.  Then  he  said  he  was  a  good  smith. 
They  had  an  able  smith,  also.  Well,  he  was  a  champion.  They 
already  had  a  champion.  Next,  he  was  a  harper.  They  had  a 
wonderful  harper,  too.  Then  a  poet  and  antiquarian.  They  had 
such — and  of  the  most  eminent.     But  he  was  a  magician.     They 

5 


6  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

had  many  Druids,  adepts  in  the  occult.  He  was  a  physician.  They 
had  the  famous  physician,  Diancecht.  He  was  a  cupbearer.  They 
had  nine.  Then,  a  goldsmith.  They  had  the  famous  Creidne.^ 
"Then,"  said  Lugh,  "go  to  your  king,  and  ask  him  if  he  has  in  his 
court  any  man  who  is  at  once  master  of  all  these  arts  and  profes- 
sions.    If  he  has,  I  shall  not  ask  admittance  to  Tara." 

Eochaid,  the  King,  was  overjoyed.  He  led  in  the  wonderful 
Lugh,  and  put  him  in  the  chair  of  the  ard-ollam,  the  chief  professor 
of  the  arts  and  sciences. 

The  Dagda,  who  reigned  just  before  the  coming  of  the  Mile- 
sians, was  the  greatest  of  the  De  Danann.  He  was  styled  Lord  of 
Knowledge  and  Sun  of  all  the  Sciences.  His  daughter,  Brigit,  was 
a  woman  of  wisdom,  and  goddess  of  poetry.  The  Dagda  was  a 
great  and  beneficent  ruler  for  eighty  years. 

1  The  old  traditional  tales  say  that  the  Creidne  mentioned  was  a  very  famous 
worker  in  the  precious  metals.  The  basic  truth  of  these  traditions  seems  tvidenced 
by  the  reference  in  very  ancient  manuscripts  to  Bretha  Creidne,  "The  Judgments 
of  Creidne,"  a  body  of  laws  dealing  with  fine  scales,  weights  and  measures,  and 
the  precious  metals.  There  is  still  preserved  part  of  a  very  old  poem,  which  says 
that  Creidne  was  drowned,  returning  from  Spain  with  golden  ore. 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  MILESIANS 

The  sixteenth-century  scholar,  O'Haherty,  fixes  the  Milesian  in- 
vasion of  Ireland  at  about  looo  B.  C. — the  time  of  Solomon.  Some 
modern  writers,  including  MacNeill,  say  that  they  even  came  at  a 
much  later  date.  There  are,  however,  philologists  and  other  scien- 
tific inquirers,  who  to  some  extent  corroborate  O'Flaherty's  esti- 
mate. 

It  is  proven  that  the  Celts  whencesoever  they  came,  had,  before 
the  dawn  of  history,  subjugated  the  German  people  and  estab- 
lished themselves  in  Central  Europe.  At  about  the  date  wc  have 
mentioned,  a  great  Celtic  wave,  breaking  westward  over  the  Rhine, 
penetrated  into  England,  Scotland,  and  Ireland.  Subsequently  a 
wave  swept  over  the  Pyrenees  into  the  Spanish  Peninsula.  Other 
waves  came  westward  still  later. 

The  studies  of  European  scholars  have  shown  that  these  Celts 
were  an  eminently  warlike  people,  rich  in  the  arts  of  civilized  life, 
who  subdued  and  dominated  the  ruder  races,  wherever  they  went 
on  the  Continent.  They  were  possessed  of  *'a  high  degree  of  po- 
litical unity,  had  a  single  king,  and  a  wise  and  consistent  external 
policy."  Mostly,  however,  they  seem  to  have  been  a  federation 
of  patrician  republics.  At  various  times  they  had  allied  them- 
selves with  the  Greeks  to  fight  common  enemies.  They  gave  valu- 
able service  to,  and  were  highly  esteemed  by  Philip,  and  by  his  son, 
the  great  Alexander.  In  an  alliance  which  they  made  with  Alex- 
ander, before  he  left  on  his  Asiatic  expedition,  it  was  by  the  ele- 
ments they  swore  their  fealty  to  the  pact — just  as  we  know  they 
continued  to  swear  in  Ireland,  down  to  the  coming  of  Christianity 
In  the  fifth  century. 

They  piqued  Alexander's  pride  by  frankly  telling  him  that  they 
did  not  fear  him — only  feared  Heaven.  They  held  sway  in  Cen- 
tral Europe  through  long  centuries.  A  Celtic  cemetery  discov- 
ered at  Hallstatt  in  upper  Austria  proves  them  to  have  been  skilled 
in  art  and  industries  as  far  back  as  900  B.  C. — shows  them  as 
miners  and  agriculturists,  and  blessed  with  the  use  of  Iron  Instru- 
ments.    They  invaded  Italy  twice,  in  the  seventh  and  in  the  fourth 

7 


8  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

centuries  before  Christ.     In  the  latter  time  they  were  at  the  climax 
of  their  power.     They  stormed  Rome  itself,  300  B.  C. 

The  rising  up  of  the  oppressed  Germans  against  them,  nearly 
three  centuries  before  Christ,  was  the  beginning  of  the  end  of  the 
Continental  power  of  the  Celt.  After  that  they  were  beaten  and 
buffeted  by  Greek  and  by  Roman,  and  even  by  despised  races — 
broken,  and  blown  like  the  surf  in  all  directions,  North  and  South, 
and  East  and  West.  A  fugitive  colony  of  these  people,  that  had 
settled  in  Asia  Minor,  in  the  territory  v/hich  from  them  (the  Gaels) 
was  called  Galatia,  and  among  whom  Paul  worked,  was  found  to 
be  still  speaking  a  Celtic  language  in  the  days  of  St.  Jerome,  five 
or  six  hundred  years  later.  Eoin  MacNeill  and  other  scientific  en- 
quirers hold  that  it  was  only  in  the  fifth  century  before  Christ  that 
they  reached  Spain — and  that  it  was  not  via  Spain  but  via  north- 
western France  and  Britain  that  they,  crushed  out  from  Germ.any, 
eventually  reached  Ireland.  In  Caesar's  day  the  Celts  (Gauls) 
who  dominated  France  used  Greek  writing  in  almost  all  their  busi- 
ness, public  or  private. 

The  legendary  account  of  the  origin  of  the  Gaels  and  their 
coming  to  Ireland  is  as  follows: 

They  came  first  out  of  that  vast  undefined  tract,  called  Scythia 
— a  region  which  probably  included  all  of  Southwest  Europe  and 
adjoining  portions  of  Asia.  They  came  to  Ireland  through  Egypt, 
Crete,  and  Spain.  They  were  called  Gaedhal  (Gael)  because  their 
remote  ancestor,  in  the  days  of  Moses,  was  Gaodhal  Glas.  When 
a  child,  Moses  is  said  to  have  cured  him  of  the  bite  of  a  serpent — 
and  to  have  promised,  then,  that  no  serpent  or  other  poisonous 
thing  should  infest  the  happy  v/estern  island  that  his  far  posterity 
would  one  day  inhabit.  Niul,  a  grand-son  of  Gaodhal,  who  had 
been  invited  as  an  Instructor  into  Egypt  by  one  of  the  Pharaohs, 
married  Pharaoh's  daughter  Scota — after  v/hom  Ireland  was,  in 
later  ages,  called  Scotia.  And  the  Irish  Scoti  or  Scots  are  the 
descendants  of  Niul  and  Scota.  In  Egypt  Niul  and  his  people  grew 
rich  and  powerful,  resented  the  injustice  of  a  later  Pharaoh,  were 
driven  from  the  land,  and  after  long  and  varied  wanderings,  dur- 
ing succeeding  ages,  reached  Spain.  When,  after  they  had  long 
sojourned  in  Spain,  they  heard  of  Ireland  (perhaps  from  Phoeni- 
cian traders)  and  took  it  to  be  the  Isle  of  Destiny,  foretold  for 
them  by  Moses,  their  leader  was  Miled  or  Milesius,  whose  wife 
also  was  a  Pharaoh's  daughter,  and  named  Scota,  Miled's  uncle, 
Ith,  was  first  sent  into  Ireland,  to  bring  them  report  upon  it.  But 
the  Tuatha  De  Danann,  suspecting  the  purpose  of  his  mission, 
killed  Ith. 


THE  MILESIANS  9 

Miled  hav^ing  died  in  Spain,  his  eight  sons,  with  their  mother, 
Scota,  their  families  and  followers,  at  length  set  out  on  their  ven- 
turous voyage  to  their  Isle  of  Destiny.^ 

In  a  dreadful  storm  that  the  supposedly  wizard  De  Danann 
raised  up  against  them,  when  they  attempted  to  land  in  Ireland, 
five  of  the  sons  of  Milesius,  with  great  numbers  of  their  followers, 
were  lost,  their  fleet  was  dispersed  and  it  seemed  for  a  time  as  if 
none  of  them  would  ever  enjoy  the  Isle  of  Destiny. 

Ancient  manuscripts  preserve  the  prayer  that,  it  is  said,  their 
poet,  Amergin,  now  prayed  for  them — 

"I  pray  that  they  reach  the  land  of  Eirinn,  those  who  are  riding 
upon  the  great,  productive,  vast  sea : 

"That  they  be  distributed  upon  her  plains,  her  mountains,  and  her 
vallejs;  upon  her  forests  that  shed  showers  of  nuts  and  all  truits; 

^  Inisfail,  one  of  many  ancient  names  for  Ireland,  signifies  Isle  of  Destiny. 
Of  "The  Coming  of  the  Milesians,"  Mcore  sang : 

They  came  from  a  land  beyond  the  sea, 

And  now  o'er  the  western  main 
Set  sail  in  their  good  ships,  gallantly, 

From  the  sunny  lands  of  Spain. 
"Oh,  where's  the  isle  we've  seen  in  dreams, 

Our  destin'd  home  or  grave?" 
Thus  sang  they,  as  by  the  morning  beams, 

They  swept  the  Atlantic  wave. 

And  lo,  where  afar  o'er  ocean  shines 

A  sparkle  of  radiant  green, 
As  though  in  that  deep  lay  emerald  mines 

Whose  light  through  the  wave  was  seen, 
'Tis  Inisfail — 'tis  Inisfail! 

Rings  o'er  the  echoing  sea ; 
While,  bending  to  heaven,  the  warriors  hail 

That  home  of  the  brave  and  free. 

Then  turned  they  unto  the  Eastern  wave 

Where  now  their  Day-God's  eye 
A  look  of  such  sunny  omen  gave 

As  lighted  up  sea  and  sky. 
No  frown  was  seen  through  sky  or  sea, 

Nor  tear  o'er  leaf  or  sod. 
When  first  on  their  Isle  of  Destiny 

Our  great  forefathers  trod. 

Here  let  us  understand  that  the  ancient  historical  legends  of  Ireland  are, 
generally  speaking,  far  from  being  baseless  myths.  The  Irish  people  are  a  people 
who  eminently  cling  to  tradition.  Not  only  were  the  great  happenings  that  marked 
great  epochs  enshrined  in  their  memory  forever,  but  even  little  events  that  trivially 
affected  the  history  of  their  race,  were,  and  are,  seldom  forgotten.  We  know  that 
away  back  to  the  remotest  antiquity,  the  scatiacliic  (shanachy,  the  historian)  and 
the  poet  were  honored  next  to  the  king,  because  of  the  tremendous  value  which 
the  people  set  upon  the  recording  and  preserving  of  their  history.  The  poet  and 
the  scanachie  following  the  fashion  of  the  time,  took  adN'antage  of  their  artist  priv- 
ilege to  color  their  narrative  to  an  extent  that  to  the  modern  mind  would  seem 
fantastic  But  it  was  with  the  details  of  the  story  that  they  were  granted  this 
liberty.  The  big.  essential  facts  had  to  remain  unaltered.  The  things  of  importance 
no  poet  of  repute,  however  highly  he  might  color,  could  or  would  dare  to  falsify. 


lo  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

upon  her  rivers  and  her  cataracts;  upon  her  lakes  and  her  great 
waters;  upon  her  spring-abounding  hills: 

"That  they  may  hold  their  fairs  and  equestrian  sports  upon  her 
territories: 

"That  there  may  be  a  king  from  them  in  Tara;  and  that  Tara 
be  the  territory  of  their  many  kings: 

"That  noble  Eirinn  be  the  home  of  the  ships  and  boats  of  the 
sons  of  Milesius: 

"Eirinn  which  is  now  in  darkness,  it  is  for  her  that  this  oration  is 
pronounced : 

"Let  the  learned  wives  of  Breas  and  Buaigne  pray  that  we  may 
reach  the  noble  woman,  great  Eirinn. 

"Let  Eremon  pray,  and  let  Ir  and  Eber  implore,  that  we  may 
reach  Eirinn." 

Eventually  they  made  land — Eber  with  the  survivors  of  his 
following  landing  at  Inver  Sceni,  in  Bantry  Bay;  and  afterwards 
defeating  a  De  Danann  host  under  Queen  Eire  but  losing  their  own 
Queen  Scota  in  the  fray — and  Eremon  with  his  people  at  Inver 
Colpa  (mouth  of  the  Boyne), 

When  they  had  joined  their  forces,  in  Meath,  they  went  against 
the  De  Danann  in  general  battle  at  Taillte,  and  routed  the  latter 
with  great  slaughter.  The  three  kings  and  the  three  queens  of  the 
De  Danann  were  slain,  many  of  them  killed,  and  the  remainder 
dispersed. 

The  survivors  fled  into  the  remote  hills  and  into  the  caves. 
Possibly  the  glimpses  of  some  of  these  fugitive  hill-dwellers  and 
cave-dwellers,  caught  in  twilight  and  in  moonlight,  by  succeeding 
generations  of  Milesians,  coupled  with  the  seemingly  magical  skill 
which  they  exercised,  gave  foundation  for  the  later  stories  of  en- 
chanted folk,  fairies,  living  under  the  Irish  hills. 

Though,  a  quaint  tale  preserved  in  the  ancient  Book  of  Leinster 
says  that  after  Taillte  it  was  left  to  Amergin,  the  Milesian  poet 
and  judge,  to  divide  Eirinn  between  the  two  races,  and  that  he 
shrewdly  did  so  with  technical  justice — giving  all  above  ground  to 
his  own  people,  and  all  underground  to  the  De  Danann! 

Another  pleasant  old  belief  is  that  the  De  Danann,  being  over- 
thrown, were  assembled  by  their  great  immortal  Mannanan  at 
Brugh  of  the  Boyne,  where,  after  counselling  together,  it  was  de- 
cided that,  taking  Bodb  Derg,  son  of  the  Dagda,  as  their  king,  and 
receiving  immortality  from  Mannanan,  they  should  distribute  them- 
selves in  their  spirit  land  under  the  happy  hills  of  Ireland — where 
they  have,  ever  since,  enjoyed  never-ending  bliss. ^ 

2  Here  is  the  ancient  story-teller's  description  (from  the  Tain  Bo  Cuailgrie) 
of  the  cavalcade  of  Bodb  Derg,  in  after  ages,  coming  from  his  palace  under  SHab- 


THE  MILESIANS  ii 

Of  the  Milesians,  ilbcr  and  Eremon  divided  the  land  between 
them — Eremon  getting  the  Northern  half  of  the  Island,  and  Ebcr 
the  Southern.  1  he  Northeastern  corner  was  accorded  to  the  chil- 
dren of  their  lost  brother,  Ir,  and  the  Southwestern  corner  to  their 
cousin  Lughaid,  the  son  of  Ith. 

An  oft-told  story  says  that  when  Eber  and  Eremon  had 
divided  their  followers,  each  taking  an  equal  number  of  soldiers 
and  an  equal  number  of  the  men  of  every  craft,  there  remained  a 
harper  and  a  poet.  Drawing  lots  for  these,  the  harper  fell  to 
Eremon  and  the  poet  to  Eber — which  explains  why,  ever  since,  the 
North  of  Ireland  has  been  celebrated  for  music,  and  the  South  for 
song. 

The  peace  that  fell  upon  the  land  then,  and  the  happiness  of 
the  Milesians,  was  only  broken,  when,  after  a  year,  Eber's  wife 
discovered  that  she  must  be  possessed  of  the  three  pleasantest  hills 
in  Eirinn,  else  she  could  not  remain  one  other  night  in  the  Island. 
Now  the  pleasantest  of  all  the  Irish  hills  was  Tara,  which  lay  in 
Eremon's  half.  And  Eremon's  wife  would  not  have  the  covetous- 
ness  of  the  other  w'oman  satisfied  at  her  expense.  So,  because  of 
the  quarrel  of  the  women,  the  beautiful  peace  of  the  Island  was 
broken  by  battle.  Eber  was  beaten,  and  the  high  sovereignty  set- 
tled upon  Eremon. 

It  was  in  his  reign,  continues  the  legend,  that  the  Cruitnigh  or 
Picts  arrived  from  the  Continent.  They  landed  in  the  south- 
west, at  the  mouth  of  the  River  Slaney  (Inver  Slaigne).  A  tribe 
of  Britons  who  fought  with  poisoned  arrows  were  at  the  time  ravag- 
ing that  corner  of  the  Island.  The  Picts  helped  to  drive  out  the 
marauders,  and  in  reward  were  granted  a  settlement  there,  from 
Crimthann,  the  chief  of  that  quarter.  Afterwards  they  had  an 
outfall  with  Crimthann — and  it  was  decided  that  they  should  be 

na-mban  to  pay  a  visit  to  the  De  E>anann  chief,  Ochail  Oichne,  who  resided  under 
Cruachan  (in  Roscommon) — "Seven  score  chariots  and  seven  score  horsemen  was 
their  number.  And  of  the  same  colour  were  all  their  steeds ;  they  were  speckled ; 
they  had  silver  bridles.  There  was  no  person  among  them  who  was  not  the  son 
of  a  king  and  a  queen.  They  all  wore  green  cloaks  with  four  crimson  pendants 
to  each  cloak ;  and  silver  cloak-brooches  in  all  their  cloaks ;  and  they  wore  kilts 
with  red  interweavings,  and  borders  or  fringes  of  gold  thread  upon  them,  and 
pendants  of  white  bronze  thread  upon  their  leggings  or  greaves,  and  shoes  with 
clasps  of  red  bronze  in  them.  Their  helmets  were  ornamented  with  crj'Stal  and 
white  bronze;  each  of  them  had  a  collar  of  radiant  gold  around  his  neck,  with  a 
gem  worth  a  newly  calved  cow  set  in  it.  Each  wore  a  twisted  ring  of  gold  around 
him,  worth  thirty  ounces  of  gold.  All  had  white-faced  shields,  with  ornamenta- 
tions of  gold  and  of  silver.  They  carried  flesh-seeking  spears,  with  ribs  of  gold 
and  silver  and  red  bronze  in  their  sides;  and  with  collars  (or  rings)  of  silver  upon 
the  necks  of  the  spears.  They  had  gold-hilted  swords  with  the  forms  of  serpents 
of  gold  and  carbuncles  set  in  them.  They  astonished  the  whole  assembly  by  this 
display." 


12  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

passed  into  Alba  (Scotland).^  The  three  Pictlsh  chiefs  were  given 
Irish  wives  to  take  to  Alba  with  them,  on  condition  that  hence- 
forth their  royal  line  should  descend  according  to  the  female  suc- 
cession— which,  it  is  said,  was  henceforth  the  law  among  the  Alban 
Picts. 

Eremon's  victory  over  Eber  had  slight  effect  in  fixing  on  his 
lineage  the  succession  to  the  overlordship :  for,  through  many  hun- 
dreds of  years  afterward,  the  battle  had  to  be  refought,  and  the 
question  settled  once  more — sometimes  to  the  advantage  of  the 
Eremonians,  sometimes  to  that  of  the  Eberians.  A  warlike  people 
must  have  war.  Occasionally,  during  the  reigns  of  the  early  Mile- 
sian kings,  this  want  was  filled  for  them  by  the  Fomorians,  who, 
though  disastrously  defeated  by  the  De  Danann  at  Northern  Moy- 
tura,  were  far  from  being  destroyed.  Irial,  the  prophet,  the  grand- 
son of  Eremon,  and  third  Milesian  king  of  Ireland,  had  to  fight 
them  again.  And  at  many  other  times  the  Island  suffered  from 
their  depredations. 

Names  of  a  long  list  of  kings,  from  Eremon  downward,  and 
important  particulars  regarding  many  of  them,  were  preserved  by 
the  historical  traditions — traditions  that  v/ere  as  valuable,  and  as 
zealously  guarded,  as  are  the  written  State  Records  of  modern 
days.*  The  carefully  trained  file,  who  was  poet,  historian,  and 
philosopher,  was  consecrated  to  the  work — and,  ever  inspired  with 
the  sacredness  of  his  trust,  he  was  seldom  known  to  deviate  from 
the  truth  in  anything  of  importance — however  much  he  confessedly 
gave  his  imagination  play  in  the  unimportant  details.  And,  much 
as  the  people  reverenced  him,  they  reverenced  the  truth  of  history 
more;  and  it  was  the  law  that  a  file,  discovered  falsifying,  should 
be  degraded  and  disgraced. 

The  Scottish  historian  Pinkerton,  who  was  hardly  sympathetic, 
admits:  "Foreigners  may  imagine  that  it  is  granting  too  much  to 
the  Irish  to  allow  them  lists  of  kings  more  ancient  than  those  of 
any  other  country  of  modern  Europe.  But  the  singularly  compact 
and  remote  situation  of  that  Island,  and  the  freedom  from  Roman 
conquest,  and  from  the  concussion  of  the  Fall  of  the  Roman  Em- 
pire, may  infer  this  allowance  not  too  much." 

And  the  British  Camden,  another  authority  not  partial  to  Ire- 

^MacNeill  holds  that  the  Picts  came  to  Ireland  ahead  of  the  Gael:  and  that, 
as  distinct  tribes,  portions  of  them  inhabited  many  parts  of  it,  down  till  historic 
times.     They  also  occupied  large  part  of  Scotland. 

■*  Many  notable  scholars  deny  the  complete  authenticity  of  this  list.  But  un- 
doubtedly the  greater  part  of  the  names  are  the  real  names  of  real-  kings  who 
held  sway  over  the  Northern  or  the  Southern  half,  if  not  over  all,  of  Ireland. 


THE  MILESIANS  13 

land,  but  sometimes  hostile,  says:  "They  deduced  their  history 
from  memorials  derived  from  the  most  profound  depths  of  re- 
mote antiquity,  so  that  compared  with  that  of  Irehmd,  the  antiquities 
of  all  other  nations  is  but  novelty,  and  their  history  is  but  a  kind 
of  infancy." 

Standish  O'Grady  in  liis  "Early  Bardic  History  of  Ireland" 
says:  "I  must  confess  that  the  blaze  of  Bardic  W^j^ht  which  illumi- 
nates those  centuries  at  first  dazzles  the  eye  and  disturbs  the  judg- 
ment .  .  .  (but)  that  the  Irish  kings  and  heroes  should  succeed 
one  another,  surrounded  by  a  blaze  of  Bardic  light,  in  which  both 
themselves  and  all  those  who  were  contemporaneous  with  them 
arc  seen  clearly  and  distinctly,  was  natural  in  a  country  where  in 
each  little  realm  or  sub-kingdom  the  ard-oUam  was  equal  in  dignity 
to  the  King,  as  is  proved  by  the  equivalence  of  their  eric.  The 
dawn  of  English  history  is  in  the  seventh  century — a  late  dawn, 
dark  and  sombre,  without  a  ray  of  cheerful  sunshine;  that  of  Ire- 
land dates  reliably  from  a  point  before  the  commencing  of  the 
Christian  Era — illumined  with  that  light  which  never  was  on  sea 
or  land — thronging  with  heroic  forms  of  men  and  women — ter- 
rible with  the  presence  of  the  supernatural  and  its  over-reaching 
power."  ^ 

^  D'Arcy  McGee  sang  of 

TliZ  CELTS 

Long,  long  ago  beyond  the  misty  space 

Of  twice  a  thousand  years, 
In  Erin  old  there  dwelt  a  mighty  race, 

Taller  than  Roman  spears ; 
Like  oaks  and  towers  they  had  a  giant  grace, 

Were  fleet  as  deers 
With  winds  and  waves  they  made  their  'biding  place, 

These  western  shepherd  seers. 

Their  ocean-god  was  Mannanan  MacLir, 

Whose  angry  lips, 
In  their  white  foam,  full  often  would  inter 

Whole  fleets  of  ships; 
Crom  was  their  day-god,  and  their  thunderer, 

Made  morning  and  eclipse  ; 
Bride  was  their  queen  of  song,  and  unto  her 

They  prayed  with  fire-touched  lips. 

Great  were  their  deeds,  their  passions,  and  their  sports ; 

With  clay  and  stone 
They  piled  on  strath  and  shore  those  mystic  forts, 

Not  yet  o'erthrown ; 
On  cairn-crowned  hills  they  held  their  council-courts ; 

While  youths  alone, 
With  giant  dogs,  explored  the  elks'  resorts, 

And  brought  them  down. 


14  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

Of  these  was  Fin,  the  father  of  the  Bard, 

Whose  ancient  song 
Over  the  clamor  of  all  change  is  heard, 

Sweet-voiced  and  strong. 
Fin  once  o'ertook  Crania,  the  golden-haired, 

The  fleet  and  young ; 
From  her  the  lovely,  and  from  him  the  feared, 

The  primal  poet  sprung. 

Ossian  I  two  thousand  years  of  mist  and  change 

Surround  thy  name — 
Thy  Finian  heroes  now  no  longer  range 

The  hills  of  fame. 
The  very  name  of  Fin  and  Goll  sound  strange — 

Yet  thine  the  same — 
By  miscalled  lake  and  desecrated  grange — 

Remains,  and  shall  remain ! 

The  Druid's  altar  and  the  Druid's  creed 

We  scarce  can  trace. 
There  is  not  left  an  undisputed  deed 

Of  all  your  race. 
Save  your  majestic  song,  which  hath  their  speed, 

And  strength,  and  grace ; 
In  that  sole  song,  they  live  and  love  and  bleed — 

It  bears  them  on  thro'  space. 

Oh,  inspired  giant !  shall  we  e'er  behold, 

In  our  own  time. 
One  fit  to  speak  your  spirit  on  the  wold, 

Or  seize  your  rhyme? 
One  pupil  of  the  past,  as  mighty  souled 

As  in  the  prime, 
Were  the  fond,  fair,  and  beautifuJ}  and  bold — 

They,  of  your  song  sublime ! 


CHAPTER  IV 

SOME  NOTABLE  MILESIAN  ROYALTIES 

The  popular  traditions  give  details  regarding  many  notable  Mile- 
sian royalties  in  the  decade  of  centuries  before  the  Christian  Era. 

Within  the  first  century  after  Eremon,  is  said  to  have  reigned 
the  distinguished  Tighernmas  (seventh  of  the  Milesian  line)  who, 
they  say,  first  smelted  gold,  and  introduced  gold  ornaments,  and 
gold  fringes  on  dress.  He  also  introduced  various  colours  into 
dresses.  Sometimes  to  him,  sometimes  to  his  successor,  Eochaid, 
is  credited  the  ancient  ordinance  which  distinguished  the  various 
classes  and  professions  by  the  colours  in  their  dress.  A  King  or 
Queen  might  wear  seven  colours;  a  poet  or  Ollam  six;  a  chieftain 
five;  an  army  leader  four;  a  land-owner  three;  a  rent-payer  two;  a 
serf  one  colour  only. 

Tighernmas  and  two-thirds  of  his  people  were  wiped  out  when 
they  were  assembled  in  the  plain  of  Magh  Slecht  in  Brefni,  at  wor- 
ship of  Crom  Cruach — a  great  idol  which  St.  Patrick,  in  his  day 
destroyed. 

All  the  stories  say  that  the  greatest  king  of  those  faraway  times 
was  the  twenty-first  Milesian  king,  known  to  fame  as  Ollam  Fodla 
(Ollav  Fola)  who  blessed  Ireland  in  a  reign  of  forty  years,  some 
seven  or  eight  centuries  before  the  Christian  Era.  His  title,  Ollam 
Fodla,  Doctor  of  Wisdom,  has  preserved  his  memory  down  the 
ages.  The  legends  Indicate  that  he  was  a  true  father  to  his  people, 
and  an  able  statesman.  He  organised  the  nation  for  efficiency — 
divided  it  into  cantreds,  aj^pointed  a  chief  over  every  cantred,  a 
brugaid  (magistrate)  over  every  territory,  and  a  steward  over 
every  townland.  Some  traditions  say  that  he  established  a  School 
of  Learning.  And  as  crowning  glory  he  established  the  celebrated 
Fels  of  Tara,  the  great  triennial  Parliament  of  the  chiefs,  the 
nobles,  and  the  scholars  of  the  nation,  which  assembled  on  Tara 
Hill  once  every  three  years  to  settle  the  nation's  affairs.  This 
great  deliberative  assembly,  almost  unique  among  the  nations  In 
those  early  ages,  and  down  Into  Christian  times,  reflected  not  a 
little  glory  upon  ancient  Ireland. 

15 


1 6  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

One  queen,  famous  and  capable,  whom  early  Ireland  boasted 
was  Macha  Mong  Ruad  (the  Red-haired),  who  reigned  over  the 
land  about  three  hundred  years  before  Christ.  Her  father,  Aod 
Ruad  was  one  of  a  triumvirate — the  others  being  Dithorba  and 
Cimbaoth — who  by  mutual  agreement  took  seven-year  turns  in 
reigning.  Aod  Ruad  was  drowned  at  Eas-Aod-RuaS  (Assaroe), 
now  Ballyshanny.  And  when  came  round  again  the  seven-year 
period  which  would  have  been  his  had  he  lived,  his  daughter, 
Macha,  claimed  the  crown.  But  for  it  she  had  to  fight  her  father's 
two  partners — which  she  did,  killing  Dithorba ;  and  first  defeating, 
and  afterwards  marrying,  Cimbaoth — and  making  him  king. 

For  many,  the  reign  of  Cimbaoth — which  synchronises  with 
that  of  Alexander  the  Great — marks  the  beginning  of  certainty  in 
Irish  history — because  of  the  famed  remark  of  the  trusted  eleventh 
century  historian,  Tighernach,  that  the  Irish  records  before  Cim- 
baoth were  uncertain. 

When  Cimbaoth  died  this  able  woman  took  up  the  rein's  of 
government  herself,  becoming  the  first  Milesian  queen  of  Ireland. 
But  the  record  above  all  others  by  which  this  distinguished  woman 
lives  to  fame,  is  her  founding  of  the  ancient  and  much-storied 
stronghold — named  after  her — of  Emain  Macha,  which  hence- 
forth, for  six  hundred  years,  was  to  play  a  most  important  part  in 
the  fortunes  of  Uladh  (Ulster)  and  of  Ireland. 

Macha's  foster-son,  Ugani  Mor  (the  Great),  who  succeeded 
her,  led  his  armies  into  Britain,  and  had  his  power  acknowledged 
there.  After  bringing  a  great  part  of  Britain  to  obedience,  some 
traditions  say  that  his  ambition  led  him  on  the  Continent,  where 
he  met  with  many  successes  also,  giving  basis  for  the  ancient 
seanachies  styling  him,  "King  of  Ireland  and  of  the  whole  of 
Western  Europe  as  far  as  the  Muir  Torrian"  (Mediterranean 
Sea). 

All  the  leading  families  of  Ulster,  Leinster  and  Connaught 
trace  their  descent  from  Ugani  Mor — the  common  father  of  the 
royalties  of  the  three  provinces.  The  origin  of  the  name  of  Lein- 
ster is  ascribed  to  the  activities  of  Ugani  Mor's  great  grandson, 
Labraid  Loingsech.  Labraid's  grandfather  (Ugani  Mor's  son), 
Laegaire  Lore,  was  killed  for  sake  of  his  throne,  by  his  brother, 
Cobtach.  His  son  was  killed  at  the  same  time:  and  the  grandson, 
Labraid  Loingsech,  only  spared  because  he  was  dumb,  and  conse- 
quently could  not  rule.  Labraid  Loingsech  was  reared  up  in  secret, 
under  the  joint  fosterage  and  tutorship  of  a  celebrated  harper, 
Craftine,  and  a  celebrated  poet  and  philosopher,  Feirceirtne.  Get- 
ting a  blow  of  a  caman  once,  when  playing  caman   (hurley)   with 


NOTABLE  MILESIAN  ROYALTIES  17 

other  boys,  he  suddenly  found  the  use  of  speech.  When  he  grew 
up  and  Cobtach  discovered  that  he  no  longer  had  the  disabling 
blemish,  and  was  moreover  held  in  high  esteem,  he  drove  him  out. 
The  young  man  was  received  with  honor  at  the  King's  court  in 
Gaul — whence  after  some  time  he  returned,  with  an  army  of  over 
two  thousand  Gauls,  armed  with  broad  spears  to  which  the  Irish 
gave  the  name  of  Laighen.  On  his  arrival  in  Ireland,  he  learnt 
that  Cobtach,  with  thirty  princes,  was  holding  an  assembly  in  Dinn 
High.  1  here  Labraid  marched,  and  destroyed  them  all.  He  at- 
tacked and  burned  the  Dinn  and  its  guests — and  won  his  grand- 
father's throne — and  incidentally  supplied  the  plot  for  one  of  the 
most  famous  of  old  Irish  tales,  "The  Burning  of  Dinn  Righ."  From 
the  Laighen  of  the  Gauls,  whom  he  settled  in  this  southeastern 
part,  Leinster,  it  is  said  took  its  name.^ 

The  story  of  Cobtach  and  Labraid  is  to  some  extent  curiously 
paralleled  in  that  of  the  next  Irish  monarch  of  much  note,  Conaire 
Mor,  who  reigned  within  the  century  before,  or  at  the  time  of, 
Christ:  and  who,  in  establishing  his  strong  rule  over  Ireland,  put- 
ting down  lawlessness  and  making  himself  and  his  rule  respected 
and  feared,  drove  out  his  own  foster-brothers,  the  four  sons  of  a 
chieftain  of  Leinster,  These  returned  after  a  time  with  a  great 
body  of  Britons,  under  Ingcel,  son  of  a  British  king.  They  de- 
stroyed and  burned  Meath,  and  then  attacked  Conaire  Mor  and 
his  retinue  in  the  Bruighean  of  DaDerga  (one  of  the  six  public 
houses  of  hospitality  that  Ireland  then  boasted)  destroyed  it,  and 

1  About  this  Labraid  Loingsech  grew  the  myth  (closely  paralleled  in  the  Greek) 
of  his  being  cursed  with  the  ears  of  a  horse. 

He  always  wore  a  golden  helmet,  says  the  legend,  to  conceal  his  horrible 
secret.  Because  the  barber  who  cut  his  hair  was  ever  chosen  by  lot,  and  put  to 
death  immediately  after  he  had  performed  his  task,  a  dread  fear  was  on  the  whole 
nation,  of  some  awful  mystery  that  their  king  concealed  from  them. 

Once  the  barber's  lot  fell  upon  the  son  of  a  poor  widow.  The  woman's  broken- 
hearted supplications  so  moved  Labraid  that  he  promised  to  spare  her  son's  life, 
on  his  taking  a  solemn  oath  of  secrecy.  His  terrible  discovery,  which  he  must 
now  carry  forever,  a  festering  secret  in  his  mind,  so  preyed  upon  the  young  man 
that  he  lost  his  sleep,  lost  his  health,  and  was  on  the  verge  of  losing  his  reason. 
He  consulted  a  wise  Druid,  asking  what  he  should  do  to  save  himself.  The  Druid's 
advice  was  that  he  must  travel  to  a  place  where  four  roads  met,  and  then  tell  to 
the  nearest  growing  tree  the  dread  secret  which  he  must  not  give  to  any  living 
being.  He  did  this,  and  was  instantly  relieved,  and  grew  hale,  with  a  mind  at 
ease,  once  more. 

Now  it  was  a  willow  tree  to  which  he  told  the  secret.  In  course  of  years  this 
tree  was  cut  down,  and  a  harp  made  of  it  for  Craftine,  the  king's  harper.  And 
lo,  when  Craftine  touched  the  strings  of  his  new  harp,  in  the  hall  of  the  king,  the 
instrument  sang:  "The  ears  of  a  horse  has  Labraid  Loingsech!  The  ears  of  a 
horse  has  Labraid  Loingsech!"  Over  and  over  again,  "The  ears  of  a  horse  has 
Labraid  Loingsech  1" 

The  court  was  horror-stricken,  the  king  dumbfounded.  Filled  with  remorse, 
and  humiliated,  but  brave  as  a  king  should  be.  he  bowed  his  head,  and  before  the 
whole  court,  removed  his  golden  helmet — thus  ending  the  dreadful  mystery  forever. 


1 8  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

killed  Conaire  and  his  retinue.  This  tragic  incident  gave  us  the 
equally  famous  and  remarkably  beautiful  tale,  The  Bruighean 
DaDerga. 

Some  of  the  historians  say  that  it  was  Conaire  Mor  who 
reigned  in  Ireland  when  Christ  was  born.  But  others  make  the 
reigning  monarch  then  Crimthann  Niad  Nair  (Abashed  Hero)  — 
a  king  famous  in  ancient  story  for  his  foreign  expeditions — from 
one  of  which  we  are  told  he  brought  back,  among  the  booty,  a  gilt 
chariot,  a  golden  chess-board  inlaid  with  300  transparent  gems,  a 
sword  entwined  with  serpents  of  gold,  a  silver  embossed  shield, 
and  two  hounds  leashed  with  a  silver  chain. 

During  Crimthann's  reign  occurred  a  notable  return  of  Fir- 
bolgs  from  the  Western  Islands  of  Alba  (Scotland)  whereto  their 
forefathers  had  been  driven,  long  ages  before.  Now  a  colony  of 
them,  led  by  the  four  sons  of  the  chief,  Umor,  with  the  eldest  son, 
Angus,  at  their  head,  took  refuge  in  Ireland  from  the  persecution 
of  the  Picts,  and  by  the  high  king  were  granted  lands  in  Meath. 
They  soon  however  found  him  as  oppressive  as  the  Picts  had  been 
coercive.  And  on  a  night  they  fled  Westward  from  their  Meath 
possessions.  They  crossed  the  Shannon  into  Connaught,  which  was 
still  largely  inhabited  and  dominated  by  their  Firbolg  kin.  There, 
the  celebrated  Queen,  Maeve,  and  her  husband,  Ailill,  gave  them 
lands  in  South  Connaught,  where  they  settled  once  more. 

But  they  were  pursued  by  the  two  great  Ulster  warriors  and 
heroes  of  the  Red  Branch,  Cuchullin  and  Conal  Cearnach,  who  had 
gone  security  to  the  high  king  for  their  good  behaviour — who  here 
fought  them  a  battle  wherein  great  numbers  of  the  Umorians  were 
slain,  including  Angus'  three  brothers,  and  his  son,  Conal  the  Slen- 
der, A  great  cairn,  known  to  this  day  as  Cairn  Chonaill,  was 
erected  on  the  battlefield  to  commemorate  him  and  them.  Angus 
with  his  own  people  then  settled  in  the  islands  of  Aran,  in  Galway 
Bay,  where  he  built  the  wonderful  fortress  still  standing  there  and 
known  as  Dun  Angus. 

At  the  time  of  Christ,  the  celebrated  Conor  (Conchobar)  Mac- 
Nessa  reigned  over  Ulster. 


CHAPTER  V 

IRELAND  IN  THE  LORE  OF  THE  ANCIENTS 

Scotia  (a  name  transferred  to  Alba  about  ten  centuries  after 
Christ)  was  one  of  the  earliest  names  of  Ireland — so  named,  it 
was  said,  from  Scota,  the  daughter  of  Pharaoh,  one  of  the  an- 
cient female  ancestors  of  the  Milesians — and  the  people  were  com- 
monly called  Scotti  or  Scots^ — both  terms  being  frequently  used 
by  early  Latin  historians  and  poets. 

Ireland  was  often  referred  to — by  various  names — by  ancient 
writers  both  Latin  and  Greek.  Plutarch  testifies  to  the  nation's 
antiquity  by  calling  it  Ogygia,  meaning  the  most  ancient. 

One  of  its  ancient  titles  was  Hibernia  (used  by  Caesar) — which 
some  trace  from  Ivernia,  the  name,  it  is  said,  of  a  people  located  in 
the  south  of  the  Island;  but  most  trace  it  from  Eber  or  Heber,  the 
first  Milesian  king  of  the  southern  half;  just  as  the  much  later 
name,  Ireland,  is  by  some  traced  from  Ir,  whose  family  were  in 
the  northeastern  corner  of  the  Island.  Though  it  seems  much  more 
likely  that  this  latter  name  was  derived  from  the  most  common  title 
given  to  the  Island  by  its  own  inhabitants,  Eire — hence  Eire-land, 
Ireland,  It  was  first  the  Northmen  and  then  the  Saxons,  who,  in 
the  ninth  and  tenth  century  began  calling  it  Ir-land  or  Ir-landa — 
Ireland, 

In  the  oldest-known  foreign  reference  to  Ireland,  it  was  called 
lerna.  This  was  the  title  used  by  the  poet  Orpheus  in  the  time  of 
Cyrus  of  Persia,  in  the  sixth  century  before  Christ.  Aristotle,  in 
his  Book  of  the  World,  also  called  it  lerna.  In  the  first  half  of 
the  first  century  Pomponius  Mela  refers  to  it  as  luvernia. 

It  was  usually  called  either  Hibernia  or  Scotia  by  the  Latin 
writers.  Tacitus,  Caesar,  and  Pliny  call  it  Hibernia.  Egesippus 
calls  it  Scotia — and  several  later  Latin  writers  did  likewise.  A 
Roman,  Rufus  Festus  Avienus,  who  wrote  about  the  beginning  of 
the  fourth  century  of  this  era  called  it  "Insula  Sacra" — which  leads 
us  to  suppose  that  in  the  very  early  ages,  it  was,  by  the  pagans, 

1  MacNeill  thinks  the  term  Scot  (and  then  Scotia)  was  derived  from  an  old 
Irish  word  which  signified  a  raider.  He  thinks  they  earned  the  title  from  their 
frequent  raiding  in  Alba  and  in  Britain  in  pre-Christian  times.  The  conjecture 
is  to  the  present  writer  unconvincing. 

19 


20  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

esteemed  a  holy  isle.     In  a  noted  geographical  poem  of  his  occur 
the  lines 

"This  Isle  is  Sacred  named  by  all  the  ancients, 

From  times  remotest  in  the  womb  of  Chronos, 

This  Isle  which  rises  o'er  the  waves  of  ocean, 

Is  covered  with  a  sod  of  rich  luxuriance. 

And  peopled  far  and  wide  by  the  Hiberni." 

And  the  fourth  century  Istrian  philosopher  Ethicus  in  his  cos- 
mography tells  how  in  his  travels  for  knowledge  he  visited  "Hiber- 
nia"  and  spent  some  time  there  examining  the  volumes  of  that 
country — which,  by  the  way,  this  scholarly  gentleman  considered 
crude. 

That  travellers'  tales  were  about  as  credible  in  those  far-away 
days  as  they  are  in  days  more  recent,  is  evident  from  some  of  the 
curious  things  related  about  this  Island  by  the  early  Latin  writers 
— oftentimes  grotesque  blends  of  fable  and  fact.  The  Latin  writer, 
Pomponius  Mela  (who  was  a  Spaniard  and  flourished  near  the 
middle  of  the  first  century  of  the  Christian  Era),  says  in  his  cos- 
mography books:  "Beyond  Britain  lies  luvernia,  an  island  of 
nearly  equal  size,  but  oblong,  and  a  coast  on  each  side  of  equal 
extent,  having  a  climate  unfavourable  for  ripening  grain,  but  so 
luxuriant  in  grasses,  not  merely  palatable  but  even  sweet,  that  the 
cattle  in  very  short  time  take  sufficient  food  for  the  whole  day — 
and  if  fed  too  long,  would  burst.  Its  inhabitants  are  wanting  in 
every  virtue,  totally  destitute  of  piety." 

The  latter  sentence  is  quite  characteristic  of  the  Latin  writers 
of  that  day,  to  whom  the  world  was  always  divided  into  two  parts, 
the  Roman  Empire  with  which  exactly  coincided  Civilisation  and 
the  realm  of  all  the  Virtues,  and  the  outer  world  which  lay  under 
the  black  cloud  of  barbarism. 

But  Strabo,  who  wrote  in  the  first  century  of  this  era,  does  even 
better  than  Pomponius  Mela.  Quoting  Poseidonios  (who  flour- 
ished still  two  centuries  earlier),  he  informs  us  that  the  inhabitants 
of  lerne  were  wild  cannibals  who  considered  it  honourable  to  eat 
the  bodies  of  their  dead  parents!  But  he  blends  sensational  pic- 
turesqueness  with  caution;  for  he  adds:  "But  the  things  we  thus 
relate  are  destitute  of  witnesses  worthy  of  credit  in  such  affairs." 
He  suspected  he  was  setting  down  wild  fiction,  but  evidently  could 
not  resist  the  temptation  to  spice  his  narrative  for  the  sensating 
of  his  readers.- 

2  An  English  clergyman  with  the  CromwclHan  troops  in  Ireland  vouclicd  for 
the  fact  that  every  man  in  a  garrison  which  they  captured  was  found  to  have  a 
tail  six  inches  long.     Some  of  the  Enj^lish  still  hclievc  it. 


IRELAND  IN  THE  LORL-   OF  Tni::  ANCIEiNlS     21 

Solinus  (about  200  A.  D.),  as  naive  as  any  o(  Iila  fcll(n\s,  has 
the  inhabitants  of  Juvcrna  (as  he  names  the  Island)  "inhuman 
beings  who  drink  the  blood  of  their  enemies,  and  besmear  their 
faces  with  it.  At  its  birth  the  male  child's  foot  is  placed  upon  its 
father's  sword,  and  trom  the  point  of  the  sword  it  receives  its  first 
nourishment!"  lie,  however,  also  heard  of,  and  records,  the  ac- 
count ot  Juverna's  luxuriant  grasses,  which  he  says  injure  cattle. 
And  the  true  statement  that  there  is  no  snake  in  the  Island  he  coun- 
terbalances by  the  misstatements  that  there  are  few  birds  in  it,  and 
that  the  inhabitants  are  inhospitable! 

Seemingly  forgetful  of  the  fact  that  even  the  early  Chriv 
tians  were  accused  of  eating  human  Hesh,  St.  Jerome  accused 
the  Irish  of  cannibalism.  And  a  reason  suggested  for  his  mak- 
ing tiie  wild  accusation  was  because  he  smarted  under  the  scath- 
ing criticism  of  the  Irish  Celcstius — "an  Alban  dog,"  as  the 
good  sharp-tongued  Father  calls  him,  "stuffed  with  Irish  por- 
ridge." 

The  careful  Ptolemy,  in  the  second  century,  gives  a  map  of 
Ireland  which  (from  a  foreigner  in  that  age  of  the  world)  is  re- 
markable for  the  general  correctness  of  the  outline,  and  more  note- 
worthy features.  He  names  sixteen  "peoples"  (tribes)  inhabiting 
it  (the  names  of  half  of  them  being  now  recognised),  and  he  men- 
tions several  "cities" — probably  royal  residences. 

With  the  exception  of  Ptolemy  who,  in  all  likelihood,  derived 
his  knowledge  from  the  trading  Phoenicians,  the  early  Greek  and 
Latin  writers  only  knew  of  Ireland  that  it  was  an  island  sitting  in 
the  Western  ocean,  and  remarkable  for  its  verdure.  Yet  the  Phoe- 
nicians were  probably  well  acquainted  with  its  ports.  Tacitus  says, 
"The  Irish  ports  in  the  first  century  were  well  known  to  commerce 
and  merchants." 

The  great  antiquity  of  Ireland,  incidentally  acknowledged  by 
foreign  writers  of  olden  time,  is,  as  might  be  expected,  sometimes 
fantastically  exaggerated  by  ancient  native  writers. 

We  have  the  legend  set  down  by  several  early  Irish  writers 
that  a  Greek,  Partholan,  with  his  people  came  here  a  few  hun- 
dred years  after  the  flood.  The  Island  of  Inis  Saimer,  in  the 
mouth  of  the  River  Erne,  at  Ballyshanny,  is  named  after  Par- 
tholan's  favourite  hound.  A  plague  exterminated  the  Parthola- 
nians. 

But,  not  to  be  outdone  in  antiquity,  by  any  European  nation, 
some  very  ancient  Irish  poets  people  their  country  even  before 
the  flood — when,  they  say,  in  a  well-known  legend,  that  the  Lady 
Cesair  came  with  her  father  Bith.  a  grandson  of  Noah,  and  their 


22  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

following  to  Ireland,  hoping  to  escape  the  flood — ^but  in  vain.' 

3  Yet  another  legend,  of  nruch  later  origin,  tells  that  one  of  the  Lady  Cesair's 
party  did  escape,  namely,  Finntann,  a  grandson  of  Bith,  who  kept  afloat  during  the 
deluge — and  lived  afterwards,  seemingly  immortal,  at  Dun  Tulcha  in  southwestern 
Kerry.  Finntann  reappeared  in  Irish  history,  on  a  notable  occasion  some  thou- 
sands of  years  later,  when,  in  the  reign  of  Diarmuid  MacCarroll,  in  the  sixth  cen- 
tury of  our  Era,  this  veteran,  turned  up  at  Tara  to  settle,  by  testimony  taken  from 
his  long  memory,  a  dispute  about  the  limits  of  the  Royal  Demesne.  Great  was 
the  awed  wonder  at  the  King's  palace,  when  the  old  man  arrived,  preceded  by 
nine  companies  of  his  own  descendants,  and  followed  by  another  nine.  To  prove 
the  fitness  of  his  memory,  for  testifying  what  had  or  had  not  been  from  the  found- 
ing of  Tara  downward,  he  gave  the  wondering  king  and  people  some  little  idea  of 
his  age,  by  telling  them  the  following  story:  "I  passed  one  day  through  a  wood 
in  West  Munster :  I  brought  home  with  me  a  red  berry  of  the  yew  tree,  which  I 
planted  in  the  garden  of  my  mansion,  and  it  grew  there  until  it  was  as  tall  as  a 
man.  I  then  took  it  out  of  the  garden,  and  planted  it  in  the  green  lawn  of  my 
mansion ;  and  it  grew  in  the  centre  of  that  lawn  until  an  hundred  champions  could 
fit  under  the  foliage,  and  find  shelter  there  from  wind,  and  rain,  and  cold,  and 
heat.  I  remained  so,  and  my  yew  remained  so,  spending  our  time  alike,  until  at 
last  it  ceased  to  put  forth  leaves,  from  old  age.  When,  afterwards,  1  thought  of 
turning  it  to  some  profit,  I  cut  it  from  its  stem,  and  made  from  it  seven  vats, 
seven  keeves,  seven  stans,  seven  churns,  seven  pitchers,  seven  milans  and  sevwi 
medars,  with  hoops  for  all.  I  remained  still  with  my  yew-vessels,  until  their 
hoops  all  fell  off  from  decay  and  old  age.  After  this  I  re-made  them,  but  could 
only  get  a  keeve  out  of  the  vat,  and  a  stan  out  of  the  keeve,  a  mug  out  of  the  stan, 
a  cilorn  out  of  the  mug,  a  milan  out  of  the  cilorn,  and  a  medar  out  of  the  milan — 
and  I  leave  it  to  Almighty  God  that  I  do  not  know  where  their  dust  is  now,  after 
their  dissolution  with  me,  from  decay." 


CHAPTER  VI 

CONOR  MAC  NKSSA 

At  the  time  of  Christ,  as  said,  there  reigned  over  Ulster — residing 
at  Emain  Macha  (Emania) — a  king  noted  in  ancient  song  and 
story,  Conor  MacNessa. 

He  was  a  great  grandson  of  Rory  Mor,  a  powerful  Ulster  ruler 
who  had  become  monarch  of  Ireland,  and  Mho  was  the  founder  of 
the  Rudrician  line  of  Ulster  kings. 

The  memory  of  Conor  MacNessa  is  imperishably  preserved  in 
the  tale  of  The  Sons  of  Usnach  and  in  the  greater  tale  of  The 
Tain  Bo  Cuailgne  (Coolney) — not  by  any  means  with  honour,  in 
the  former. 

Emain  Macha  was  the  headquarters  of  the  famed  Knights  of 
the  Royal  Branch — now  more  commonly  known  as  the  Knights  of 
the  Red  Branch.  And  it  was  in  the  days  of  Conor,  and  at  his  court, 
that  these  warrior  champions  reached  the  climax  of  their  fame. 
For  he  was  himself  a  doughty  champion,  an  .able  leader,  and  a 
great  man — inspiration  sufficient  for  such  band  of  chivalrous  war- 
riors as  now  rallied  around  him.  In  one  of  the  tales  of  The  Tain 
there  is  given  by  the  herald  MacRoth,  a  poetic  description  of  this 
king,  which  at  least  tallies  with  what  we  would  wish  to  think  such 
royal  king  must  be.  Detailing  to  Queen  Medb  (Maeve)  of  Con- 
naught  and  her  courtiers,  a  description  of  what  he  saw  at  the  enemy 
Ulster  camp,  MacRoth  says:  "A  tall  graceful  champion  of  noble, 
polished,  and  proud  mien,  stood  at  the  head  of  the  party.  This 
most  beautiful  of  the  kings  of  the  world  stood  among  his  troops 
with  all  the  signs  of  obedience,  superiority,  and  command.  He 
wore  a  mass  of  yellow,  curling,  drooping  hair.  He  had  a  pleasing, 
ruddy  countenance.  He  had  a  deep,  blue,  sparkling,  piercing  eye 
in  his  head  and  a  two-branching  beard,  yellow,  and  curling  upon 
his  chin.  He  wore  a  crimson,  deep-bordcrcd,  five-folding  tunic;  a 
gold  pin  in  the  tunic  over  his  bosom;  and  a  brilliant  white  shirt, 
interwoven  with  thread  of  red  gold,  next  his  white  skin." 

The  deeds  of  the  Red  Branch  Knights  in  Conor's  day,  over  and 
over  again  chronicled  by  succeeding  generations  of  poets  and  chron- 

23 


24  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

iclers,  have  not  been,  and  never  will  be,  forgotten.  And  Conor 
MacNessa  was  part  of  it  all. 

His  first  wife  was  the  Amazonian  Medb  (Maeve)  just  men- 
tioned, a  daughter  of  Eocaid,  the  Ard-Righ  (High  King)  of  Ire- 
land. Afterwards,  as  queen  of  Connaught  and  the  instigator  of 
the  great  Connaught-Ulster  war  (commemorated  in  The  Tain  Bo 
Cuailgne)  she,  too,  was  destined  to  become  immortal.  From  her — 
who  needed  a  husband  to  whom  she  could  be  both  master  and  mis- 
tress— Conor  had  to  separate.  He  found  his  happiness  with  her 
sister,  Ethne,  whom  he  took  to  wife  then,  and  who  proved  to  be 
all  that  was  indicated  by  her  name — Ethne,  that  is  "sweet  kernel 
of  a  nut." 

Conor  was  not  only  a  warrior  and  a  patron  of  warriors,  but  a 
patron  of  scholars  and  poets,  also.  His  Ard-file  (chief  poet)  was 
the  great  Ferceirtne — to  whom  some  writers  of  a  thousand  years 
ago  were  wont  to  ascribe  a  rude  grammar  of  the  Gaehc  language, 
one  of  four  books  of  ancient  grammar,  preserved  in  the  Book  of 
Leinster.  "The  place  of  writing  this  book,"  says  the  prefatory 
note  to  the  grammar,  "was  Emania;  the  time  was  the  time  of  Conor 
MacNessa,  the  author  was  Ferceirtne,  the  poet:  and  the  cause  of 
composing  it  was  to  bring  the  ignorant  and  barbarous  to  true 
knowledge." 

Conor,  patron  of  poetry  and  the  arts,  was  a  practical  man  who 
is  said  to  have  struck  from  learning  the  oppressive  shackles  of 
tradition  that  hitherto  had  cramped  and  bound  it.  Till  his  day  the 
learned  professions,  both  for  sake  of  monopoly  and  of  effect  upon 
the  multitude,  used  an  archaic  language  that  only  the  initiated  un- 
derstood, and  that  awed  the  mass  of  the  people.  Once,  however, 
the  young  poet,  Neide,  son  of  Ferceirtne's  predecessor  at  Conor's 
court,  having  just  won  his  poetic  laurels,  came  to  the  court  of 
Conor,  where  finding  the  poet's  mani-colored  tui^in  (mantle)  — 
made  of  the  skins  and  wings  of  birds — lying  on  the  poet's  chair, 
he  assumed  the  mantle,  and  took  the  poet's  seat.  When  Fer- 
ceirtne discovered  this,  he,  highly  indignant,  rebuked  Neide,  com- 
manding him  to  resign  both  the  chair  and  the  tuig'in.  King  Conor, 
to  whom  the  matter  was  referred,  commanded  that  it  should  be 
decided  by  a  learned  controversy  between  the  two  poets.  The  occa- 
sion of  the  controversy,  in  the  presence  of  the  king,  the  court,  and 
the  general  public,  was  a  great  one.  But  to  every  one's  disappoint- 
ment, though  the  two  scholars  disputed  long,  and  no  doubt  learn- 
edly, no  one  there — with  the  possible  exception  of  the  two  prin- 
cipals— was  any  wiser  at  the  end  than  at  the  beginning.  For  they 
had  used  the  obsolete  language  of  the  scholars. 


COx\OR  iVlAC  NESSA  25 

Conor,  provoked  and  disgusted,  at  once  ordered  that  the  pro- 
fessions should  not  henceforth  remain  in  the  hereditary  possession 
of  the  ancient  learned  families — but  should  be  thrown  open  to  all, 
irrespective  of  family  or  rank. 

Yet  Conor's  reverence  for  poets  was  such  that  he  saved  them 
from  expulsion,  when,  once  they  were  threatened  with  death  or 
exile,  because,  having  grown  so  vast  numbers,  and  got  to  be  lazy, 
covetous,  tyrannous,  they  had  become  an  almost  unbearable  bur- 
den upon  the  multitude.  O'Curry,  indeed,  says  that  in  Conor's 
time  so  far  had  the  taste  for  learning  of  all  kinds,  in  poetr}%  music, 
Druidism  in  particular,  seized  on  the  mind  of  the  nation,  that  more 
than  one-third  of  the  men  of  Eirinn  had  then  given  themselves  up 
to  the  unproductive  sciences.  Conor  gathered  twelve  hundred 
poets,  it  is  said,  into  his  dominion,  and  protected  them  there  for 
seven  years,  till  the  anger  of  the  people  had  abated,  and  they  could 
scatter  themselves  over  Ireland  once  more. 

The  famous  story  of  Delrdre  and  the  Sons  of  Usnach,  how- 
ever— though  it  be  a  legend  splendidly  elaborated  by  the  poet,  but 
yet,  we  may  well  suppose,  based  upon  facts — would  show  that  King 
Conor,  for  all  his  kingliness,  was  sometimes  no  better  than  kings 
are  supposed  to  be.  According  to  it,  he  betrayed  the  immortal 
Naoisi  and  his  brothers,  and  drove  the  beautiful  Deirdre  to  her 
death.  The  sorrows  of  Deirdre  as  told  in  the  story  of  The  Sons 
of  Usnach  is  one  of  the  Three  Sorrows  of  Irish  story-telling.^ 

1  Deirdre  was  the  daughter  of  Gsnor's  story-teller,  Feidlimid,  and  was  born 
on  a  night  when  Conor  was  at  the  house  of  Feidlimid.  Conor's  Druid  there  and 
then  foretold  that  this  babe  would  be  the  cause  of  misfortunes  untold  coming  upon 
Ulster. 

To  prevent  this,  Conor  took  charge  of  the  babe.  Had  her  confined  in  a  fort 
where  she  should  be  reared  up,  without  seeing  any  one  except  a  nurse  and  a  tutor, 
and  Conor's  spokeswoman — and  when  she  should  reach  maturity,  he  would  make 
her  his  wife. 

As  a  young  maiden,  however,  she  managed  to  see  Naisi,  eldest  of  the  three 
sons  of  Usnach,  and  immediately  fell  in  love  with  him,  and  asked  him  to  elope  with 
her.  Accompanied  by  Naisi's  two  brothers,  Andli  and  Ardan,  they  fled  to  Alba. 
After  a  time  they  had  to  leave  Alba,  because  the  king  had  seen  the  rare  beauty  of 
Deirdre  and  coveted  her.     So  they  went  off  upon  one  of  the  islands. 

Conor's  nobles,  pitying  the  distress  and  sufferings  of  the  wandering  lovers, 
pleaded  for  their  forgiving  and  recall  Conor  appeared  to  consent  to  all  this. 
Deirdre  and  the  three  sons  of  Usnach  returned  joyfully  to  Emania.  On  the  green 
of  Emania  a  body  of  Conor's  friends,  led  by  Eogan,  fell  upon  the  three  sons  of 
Usnach  and  slew  them,  and  Conor  then  took  the  broken-hearted  Deirdre  to  himself. 

For  his  treachery  Fergus  MacRigh  whose  honor  Conor  had  pledged  for  the 
safety  of  the  sons  of  Usnach,  led  a  fierce  assault  upon  Emania,  in  which  Conor's 
son  was  slain,  and  300  of  his  people,  Emain  itself  pillaged  and  burned. 

Deirdre  was  with  Conor  for  a  year,  during  which  tirne  she  was  never  once 
seen  to  raise  up  her  head,  or  smile.  No  amusement  or  kindness  had  any  effect 
upon  her,  neither  wit  nor  mirth  could  move  the  lowness  of  her  spirit. 

Incensed  at  her  attitude,  Conor  at  the  end  of  the  year,  gave  her  to   Eogan. 


26  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

It  is  recorded  that  the  Danes  made  descent  upon  Ireland  in 
King  Conor's  day.  They  are  said  to  have  besieged,  about  this 
time,  a  stronghold  on  the  site  Avhere  now  stands  Dublin.  The  an- 
cient seanachies  tell  in  particular  of  one  battle,  fought  at  Emain 
Macha  against  the  Danes,  under  their  commander,  Daball,  the  son 
of  the  King  of  Lochlinn  (Denmark) — Vvhereat  Conor,  having  only 
youths  to  put  in  the  lield.against  the  invaders,  had  the  youth's  faces 
dressed  with  wool,  so  that  their  enemies,  instead  of  being  heart- 
ened to  victory  by  knowing  that  an  army  of  youngsters  was  coming 
against  them,  Avere  instead  disheartened  by  the  idea  that  they  were 
meeting  battle-tried  veterans. 

Conor  died  by  a  brain-ball  that  sunk  into  his  skull — fired  by  the 
hand  of  Cet  MacMagach,  the  Connaught  champion,  whom  he  had 
pursued  after  a  Connaught  cattle  raid. 

The  legend  attached  to  Conor's  death  is  curious.  The  .brain- 
ball  fired  by  Cet  did  not  directly  kill  him.  It  sank  into  his  skull — 
and  his  doctor,  Faith  Liag,  would  not  remove  it,  because  that  would 
cause  instant  death.  With  care,  Conor  might  live  long,  carrying 
the  brain-ball.  Henceforth,  however,  he  must  be  moderate  in  all 
things,  avoid  all  passion,  all  violent  emotion  and  lead  such  a  life 
of  calm  as  kings  in  those  days  rarely  knew. 

Under  Faith  Liag's  wise  care  Conor  contrived  to  live  and  en- 
joy life  for  seven  years.  But,  one  time,  his  court  was  thrown  into 
consternation  by  finding  broad  day  suddenly  turned  into  blackest 
night,  the  heavens  rent  by  lightning,  and  the  world  rocked  by  thun- 
der, portending  some  dread  cataclysm.  Conor  asked  his  Druids 
and  wise  men  for  explanation  of  the  fearful  happening.  The  Druid 
Bachrach,  a  noted  seer,  told  him  that  there  had  been  in  the  East, 
in  one  of  the  many  countries  under  the  dominion  of  Rome,  a  singu- 
lar man,  more  noble  of  character,  more  lofty  of  mind,  and  more 
beautiful  of  soul,  tban  the  world  had  ever  before  known,  or  ever 
again  would  know — a  divine  man,  a  God-man,  who  spent  his  life 
lifting  up  the  lowly,  and  leading  the  ignorant  to  the  light,  and  giv- 
ing new  hope  to  a  hopeless  world — one,  too,  who  loved  all  man- 
kind with  a  love  that  surpassed  understanding — one,  the  touch  of 
whose  gentle  hand  gave  speech  to  the  dumb,  sight  to  the  blind,  life 

the  chief  of  Fernmach,  the  man  who  for  him  had  done  the  base  deed  to  the  sons 
of  Usnach. 

As  they  took  her  away  from  Conor's  residence  to  the  residence  of  Eogan. 
she  wildly  leaped  from  the  chariot,  her  head  struck  a  sharp  rock,  and  she  was 
killed. 

Ferpus  MacRicrh  and  his  companions  with  3,000  followers  quitted  Ulster  after 
Conor's  treachery,  and  went  into  Connaught  where  ^ey  took  service  in  the  army 
of  Siedh. 


CONOR  MAC  NESSA  27 

to  the  dead.  He  was  the  noblest,  greatest,  most  beautiful,  most 
loving  of  men.  And  now  the  heavens  and  the  earth  Vvcre  thrown 
into  agony  because  on  this  day  the  tyrant  Roman,  jealous  of  his 
power  over  the  people,  had  nailed  him  high  upon  a  cross,  and  be- 
tween two  crucified  thieves,  had  left  the  divine  man  to  die  a  fearful 
death. 

Fired  to  rage  by  the  thought  of  the  terrible  injustice  meted 
out  to  such  a  noble  one,  Conor  MacNessa,  snatching  down  the 
sword  that  had  not  been  unsheathed  for  seven  years,  and  crying, 
**Show  me  the  accursed  wretches  who  did  this  base  deed !"  burst 
through  the  restraining  ring  of  courtiers,  leapt  into  the  storm, 
dashed  through  a  grove  of  trees,  fiercely  hewing  down  their  bend- 
ing branches  and  shouting,  "Thus  would  I  treat  the  slayers  of  that 
noble  Man,  could  I  but  reach  them." 

Under  the  strain  of  the  fierce  passion  that  held  him  the  brain- 
ball  burst  from  King  Conor's  head — and  he  fell  dead.' 

2  Some  say  that  it  was  a  Roman  Consul,  Altus,  who  informed  Conor  of  the 
death  of  Christ.  Still  others  say  it  was  the  Royal  Branch  champion,  Conal  Cear- 
nach — who  had  been  a  prisoner  with  the  Romans,  and  who  had  been  taken  by 
them  to  the  Hmits  of  their  Empire,  in  the  course  of  which  expedition,  he  was  in 
Jerusalem  on  the  day  of  days,  and  witnessed  the  Crucifixion.  "A  representative 
of  every  race  of  mankind,"  says  the  legend,  "was  on  the  Hill  of  Calvary  at  the 
dreadful  hour."  Conal  Ceaniach  represented  the  Gael.  The  beautiful  story  of 
Conal  Cearnach  at  the  Crucifuiion  is  related  by  Ethiia  Carbery  in  her  book  "From 
the  Celtic  Past" 


CHAPTER  VII 


CUCilULLAIN 


Those  days  when  Conor  MacNessa  sat  on  the  throne  of  Ulster 
were  brilliant  days  in  Ireland's  history.  Then  was  the  sun  of  glory 
in  the  zenith  of  Eire's  Heroic  period — the  period  of  chivalry, 
chiefly  created  by  the  famous  Royal  or  Red  Branch  Knights  of 
Emania.  Though,  two  other  famous  bands  of  Irish  warriors  gave 
added  lustre  to  the  period — the  Gamanraide  of  the  West  (who 
were  Firbolgs),  and  the  Clanna  Deaghaid  of  Munster  led  by  Curoi 
iVIacDaire. 

All  three  warrior  bands  had  their  poets  and  their  seanachies, 
who  chanted  their  deeds  in  imperishable  song  and  story  which, 
down  the  dim  ages,  have  since  held  spell-bound  the  clan  of  the  Gael. 

But  the  greatest,  the  most  belauded,  and  the  most  dazzling  of 
all  the  heroes  of  that  heroic  age  was  undoubtedly  CuchuUain,  of 
whose  life  and  wondrous  deeds,  real  and  imaginary,  hundreds  of 
stories  still  exist.^ 

No  cycle  of  Irish  story  with  the  one  possible  exception  of  the 
Finian  cycle  (whose  time  is  a  couple  of  centuries  later)  can  at  all 
compare  with  the  wondrously  rich,  and  extensive,  Cuchullain  cycle. 
And  in  the  legendary  literature  of  the  whole  world,  by  few  other 
cycles  is  it  surpassed. 

Cuchullain  was  a  foster-son  of  King  Conor.  '*I  am  little  Se- 
tanta,  son  to  Sualtim,  and  Dectaire  your  sister,"  he  told  the  ques- 
tioning king,  when,  as  a  boy,  in  whose  breast  the  fame  of  the  Red 
Branch  warriors  had  awaked  the  thirst  for  glory,  he  came  up  to 
the  court  of  Emania.  \Vhen  he  arrived  there  the  youths  in  train- 
ing were  playing  caman  upon  the  green.  /\nd  having  taken  with 
him  from  home  his  red  bronze  hurl  and  his  silver  ball,  the  little 
stranger,  going  in  among  them,  so  outplayed  all  the  others,  that 
the  attention  of  the  court  was  drawn  to  him.     And  it  was  then  that 


*  The  name  of  Cu-chullain,  Cnllan's  hound,  he  took  because  once,  as  a  little 
lad,  when  h«-  approached  the  house  of  Cullaii  and  was  ferociously  attacked  by  the 
smith's  great  watch-liound,  Sctanta  tore  the  hound  asunder — and  then  pityingf  the 
bereaved  Cullan  said,  "I  shall  henceforth  be  your  hound,  O  Cullan." 

28 


CUCHULLAIN  29 

the  little  stranger  gave  the  above  reply  to  the  question  of  the  ad- 
miring King. 

The  eager  attention  of  the  warriors  of  the  Red  Branch  was 
drawn  to  this  bright  lad,  and  they  foresaw  great  things  for  him, 
when  they  heard  him  express  himself  nobly  and  wonderfully,  on  the 
day  that,  in  Emania,  in  the  Hall  of  Heroes,  he  took.  arms. 

When  a  youth  had  decided  to  take  up  the  profession  of  arms, 
a  certain  day  was  appointed  for  the  solemn  ceremony  that  dedi- 
cated him  thereto.  The  day  of  dedication  chosen  by  Cuchullain 
was  disapproved  of  by  the  Druids,  who  having  read  the  omens, 
pronounced  that  the  youth  who  took  arms  on  this  day  would  be 
short-lived,  though  he  should  win  great  fame,  so  his  friends  would 
dissuade  the  eager  youth  from  taking  arms  to-day.  In  answer  to 
them,  the  youth,  standing  up  in  the  Hall  of  Heroes,  with  spear  in 
one  hand,  and  shield  in  the  other,  exclaimed:  "I  care  not  whether 
I  die  to-morrow  or  next  year,  if  only  my  deeds  live  after  me." 

And  in  his  after  career  he  amply  fulfilled  the  rich  promise  that 
lay  in  his  words.     He  was  to  become  his  country's  immortal  hero. 

And  the  memory  of  this  hero  has  run  the  gauntlet  of  strange 
vicissitudes  in  Ireland — the  greatness  of  the  man  excessively  stimu- 
lating the  imagination  of  the  poet,  in  the  course  of  centuries,  caus- 
ing his  reality  to  be  lost  in  legend;  and  in  the  course  of  further 
centuries,  the  greatness  of  the  legendary  Cuchullain  creating  for 
him  a  new  reality  in  the  minds  of  the  Irish  people. 

His  legendary  history  is  recounted  in  many  stories  in  the  great- 
est of  Irish  epics,  "The  Tain  Bo  Cuailgne" — the  Cattle-raid  of 
Cuailgne.  The  plan  of  the  very  great,  very  a/icient,  epic  of  The 
Tain  Bo  Cuailgne  is  roughly  this:  Queen  Mcdb  (Maeve)  of  Con- 
naught,  who  was  daughter  of  the  Ard-Righ  of  Ireland,  Eochaid 
Feidlech,  and  was  first  the  w'ife  of  Conor  MacNessa,  King  of 
Ulster,  secured  for  herself  the  kingdom  of  Connaught,  through  a 
second  marriage.  And  by  a  third  marriage  she  had  Ailill,  of  Lein- 
ster,  as  her  consort  and  understudy.  Once  this  queen  Maeve  and 
her  King  Ailill  got  counting  and  matching  their  worldly  possessions. 
Throughout  long  and  detailed  reckoning  of  these  possessions,  it 
was  found  that  neither  one  had  any  advantage  over  the  other  in 
worldly  wealth — until,  at  length,  it  was  discovered  that  Ailill,  in 
his  herds,  had  one  precious  bull  which  Maeve  in  her  herds  could 
not  equal.  Furthermore,  in  all  Ireland,  there  was  no  bull  to  equal 
him,  with  the  single  exception  of  the  celebrated  brown  bull  of 
Cuailgne  (in  the  present  County  of  Louth).  To  the  chief  of 
Cuailgne  Maeve  sent  a  courier,  to  request  the  loan  of  his  valuable 
animal,  so  that  her  herd  might  surpass  Ailill's.     And  since  it  was 


30  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

natural  that  he  might  not  wish  to  let  out  of  his  sight  this  precious 
bull,  the  chief  was  invited  to  come  with  the  bull  to  the  Connaught 
court,  and  there  be  royally  entertained  as  long  as  the  bull  remained 
on  loan. 

The  request  was  readily  granted;  but  unfortunately  Maeve's 
courier  in  his  cups  that  night  had  vaunted  that  if  the  bull  had  been 
denied  to  Maeve,  she  and  her  forces  would  have  come  and  taken 
it  anyhow.  The  account  of  the  boasting  was  carried  to  the  Cuailgne 
chief,  who  immediately  ordered  Maeve's  courier  back  to  Con- 
naught — without  the  bull. 

Then  Maeve,  enraged  and  determined,  mobilised  a  great  army 
for  the  invasion  of  Ulster  (which  was  enemy-ground,  anyhow)  and 
for  the  forcible  carrying  off  of  the  brown  bull  of  Cuailgne.  She 
had  all  the  Connaught  forces,  chief  among  them  the  Fir  Dom- 
nainn  Knights,  under  their  leader,  Ferdiad;  and  she  had  a  splendid 
body  of  Ulster  malcontents,  under  Fergus  MacRigh  (cousin  to 
King  Conor  MacNessa),  who  were  eager  to  revenge  themselves 
upon  Conor  and  their  native  province.  And  she  had  also  the 
armies  of  her  allies,  from  the  other  three-fifths  of  Ireland. 

With  this  mighty  army  she  marched  upon  Ulster — in  the  gap 
of  which  provmce  they  were  met  by  the  redoubtable  Cuchullain — 
who  standing  in  the  gap  of  Ulster,  and  defending  it  against  Maeve, 
and  the  four-fifths  of  Ireland,  is  henceforth  the  hero  and  the  great 
central  figure  in  the  Tain. 

Not  only  are  his  wonderful  deeds  in  this  wonderful  fight  here 
recorded,  but  frequently  the  palpitating  narrative  is  suspended,  to 
give  the  seanachie  time  to  recite  some  deed,  relate  some  incident,  or 
give  us'some  glimpse,  of  the  great  hero's  earlier  career. 

The  greatest,  most  exciting,  portion  of  this  great  and  exciting 
epic  is  the  account  of  our  hero's  fight  with  his  friend,  Ferdiad,  at 
the  ford,  where,  single-handed,  he  is  holding  at  bay  the  forces  of 
Connaught.  Ferdiad  is  the  great  Connaught  champion,  chief,  as 
said,  of  the  Connaught  Knights  of  the  Sword,  the  Fir  Domniann 
and  a  dear  friend  and  comrade  of  Cuchullain,  since,  in  their  youth, 
they  were  training  for  the  profession  of  arms.  And  it  is  now  sore 
for  Cuchullain  to  fight  the  soul-friend  whom  the  Connaught  host 
has  pitted  against  them.  He  would  dissuade  Ferdiad  from  fight- 
ing, by  reminding  him  of  their  comradeship,  when  they  were  to- 
gether learning  the  art  of  war  from  the  female  champion,  Scathach, 
in  Alba. 

"We  were  heart  cni7i|iaiiions, 

Wc  were  companions  in  the  woods 
Wr  were  fellows  of  the  same  bed. 


CUCHULLAIN  31 

Where  \vc  used  to  sleep  the  balmy  sleep. 

After  mortal  battles  abroad, 

In  countries  many  and  far  di'^tant, 

Together  we  used  to  practise,  and  go 

Through  eadi  forest,  learning  with  Scathach."- 

But  rerdlad  had  not  the  tenderness  of  CuchuUain,  and  would 
not  let  fond  memories  turn  him  from  his  purpose.  Indeed  lest  he 
might  yield  to  the  weakness  of  temotation,  he  forced  himself  to 
answer  CuchuUain's  tenderness  with  taunts,  so  as  to  provoke  the 
combat.     And  fight  they  finally  did. 

"Each  of  them  began  to  cast  spears  at  the  other,  from  the  full 
middle  of  the  day  till  the  close  of  the  evening;  and  though  the  ward- 
ing off  was  of  the  best,  still  the  throwing  was  so  superior,  that  each 
of  them  bled,  reddened,  and  wounded  the  other,  in  that  time.  'Let 
us  desist  from  this,  now  O  CuchuUain,*  said  Ferdiad.  'Let  us  de- 
sist,' said  CuchuUain. 

"Tiiey  ceased.  They  threw  away  their  arms  from  them  into  the 
hands  of  their  charioteers.  Each  of  them  approached  the  other  forth- 
with, and  each  put  his  hands  around  the  other's  neck,  and  gave  him 
three  kisses.  Their  horses  were  in  the  same  paddock  that  night,  and 
their  charioteers  at  the  same  fire;  and  their  charioteers  spread  beds 
of  green  rushes  for  them,  fitted  with  wounded  men's  pillows.  The 
professors  of  healing  and  curing  came  to  heal  and  cure  them,  and 
they  applied  herbs  and  plants  of  healing  and  curing  to  their  stabs 
and  their  cuts  and  their  gashes,  and  to  all  their  wounds.  Of  every 
herb  and  of  every  healing  and  curing  plant  that  was  put  to  the  stabs 
and  cuts  and  gashes  and  to  all  the  wounds  of  CuchuUain,  he  would 
send  an  equal  portion  from  him  westward  over  the  ford  to  Ferdiad, 
so  that  the  men  of  Eirinn  might  not  be  able  to  say,  should  Ferdiad 
fall  by  him,  that  it  was  by  better  means  of  cure  that  he  was  en- 
abled (to  kill  him). 

"Of  each  kind  of  food,  and  of  palatable,  pleasant,  intoxicating 
drink  that  was  sent  by  the  men  of  Eirinn  to  Ferdiad,  he  would  send 
a  fair  moiety  over  the  ford  northwards  to  CuchuUain  because  the 
purveyors  of  Ferdiad  were  more  numerous  than  the  purveyors  of 
CuchuUain." 

On  the  evening  of  the  second  day,  after  a  terribly  fierce 
combat — 

"They  threw  their  arms  from  them  into  the  hands  of  their 
charioteers.  Each  of  them  came  towards  the  other.  Each  of  them 
put  his  hands  round  the  neck  of  the  other,  and  bestowed  three  kisses 

-  This,  and  following  excerpts,  descriptive  of  the  fight,  are  from  O'Curry's 
translation. 


32  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

on  him.     Their  horses  were  in  the  same  enclosure,  and  their  chario- 
teers at  the  same  fire." 

When  the  fight  reaches  its  third  day  the  worn  and  wounded 
F'erdiad,  by  his  irritable  temper,  and  testy,  taunting  Avords,  shows 
that  he  is  getting  the  worst  of  it.  On  their  meeting,  CuchuUain 
notices  the  sad  change  that  has  come  over  Ferdiad's  darkened  coun- 
tenance: "It  is  not  from  fear  or  terror  of  thee  that  I  am  so  dis- 
dained," said  Ferdiad,  "for  there  is  not  in  Eirinn  this  day  a  cham- 
pion that  I  could  not  subdue."  And  again  he  says  vauntingly  of 
himself:  "Of  none  more  valiant  have  I  heard,  or  to  this  day  did 
I  ever  meet." 

CuchuUain  replies  to  his  boasting: 

"Not  one  has  yet  put  food  unto  his  lips, 
Nor  has  there  yet  been  born, 
Of  king  or  queen,  without  disgrace, 
One  for  whom  I  would  do  thee  evil." 

Cuchullain's  persistent  tenderness  backs  up  the  tide  of  Ferdiad's 
bad  humour,  and  gives  outlet  for  a  time  to  his  better  nature.  He 
replies: 

"O  CuchuUain  of  the  battle  triumph. 

It  was  not  thee,  but  Medb  that  betrayed  me. 
Take  thou  victor}-  and  fame, 
Thine  is  not  the  fault." 

Cuchullain's  reply: 

"My  faithful  heart  Is  a  clot  of  blood. 

From  me  my  soul  hath  nearly  parted, 
I  have  not  strength  for  feats  of  valour 
To  fight  with  thee,  O  Ferdiad." 

But  the  weariness  of  the  long,  long  struggle  had  so  sorely  told 
upon  both  of  them  that  there  is  bitterness  in  their  fight  to-day  as 
well  as  fierceness,  till  the  hour  of  even's  close. 

"  'Let  us  desist  now  from  this,  O  CuchuUain,'  said  Ferdiad. 

"  'Let  us  desist,  now,  indeed,  if  the  time  hath  come,'  said  Cuchul- 
lain.     They  ceased. 

"They  cast  their  arms  from  them  into  the  hands  of  their  chario- 
teers. Though  it  was  the  meeting — pleasant,  happy,  gricflcss,  and 
spirited  of  two  (men),  it  was  the  separation — mournful,  sorrowful, 
dispirited,  of  tvvo  (men)  that  night. 

"Their  horses  were  not  in  the  same  enclosure  that  night.  Their 
charioteers  were  not  nt  the  same  fire." 


CLLIILLI.AIX 


33 


As  will  have  been  noticed  from  the  references,  the  Reii  Brunch 
Knights  and  other  famous  knights  of  tiieir  day  used  chariots  and 
frequently  fought  from  them. 

Cuchullain's  charioteer,  Laeg,  is,  too,  clothed  in  immortality, 
because  of  the  frequent  references  to  him  in  The  lain.  Laeg's 
usefulness  to  Cuchullain  did  not  end  with  his  superb  ability  as  a 
charioteer:  he  was  worth  gold,  for  abusing  and  taunting  his  master 
into  hotter  ire  and  fiercer  effort,  whenever  in  the  course  of  a  fight 
his  master  relaxed,  or  weakened,  or  was  being  worsted. 

For  instance,  on  one  day  of  the  fight,  P'erdiad  who  evidently 
knew  a  little  psychology  and  profited  by  his  knowledge,  took  occa- 
sion, before  the  fight  began,  and  within  sight  of  Cuchullain,  to 
practise  himself  in  some  of  his  most  startling  sword  feats.  The 
display  had  its  desired  effect. 

"I  perceive,  my  friend,  Laeg"  (said  Cuchullain),  "the  noble,  va- 
ried, wonderful,  numerous  feats  which  Ferdiad  displays  on  high,  and 
all  these  feats  will  be  tried  on  me  in  succession,  and  therefore  it  is 
that  if  it  be  I  that  shall  begin  to  yield  this  day,  thou  art  to  excite, 
reproach,  and  speak  evil  to  me,  so  that  the  ire  of  my  rage  and  anger 
shall  grow  the  more  on  me.  If  it  be  I  that  prevail,  then  shalt  thou 
laud  me,  and  praise  me,  and  speak  good  words  to  me,  that  my  cour- 
age may  be  the  greater." 

"It  shall  so  be  done,  indeed,  O  Cuchullain,"  said  Laeg. 

And  it  was  so  done,  indeed.  When  Cuchullain  was  getting  the 
worst  of  it  that  day,  the  fourth  and  last,  the  faithful  Laeg  came  to 
his  rescue. 

"Alas,  indeed,"  said  Laeg,  "the  warrior  who  is  against  thee  casts 
thee  away  as  a  lewd  woman  would  cast  her  child.^  He  throws  thee 
as  foam  is  thrown  by  the  river.  He  grinds  thee  as  a  mill  would 
grind  fresh  malt.  He  pierces  thee  as  the  felling  axe  would  pierce 
the  oak.  He  binds  thee  as  the  woodbine  binds  the  tree.  He  darts 
on  thee  as  the  hawk  darts  on  small  birds,  so  that  henceforth  thou 
hast  not  call,  or  right,  or  claim  to  valour  or  bravery  to  the  end  of 
time  and  life,  thou  little  fairy  phantom." 

Laeg's  abusive  efforts  are  fruitful.  Cuchullain  rallies  to  the 
fight  more  fiercely,  more  terribly,  more  overpoweringly  than  ever, 
and  at  length  gives  to  his  friend,  Ferdiad,  the  coup  de  grace. 

"  'That  is  enough  now,  indeed,'  said  Ferdiad.  'I  fall  of  that. 
But  I  may  say,  indeed,  that  I  am  sickly  now  after  thee.  And  it 
did  not  behove  thee  that  I  should  fall  by  thy  hand.' 


34  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

"CuchuUain  ran  toward  him  after  that  and  clasped  his  two  arms 
about  him,  and  lifted  him  with  his  arms  and  his  armour. 

"CuchuUain  laid  Ferdiad  down  then;  and  a  trance,  and  a  faint, 
and  a  weaicness  fell  on  Cuchullain  over  Ferdiad  there." 

Laeg  called  upon  Cuchullain  to  arise,  because  the  Connaught 
host  would  be  so  frenzied  by  the  fall  of  their  champion  that  for- 
getting the  ethics  of  combat,  they  would  throw  themselves  upon 
Cuchullain. 

"  *\Vhat  availeth  me  to  arise,  O  servant,'  said  Cuchullain,  'after 
him  that  hath  fallen  by  me.*  " 

Cuchullain  deplores  what  he  calls  the  treachery  and  abandon- 
ment played  upon  Ferdiad  by  the  men  of  Connaught,  in  pitting 
Ferdiad  against  himself  who  is  Invincible.     And  he  sang  this  lay: 

"O  Ferdiad,  treachery  has  defeated  thee. 
Unhappy  was  thy  last  fate, 
Thou  to  die,  I  to  remain, 
Sorrowful  for  ever  is  our  perpetual  separation. 

"When  we  were  far  away,  in  Alba 

With  Scathach,  the  gifted  Buanand, 

We  then  resolved  that  till  the  end  of  time 

We  should  not  be  hostile  to  each  other. 

"Dear  to  me  was  thy  beautiful  ruddiness. 
Dear  to  me  thy  comely,  perfect  form. 
Dear  to  me  thy  grey  clear-blue  eye. 
Dear  to  me  thy  wisdom  and  thy  eloquence. 

"There  hath  not  come  to  the  body-cutting  combat, 
There  hath  not  been  aroused  by  manly  exertion. 
There  hath  not  held  up  shield  on  the  field  of  spears, 
Thine  equal,  O  ruddy  son  of  Daman. 

"Never  until  now  have  I  met, 
Since  I  slew  Aife's  only  son. 
Thy  like  in  deeds  of  battle — 
Never  have  I  found,  O  Ferdiad. 
•  ••••••• 

"There  has  not  come  to  the  gory  battle. 

Nor  has  Banba  nursed  upon  her  breast. 

There  has  not  come  off  sea,  or  land, 

Of  the  sons  of  Kings,  one  of  better  fame." 


CUCHULLAIX  35 

After  lony,  wars  and  doughty  deeds  done  on  both  sides,  Mcdb 
gets  the  coveted  brown  bull,  and  fights  her  way  back  to  Connaught 
with  the  rare  prize.  Yet,  does  he  make  Connaught,  in  its  very 
short  possession  of  him,  sorely  rue  his  carrying  away. 

As  the  account  of  Cuchullain's  fighting  gives  us  an  idea  of  the 
remarkable  chivalry  of  the  fighters  in  ancient  Eire — at  least  the 
chivalry  of  that  very  ancient  time  in  which  the  poet  wrote,  if  not 
of  that  time  in  which  the  hero  fought — so  the  account  of  his  court- 
ship gives  us  some  impression  of  the  quality  and  character  of  the 
women  of  Eire  in  the  faraway  time,  and  the  loftiness  of  men's 
ideals  regarding  them. 

When  Cuchullain,  chariot-driven  by  his  faithful  Laeg,  went  upon 
his  famous  courting  journey,  to  woo  the  Lady  Emer,  the  beautiful 
daughter  of  Forgaill  the  Brugaid  (Hospitaller)  of  Lusc,  the  spec- 
tacle was  impressive  to  all  the  wondering  ones  who  beheld  it.  When 
he  arrived  at  her  father's  Bruighean,  the  honoured  Lady,  modest  as 
she  was  beautiful,  was  on  the  Faithe  (lawn)  sewing,  and  teaching 
sewing  among  a  group  of  maidens,  daughters  of  the  neighbouring 
farmers.  The  hero  was  not  only  smitten  by  her  beauty  and  her 
modesty,  but  captivated  by  her  womanly  accomplishments. 

For  Emer  was  possessed  of  the  six  womanly  gifts,  namely,  "the 
gift  of  beauty  of  person,  the  gift  of  voice,  the  gift  of  music,  the  gift 
of  embroidering  and  needlework,  the  gift  of  wisdom,  and  the  gift 
of  virtuous  chastity." 

When,  to  her  maidenly  confusion,  she  learns  the  purpose  of 
Cuchullain's  visit,  she,  with  magnificent  modesty,  and  as  noble- 
hearted  generosity,  urges  upon  her  wooer  the  prior  and  superior 
claims  of  her  elder  sister,  thereby  involuntarily  making  herself 
doubly  desirable.  Beyond  all  doubt  she  is  and  must  be  the  one 
woman  in  all  the  Island  suited  to  mate  with  and  make  happy,  Eire's 
champion  most  renowned.  And  eventually  she  did  make  him 
happy. 

Cuchullain  died  as  a  hero  should — on  a  battlefield,  with  his 
back  to  a  rock  and  his  face  to  the  foe,  buckler  on  arm,  and  spear  in 
hand. 

He  died  standing,  and  in  that  defiant  attitude  (supported  by 
the  rock)  was  many  days  dead  ere  the  enemy  dared  venture  near 
enough  to  reassure  themselves  of  his  exit — which  they  only  did 
when  they  saw  the  vultures  alight  upon  him,  and,  undisturbed,  peck 
at  his  flesh. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

TWO  FIRST  CF.NTURY  LEADERS 

The  first  century  of  the  Christian  Era  saw  two  remarkable  move- 
ments in  Ireland — wherein  the  whole  national  structure  was  forcibly 
turned  upside  down  by  one  remarkable  man — and  then  as  forcibly 
re-adjusted  by  another  man  even  still  more  remarkable. 

These  two  great  leaders  were  the  usurper,  Carbri  Cinn  Cait, 
and  the  monarch,  Tuathal  the  Desired. 

It  was  early  in  the  first  century  that  occurred  the  great  Aithech 
Tuatha  revolution.  The  Aithech  Tuatha  meant  the  rent-pa^dng 
peoples.  They  were  probably  the  Firbolgs  and  other*  conquered 
peoples — who  had  been  in  bondage  and  serfdom  to  the  Milesians 
for  hundreds  of  years. 

Among  these  serfs  arose  an  able  leader,  chief  of  one  of  their 
tribes  in  Leinster,  named  Carbri  Cinn  Cait — which  some  translate 
"cat-head,"  a  term  of  derision  applied  to  him  by  the  Milesians — 
but  which  Sullivan  (introduction  to  O'Curry)  more  reasonably  in- 
terprets "head  of  the  unfree  ones." 

Amongst  these  people  who  by  the  Milesian  law  were  excluded 
from  every  profession,  art  and  craft  that  carried  honour,  and 
ground  down  by  rents  and  compulsory  toil,  this  remarkable  man 
succeeded  in  spreading  a  great,  silent  conspiracy.  When  they  were 
ripened  for  revolution,  the  Aithech  Tuatha  invited  all  the  royalties 
and  all  the  nobility  of  the  Milesians  to  a  great  feast,  on  a  plain  in 
the  Count}'  Galway,  which  is  now  called  Magh  Cro,  or  the  bloody 
plain,  and  there  treacherously  falling  upon  their  guests,  slew  them. 
After  which,  the  rent-payers,  for  five  years,  governed  the  land  with 
Cinn  Cait  as  their  monarch.  The  Four  Masters  say  of  Carbri's 
reign,  "Evil  was  the  state  of  Ireland:  fruitless  her  corn,  for  there 
used  to  be  only  one  grain  on  the  stock;  fruitless  her  rivers;  milk- 
less  her  cattle;  plentiless  her  fruit,  for  there  used  to  be  but  one 
acorn  on  the  stalk." 

On  the  death  of  Carbri,  his  son  Morann,  who  had  become  noted 
as  a  lawgiver  and  who  was  surnamed  "the  Just,"  refused  the  crown, 
and  said  that  it  should  be  given  to  the  rightful  one.     Now  Baine, 

36 


J  wo  riKSr  CKXTURV   LI.ADFRS  37 

wife  of  the  slain  King  of  Conn:uight,  and  daughter  of  the  King  of 
the  Picts,  wlio  was  pregnant,  and  visiting  her  father  in  Alba  at  the 
time  of  the  great  massacre,  had  borne  a  son,  Fcradach.  And  Fera- 
ciacli  Finn-fcactnach,  the  Fair  Righteous  One,  now  recalled  from 
Pict-land,  became  King  of  Ireland. 

But  his  reign  was  a  troubled,  unhappy  one.  For  the  unruly 
elements  were  reluctant  to  settle  down,  after  having  tasted  revolu- 
tion and  rapine.  Even  the  so-called  legitimate  chiefs  who  had  come 
to  their  own  again  were  restless  and  rebellious.  In  the  reign  of 
Fiacha  of  the  White  Cows,  occurred  another  revolution — in  which 
the  provincial  Milesian  kings  and  the  Aithech  Tuatha  seem  to  have 
been  banded  together.  They  overturned  the  reigning  house,  slew 
Fiacha,  and  placed  on  the  throne  Flim  of  Ulster — v,ho,  by  re- 
pressing the  Legitimists,  and  holding  the  favour  of  the  Aithech 
Tuatha,  managed  to  hold  to  his  insecure  position  during  a  stormy 
reign  of  20  years. 

But  the  favour  shown  the  Aithech  Tuatha,  and  the  power  they 
were  permitted  to  exercise,  so  angered  and  aroused  the  Milesian 
classes  that  they  recalled  from  his  exile  (in  Britain)  Tuathal 
Feachtmar — that  is  to  say,  Tuathal  the  Desired — the  son  of  Fiacha 
(and  sixth  in  descent  from  Eochaid  Feidlech,  the  father  of  Medb). 
A  great  portion  of  the  nation  joyfully  hailed  the  Desired  and 
rallied  to  his  standard.  And  at  the  Hill  of  Scire  in  Mcath  he 
overthrew  Elim,  who  was  killed  in  the  battle.  But  before  he  felt 
secure  upon  the  throne  of  Ireland,  Tuathal  had  to  fight  133  battles! 

Tuathal  broke  up  the  tribes  of  the  Aithech  Tuatha  and  scat- 
tered and  redistributed  them  over  the  land  in  such  way  that  they 
could  not  easily  combine  and  conspire  again. 

This  was  a  man  of  strong  character,  marked  ability,  and  great 
moral  power,  whose  reign  influenced  the  future  of  Ireland.  He 
established  order  in  a  land  that  had  been  for  half  a  century  in 
chaos.  He  fostered  trade,  and  instituted  laws  for  its  protection 
and  propagation.  He  made  a  new  and  important  fifth  province  of 
Meath — which  became  fixed  henceforward  as  the  Ard-Righ's 
(High-King's)  province.  Before  his  day  the  other  provinces  met 
at  the  hill  of  Uisnech  in  that  part  of  Ireland  which  is  now  called 
West  Meath.  From  each  of  these  he  cut  off  a  portion,  which,  at- 
tached to  the  former  small  domain  of  Meath  made  an  important, 
rich,  and  royal  Meath — enlarged  from  its  former  one  tuath  to 
eighteen  tuatha.  From  a  little  district  Meath  then  became  an  im- 
portant province — the  province  of  the  Ard-Righ  or  High  King  of 
all  Ireland.  In  each  of  the  four  cut  oft  portions,  moreover,  he 
erected  a  royal  residence — at  the  famous  location  where  the  four 


38  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

great  provincial  fairs  were  held,  namely,  at  Tlachtga  in  Leinster; 
at  Uisnech  in  Munster;  Cruachan  in  Connacht;  and  Taillte  in  Ul- 
ster. Tuathal  also  re-organised  the  great  National  Fairs  of  Ire- 
land, and  re-established  the  interrupted  Feis  or  Parliament  of  Tara. 
And  thus  did  the  country  and  the  Milesian  dynasty  recover,  un- 
der this  strong  man  from  the  staggering  revolution  of  the  Aithech 
Tuatha. 

One  other  most  notable  happening  in  this  king's  reign  was  the 
laying  upon  Leinster  of  the  famous  Boru  tribute — a  crime  which, 
for  long  centuries,  was  to  be  the  cause  of  bloody  wars  that  should 
shake  the  Island. 

This  was  the  origin  of  the  Boru  tribute:  Of  Tuathal's  two 
beautiful  daughters,  Dairine  and  Fithir,  the  former  wedded  King 
Eochaid  of  Leinster.  After  some  time,  however,  either  tiring  of 
her  or  coveting  the  beauty  of  her  younger  sister,  Eochaid  put 
Dairine  away,  and  confined  her  in  a  tower.  Giving  out  that  she 
was  dead,  he  went  in  mourning  to  the  court  of  Tara,  to  seek  con- 
solation. Tuathal  gave  him  that,  by  presenting  to  him  Fithir  for 
wife.  Eochaid  took  Fithir  with  him  to  the  court  of  Leinster, 
where,  after  a  time,  and  through  an  accident,  the  two  sisters  met 
face  to  face,  thus  discovering  a  hidden,  horrible  truth.  The  shock- 
ing discovery  of  the  double  shame  he  had  put  upon  them  over- 
whelmed with  mortification  and  grief  the  two  sisters;  and  they 
died,  broken-hearted. 

When  their  father,  the  High  King,  learnt  how  that  Eochaid 
had  brought  about  his  daughters'  dishonour  and  death,  he  rallied 
auxiliaries  to  his  aid,  and  marched  into  Leinster,  ravaging  it  as 
he  went.  The  province  and  its  king  were  saved  only  by  Eochaid's 
humiliated  submission,  and  his  binding  the  province  to  pay  to  the 
High  King  at  Tara,  every  alternate  year  for  an  indefinite  period, 
the  tremendous  tribute  which  came  to  be  known  as  the  Boru  or 
cow-tribute — five  thousand  cows,  five  thousand  hogs,  five  thousand 
cloaks,  five  thousand  vessels  of  brass  and  bronze,  and  five  thou- 
sand ounces  of  silver. 

This  crushine;  tribute  was  henceforth  laid  upon  Leinster,  by  the 
High  King  of  Tara  from  the  time  of  Tuathal  forward  till  the 
reign  of  Fionnachta,  a  period  of  five  hundred  years — but  in  most 
cases  having  to  be  lifted  with  steel  hands.  It  caused  more  bloody 
history  than  did  almost  any  other  festering  sore  with  which  Ireland 
was  ever  afflicted.  During  these  five  centuries  hardly  a  High  King 
sat  upon  the  throne  of  Tara,  who  did  not  have  to-  carry  the  bloody 
sword  into  Leinster  again  and  again,  forcibly  to  hack  his  pound 
of  flesh  from  off  that  province's  palpitating  body.     And  only  some- 


TWO  FIRST  Ci:N'i  LRV  LEADERS 


39 


times  was  the  fight  fought  between  Meath  and  Leinster  alone. 
Often,  through  aUianccs,  mutual  sympathies,  antagonisms,  hopes, 
or  dangers,  half  of  Ireland,  and  sometimes  all  of  Ireland  was  em- 
broiled. So,  together  with  much  that  was  good  Tuathal  left  to 
his  country  a  bloody  legacy.* 


*  Tuathal's  son,  who  succeeded  him,  Fcidlimid  Rcchtmar,  the  Lawgiver,  suc- 
cessfully pursued  his  father's  policy  of  making  the  laws  respected, — and  the  better 
to  achieve  the  noble  purpose,  devoted  himself  first  to  making  them  just — according 
to  his  lights.  He  established  the  I>ex  Talionis — tlie  law  of  an  eye  for  an  eye — a 
rude  and  severe  justice,  which  held  thereafter  in  Ireland  until  the  coming  of  Pat- 
rick. With  the  more  lenient  spirit  of  Christ,  which  he  introduced,  Patrick  ended  the 
reign  of  Feidlimid's  Lex  Talionis. 

For  still  one  other  thing  Feidlimid's  name  is  somewhat  memorable.  The  old 
seanachics  quaintly  record  of  him  that  "he  died  on  his  pillow,"  a  phrase  which 
indirectly  throws  a  flood  of  light  upon  the  abrupt  manner  in  which  the  kings  (of 
all  countries)  in  those  days  usually  made  their  exit  from  the  world. 


CHAPTER  IX 

CONN    OF    THE    HUNDRED    BATTLES 

The  celebrated  Conn  of  the  Hundred  Battles  was  a  son  of  Feid- 
limid,  the  son  of  Tuathal — though  he  did  not  immediately  succeed 
Feidlimid.  Between  them  reigned  Cathair  Mor,  who  was  the 
father  of  thirty  sons,  among  whom  and  their  posterity  he  attempted 
to  divide  Ireland,  and  from  whom  are  descended  the  chief  Leinster 
families. 

And  we  may  pause  to  note  that  Cathair  Mor  is  immortalised 
in  Irish  history  by  reason  of  a  famous  ancient  will  ascribed  to  him 
— a  will  that  is  of  value  because  of  the  light  it  sheds  upon  many 
things  of  prime  historical  interest  in  early  days.  In  this  will  we 
read,  for  instance,  that  he  left  to  Breasal,  his  son,  five  ships  of  bur- 
den; fifty  embossed  bucklers,  ornamented  with  border  of  gold  and 
silver;  five  swords  with  golden  handles;  and  five  chariots.  To 
Fiacha-Baiceade,  another  son,  he  left  fifty  drinking  cups;  fifty  bar- 
rels made  of  yew-tree;  and  fifty  piebald  horses,  the  bits  of  the 
bridles  made  of  brass.  He  left  to  Tuathal-Tigech,  son  of  Maine, 
his  brother,  ten  chariots;  five  play  tables;  five  chess-boards;  thirty 
bucklers,  bordered  with  gold  and  silver;  and  fifty  polished  swords. 
To  Daire  Barach,  another  of  his  sons,  he  left  one  hundred  and 
fifty  pikes,  the  wood  of  which  was  covered  with  plates  of  silver; 
fifty  swords  of  exquisite  workmanship;  five  rings  of  pure  gold;  one 
hundred  and  fifty  billiard-balls  of  brass,  with  pools  and  cues  of  the 
same  material;  ten  ornaments  of  exquisite  workmanship;  twelve 
chess-boards  with  chess  men.  To  Mogcorf,  son  of  Laogare  Birn- 
buadach,  he  left  a  hundred  cows  spotted  with  w'hite,  with  their 
calves,  coupled  together  with  yokes  of  brass;  a  hundred  bucklers; 
a  hundred  red  javelins;  a  hundred  brilliant  lances;  fifty  saffron-col- 
oured great-coats;  a  hundred  different  coloured  horses;  a  hundred 
drinking  cups  curiously  wrought;  a  hundred  barrels  made  of  yew- 
tree;  fifty  chariots  of  exquisite  workmanship;  fifty  chess-boards; 
fifty  tables  used  by  wrestlers;  fi ftv  trumpets;  fifty  large  copper 
boilers,  and  fiftv  standards;  with  the  right  of  being  a  member  of 

40 


CONN   ol-    11  li:   Ml  NOKl  1)   H.\riLi:S  41 

the  council  of  state  of  the  king  ol  Leinstcr.  La^tiy,  lie  bcijueathetl 
to  the  king  of  l.cix,  a  hundred  cows;  a  hundred  bucklers;  a  hun- 
dred swords;  a  hundred  pikes,  and  seven  standards." 

Cathair  Mor  was  succeeded  by  Conn  who  overthrew  him  in  a 
great  battle  in  Meath.  As  Conn's  title  suggests,  his  reign  was 
tilled  with  battling.  Conn's  strenuous  militancy  and  the  suggestive 
title  that  it  won  for  him,  made  him  famed  beyond  worthier  men — 
famed  through  the  generations  and  the  centuries — so  that  it  was 
the  greatest  pride  of  some  of  the  noblest  families  of  the  land  a 
thousand  years  and  more  after  his  time  to  trace  back  their  descent 
to  him  of  the  Hundred  Battles. 

But  against  Mogh  Nuadat  of  Munster  many  of  his  most  notable 
battles  were  fought.  And  in  Mogh,  Conn  had  an  opponent  worthy 
of  his  mettle. 

The  Southwestern  province,  Munster,  used  to  be  reigned  over, 
says  Keating,  alternately  by  the  two  races  that  inhabited  it,  the 
Ithians,  descendants  of  Mlleslus'  uncle,  Ith,  who  occupied  the  ex- 
treme Southwestern  angle,  comprising  the  remote  corners  of  the 
modern  counties  of  Cork  and  Kerry — and  the  Eberians,  descen- 
dants of  Mlleslus  through  Eber,  who  occupied  the  remainder  of 
the  province.  There  was  an  amicable  arrangement  between  these 
two  races  that  each  in  turn  should  rule  Munster.  And  when  one 
race  supplied  the  king,  the  other  supplied  the  chief  judge,  and  vice 
versa. 

This  arrangement  lasted  till  about  half  a  century  before  the 
Christian  Era,  when  there  came  South  a  portion  of  the  Northern 
warlike  Earnaan,  from  their  late  territory  along  Loch  Erne, 
whence  they  had  been  forced  out  by  the  jealous  Rudrlclans,  the 
royal  race  of  Rory,  who  ruled  Ulster.  By  King  Duach,  who  then 
ruled  In  Munster,  the  Earnaan  were  granted  a  settlement  In  Kerry. 
But,  lustful  of  power,  dominant  and  aggressive,  they  imposed  them- 
selves as  rulers  upon  Munster,  when  King  Duach  died.  Their 
great  leader,  Deagad  (from  whom  that  portion  of  the  Earnaan 
were  afterwards  called  Deagades),  became  king  of  Munster.  And 
for  more  than  200  years  after,  these  Northern  Intruders  held  the 
Munster  kingship  In  their  tribe — to  the  complete  exclusion  and 
subjection  of  both  Ithians  and  Eberians. 

It  was  In  the  time  that  Conn  reigned  in  Meath  as  Ard-RIgh, 
that  Mogh  Nuadat,  an  Eberian,  roused  his  fellow  Munstermen  to 
battle  for  freedom  from  the  tyrannical  Earnaan.  The  monarch. 
Conn,  jealous  of  the  Munstermen,  and  sympathetic  toward  his 
fellow  Northerners,  the  Earnaan,  gave  his  aid  to  the  latter. 
Nevertheless,   the  power  of  the   Earnaan   In   Munster   was  over- 


42  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

tlirown,  and  Mogh  Nuadat  took  the  sovereignty  of  the  province. 

Mogh  Nuadat  then,  confident  of  his  might,  went  against  Conn 
himself.  But  the  tide  of  success,  that  had  been  with  him,  at  last 
turned;  and  Mogh  had  to  flee  the  country.  To  Spain  he  went,  re- 
mained there  nine  years,  and  wedded  Beara,  daughter  of  Heber 
Mor,  king  of  Castile.  Then  his  father-in-law,  the  Spanish  King^ 
gave  him  2,000  troops  under  command  of  his  own  son,  wherewith 
to  return  and  battle  for  the  monarchy  of  Ireland.  Returning  with 
these  Spaniards,  he  rallied  to  his  standard  his  former  subjects,  and 
once  again  boldly  invaded  Conn's  territory. 

Conn,  with  his  allies,  the  Degades,  was  defeated  in  ten  battles — 
till  at  length,  for  peace  sake,  he  had  to  grant  to  Mogh  one-half  of 
Ireland — the  southern  half,  henceforth  to  be  known  as  Leth 
Mogha,  Mogh's  half — dominion  over  which  was  claimed  by 
Mogh's  successors,  through  almost  ten  centuries  following.  The 
northern  half,  which  he  retained  under  his  own  rule  is  since  known 
as  Leth  Cuinn,  Conn's  half. 

Unfortunately,  the  brave  Mogh  soon  repented  making  peace 
for  the  reward  of  only  one-half  of  Ireland,  when,  as  he  felt,  he 
was  powerful  enough  to  have  had  the  whole.  The  Spanish  ad- 
venturers with  him,  having  found  peace  unwelcome  to  their  roving, 
warring  nature  prodded  his  ambition — till  he  declared  war  against 
Conn  once  more. 

Mogh  Nuadat  marched  to  Moylena  in  the  midlands,  where  he 
pitched  his  camp,  challenging  Conn.  Conn  went  against  him  with 
a  great  army  of  the  North,  and  the  Fian  of  Connaught,  under  the 
command  of  their  hero  chieftain,  Goll  MacMorna.  Conn  and  the 
leaders  of  his  army  planned  to  attack  Mogh  Nuadat  in  the  night — 
and  did  so — all  except  Goll  and  his  Fian.  For  Goll  had  vowed 
that  he  would  never  attack  an  enemy  in  the  night,  or  by  surprise, 
or  take  him  at  any  disadvantage.  He  had  never  broken  his  vow, 
and  would  not  do  so  now. 

Such  a  capable  leader  was  Mogh  and  so  brave  his  men,  that, 
despite  the  night  surprise,  they  were  not  only  not  overcome  but, 
after  long  fighting  in  the  darkness,  were  wearing  down  and  re- 
pulsing the  army  of  the  North.  Fortunately  for  Conn  he  was  able 
to  hold  out  till  day  dawned.  Then  the  chivalrous  Goll,  going  to 
his  assistance,  gave  a  new  spirit  to  Conn's  army.  Goll  himself  slew 
Mogh  Nuadat,  and  Fraech,  the  son  of  the  King  of  Spain.  And 
following  that,  the  Southern  army  wavered,  were  routed,  and  de- 
stroyed. 

When  Mogh  Nuadat  was  slain,  the  Northerners  took  up  his 


CONN  OF  THE  HUNDRED  BATTLES  43 

body  upon  a  stretcher  and  triumphantly  bore  It  up  and  down  in 
view  of  both  armies — till  GoU  NlacMoma,  seeing  this,  rebuked 
them,  saying:     "Lay  him  down.      He  died  as  a  hero  should." 

Conn,  in  his  triumph,  displayed  both  discretion  and  marked 
ability  by  the  adroitness  with  which  he  converted  enemies  into 
friends.  For  while  he  gave  to  his  ally,  Mogh  Lama,  leader  of 
the  Deagades,  his  daughter  Saraid  in  marriage  (the  son  of  which 
pair,  Conaire,  was  to  succeed  Conn  in  the  kingship),  he  married 
his  second  daughter,  Sabia  (who  w^as  then  widow  of  MacNiad, 
late  chief  of  the  Ithians),  upon  Oilill  Olum,  the  only  son  and  heir 
of  the  slain  chieftain,  Mogh  Nuadat.  He  thus  drew  together, 
by  family  tie,  the  Ithians,  the  Eberians,  the  Deagades,  and  his 
own  people,  the  Eremonians. 

Moreover,  because  Mogh  Nuadat  was  unfairly  slain,  Conn, 
accepting  the  arbitration  of  the  judges  upon  the  crime,  paid  eric 
(fine)  for  it — his  own  ring  of  gold,  his  own  precious  carved  brooch, 
his  sword  and  shield,  200  driving  steeds,  and  200  chariots.  200 
ships,  200  spears,  200  swords,  200  cows,  200  slaves,  and  his  daugh- 
ter Sadb  in  marriage.     So  says  the  old  "Book  of  Munstcr." 

Oilill  Olum  then  became  king  of  all  Munster,  both  of  the 
Eberian  and  of  the  Tthian  sections — the  first  king  of  all  that  prov- 
ince. And  thereafter  (except  in  the  one  instance  of  Oilill's  suc- 
cessor, the  Ithian  MacNiad)  the  kingship  of  Munster  was  re- 
served to  the  Eberians  alone,  and  handed  down  in  Oilill  Olum's 
family.  He  willed — and  his  will  was  observed  for  long  centuries 
— that  the  crown  of  Munster  should  henceforth  alternate  between 
the  descendants  of  his  two  eldest  sons,  Eogan  Mor  and  Cormac 
Cas — from  the  former  of  whom  is  the  race  of  the  MacCarthys, 
and  from  the  latter,  the  race  of  the  O'Briens. 

Conn's  reign  and  life  were  ended  by  his  assassination  at  Tara. 
Fifty  robbers  hired  by  the  King  of  Ulster,  came  to  Tara,  dressed 
as  women,  and  treacherously  despatched  the  Monarch. 

Conn's  son-in-law,  Conaire  II,  who  succeeded  him  as  monarch 
— for  his  son  Art  was  then  but  a  child — is  famed  as  father  of  the 
three  Carbris,  namely  Carbri  Muse,  from  whom  was  named  the 
territory  of  Muskerry,  Carbri  Baiscin,  whose  descendants  peoplea 
Corca-Baiscin  in  Western  Clare,  and,  most  notable  of  them,  Carbri 
Riada,  who,  when  there  was  a  famine  in  the  South,  led  his  people 
to  the  extreme  Northeast  of  Ireland,  and  some  of  them  across  to 
the  nearest  part  of  Scotland,  where  they  settled,  forming  the  first 
important  colony  of  Scots  (Irish)  in  Alba,  and  driving  there  the 
edge  of  the  Irish  wedge  which  was  eventually  to  make  the  whole 


44  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

country  known  as  the  land  of  the  Scots  (Irish).  The  Irish  terri- 
tory which  Carbri  Riada's  people  settled,  the  Northeast  of  Antrim, 
and  the  territory  opposite  to  it  in  Alba,  into  which  his  people  over- 
flowed, became  known  as  the  two  Dal  Riada.  And  though  divided 
by  sea,  these  two  territories  were,  for  many  centuries,  to  be  as  one 
Irish  territory,  administered  and  ruled  over  by  the  one  Irish  prince. 


CHAPTER  X 

COKMAC  MAC  ART 

Of  all  the  ancient  kings  of  Ireland,  Cormac,  who  reigned  In  the 
third  century,  is  unquestionably  considered  greatest  by  the  poets, 
the  scanachies,  and  the  chroniclers.  His  father  Art  was  the  son 
of  Conn  of  the  Hundred  Battles,  and  was  known  as  Art  the  Lonely, 
because,  the  story  goes,  that  from  the  time  he  lost  his  brothers, 
Connia  and  Crionna — both  slain  by  their  uncles  (though  another 
famous  story  has  It  that  Connia  sailed  away  to  Fairyland  and  never 
returned),  he  was  pitifully  solitary,  and  silent  ever  after  till  life's 
end  ^ — the  day  of  Moy  Mocruime  (in  Galway)  at  which  great 
battle  he  was  killed,  fighting  the  foreign  forces  which  his  exiled 
nephew  Lugaid  MacCon  had  brought  back  with  him  from  his  exile 
among  the  Picts,  and  the  Britons.  Lugaid,  having  won  at  Moy 
Mocruime,  established  himself  as  Ard-RIgh  of  Eirinn.  A  rude,  ill- 
tempered,  domineering  man  was  this  Lugaid,  who  won  little  heart- 
loyalty  from  the  people,  and  was  but  little  mourned  when  he  died. 
He  was  stabbed  to  death  by  a  Druid,  at  Gort-an-OIr,  as  he  was 
bestowing  golden  gifts  on  the  poets. 

It  was  at  the  court  of  this  Lugaid  at  Tara,  that  Cormac  first 
distinguished  himself,  and  gave  token  of  the  ability  and  wisdom, 
which  were,  afterwards,  to  mark  him  the  most  distinguished  of 
Eirlnn's  monarchs, 

1  ART  THE  LONELY 

The  berried  quicken-branches  lament  in  lonely  sighs, 
Through  open  doorways  of  the  dun  a  lonely  wet  wind  cries ; 
And  lonely  in  the  hall  he  sits,  with  feasting  warriors  round, 
The  harp  that  lauds  his  fame  in  fights  hath  a  lonely  sound. 

The  speckled  salmon,  too,  darts  lonely  in  the  pool. 
The  swan  floats  lonely  with  her  brood  in  shallows  cool. 
His  steeds — the  swift  and  gentle — are  lonely  in  their  stall, 
The  sorrow  of  his  loneliness  weighs  heavy  over  all. 

For  in  the  house  of  Tara  three  shadows  share  the  feast, 
Conn  sits  withiu  the  High-King's  place,  against  the  East, 
And  Crionna  whispers  to  his  hound  some  memory  of  the  chase, 
While  Connia  to  the  harping  turns  a  joyous  listening  face. 

— Ethka  Carrery  in  "The  Four  Winds  of  Eirinn." 
45 


46  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

From  his  exile  in  Connaught,  Cormac,  a  green  youth,  had  re- 
turned to  Tara,  where,  unrecognised,  he  was  engaged  herding 
sheep  for  a  poor  widow.  Now  one  of  the  sheep  broke  into  the 
queen's  garden,  and  ate  the  queen's  vegetables.  And  King  Lugaid, 
equally  angry  as  his  queen,  after  he  heard  the  case,  ordered  that 
for  penalty  on  the  widow,  her  sheep  should  be  forfeit  to  the  queen. 

To  the  amazement  of  Lugaid's  court,  the  herd-boy  who  had 
been  watching  the  proceedings  with  anxiety,  arose,  and,  facing  the 
king,  said,  "Unjust  is  thy  award,  O  king,  for,  because  thy  queen 
hath  lost  a  few  vegetables,  thou  wouldst  deprive  the  poor  widow 
of  her  livelihood?" 

When  the  king  recovered  from  his  astoundment,  he  looked 
contemptuously  at  the  lad,  asking  scathingly:  "And  what,  O  wise 
herd-boy,  would  be  thy  just  award?" 

The  herd-boy,  not  one  little  bit  disconcerted,  answered  him: 
"My  award  would  be  that  the  wool  of  the  sheep  should  pay  for 
the  vegetables  the  sheep  has  eaten — because  both  the  wool  and 
the  green  things  will  grow  again,  and  both  parties  have  forgotten 
their  hurt." 

And  the  wonderful  wisdom  of  the  judgment  drew  the  applause 
of  the  astounded  court. 

But  Lugaid  exclaimed  in  alarm:  "It  is  the  judgment  of  a 
King." 

And,  the  lad's  great  mind  having  betrayed  him,  he  had  to 
flee. 

He  returned  and  claimed  the  throne  when  Lugaid  was  killed, 
but  at  a  feast  which  he  gave  to  the  princes  whose  support  he 
wanted,  Fergus  Black-Tooth  of  Ulster,  who  coveted  the  Ard- 
Righship,  managed,  it  is  said,  to  singe  the  hair  of  Cormac — creat- 
ing a  blemish  that  debarred  the  young  man  temporarily  from  the 
throne.  And  he  fled  again  from  Tara,  fearing  designs  upon  his 
life. 

Fergus  became  Ard-Righ  for  a  year — at  the  end  of  which  time 
Cormac  returned  with  an  army,  and,  supported  by  Taig,  the  son 
of  Ciann,  and  grandson  of  the  great  Oilill  Olum  of  Munster,  com- 
pletely overthrew  the  usurper  in  the  great  battle  of  Crionna  (on 
the  Boyne)  where  Fergus  and  his  two  brothers  were  slain — and 
Cormac  won  undisputed  possession  of  the  monarchy. 

Taig  was  granted  a  large  territory  between  Damlaig  (Duleek) 
and  the  River  Liffi,  since  then  called  the  Ciannachta.  He  became 
the  ancestor  of  the  O'Hara's,  O'Gara's,  O'Carroll's,  and  other  now 
Northern  families. 

"A  noble,  illustrious  king,"  says  a  tract  preserved  in  the  Book 


CORMAC  MAC  ART  47 

of  Ballymote,  "now  took  sovereignty  and  rule  over  Eirinn,  namely, 
Cormac,  the  grandson  of  Conn.  The  world  was  replete  with  all 
that  was  good  in  his  time:  the  food  and  the  fat  of  the  land,  and 
the  gifts  of  the  sea  were  in  abundance  in  this  king's  reign.  There 
were  neither  woundings  nor  robberies  in  his  time,  but  every  one 
enjoyed  his  own,  in  peace." 

And  another  ancient  account  says :  "A  great  king,  of  great 
judgment  now  assumed  the  sovereignty  of  Eirinn,  i.e.,  Cormac, 
the  son  of  Art,  the  son  of  Conn  of  the  Hundred  Battles.  Eirinn 
was  prosperous  during  his  time,  and  just  judgments  were  distrib- 
uted throughout  by  him,  so  that  no  one  durst  attempt  to  wound  a 
man  in  Ireland,  during  the  short  jubilee  of  seven  years." 

Cormac  rebuilt  the  palace  of  Tara,  with  much  magnificence. 
He  built  the  Teach  Mi  Chuarta,  the  great  banqueting  hall,  that 
was  760  feet  by  46  feet,  and  45  feet  high.  Until  quite  recently, 
the  outline  of  the  foundations  of  this  great  hall  with  the  traces 
of  its  fourteen  doorways,  were  still  to  be  observed  on  Tara  Hill. 
He  also  built  a  grianan  (sun-house)  for  the  women — and  the 
House  of  the  Hostages,  and  the  House  of  a  Thousand  Soldiers. 
He  gave  to  the  office  of  Ard-Righ  a  magnificence  that  it  had  not 
known  before. 

Amergin  MacAmlaid,  the  scholar-bard  of  King  Diarmaid  Mac- 
Carroll,  in  the  seventh  century,  gives  a  poetic  account  of  Cormac's 
princely  household,  in  which  he  says  his  hall  had  a  flaming  lamp, 
and  150  beds;  and  150  warriors  stood  in  the  king's  presence  when 
he  sat  down  at  the  banquet;  there  were  150  cup-bearers;  150  jew- 
elled cups  of  silver  and  gold;  and  50  over  1000  was  the  number 
of  the  entire  household. 

In  the  Book  of  Leinster  Is  related,  "Three  thousand  persons 
each  day  is  what  Cormac  used  to  maintain  in  pay;  besides  poets 
and  satirists,  and  all  the  strangers  who  sought  the  king;  Galls, 
and  Romans,  and  Franks,  and  Frisians,  and  Longbards,  and  Al- 
banians (Caledonians),  and  Saxons,  and  Cruithnians  (Picts),  for 
all  these  used  to  seek  him,  and  it  was  with  gold  and  with  silver, 
with  steeds  and  with  chariots,  that  he  presented  them.  They  used 
all  to  come  to  Cormac,  because  there  was  not  in  his  time,  nor  be- 
fore him,  any  more  celebrated  in  honour,  and  in  dignity,  and  in 
wisdom,  except  only  Solomon,  the  son  of  David." 

And  to  the  Feis  of  Tara  he  gave  a  new  dignity  and  importance 
that  helped  to  make  its  decisions  and  decrees  respected  in  every 
corner  of  the  land. 

From  the  Book  of  Ballymote  is  taken  this  interesting  descrip- 
tion of  Cormac  at  that  Feis; 


48  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

"His  hair  was  slightly  curled,  and  of  golden  colour;  he  had  a 
scarlet  shield  with  engraved  devices,  and  golden  hooks  and  clasps  of 
silver;  a  wide-flowing  purple  cloak  on  him,  with  a  gem-set  gold 
brooch  over  his  breast;  a  gold  torque  around  his  neck;  a  white-collared 
shirt,  embroidered  with  gold,  upon  him,  a  girdle  with  golden  buckles, 
and  studded  with  precious  stones,  around  him ;  two  golden  net-work 
sandals  with  golden  buckles  upon  his  feet;  two  spears  with  golden 
sockets,  and  many  red  bronze  rivets,  in  his  hand ;  while  he  stood  in 
the  full  glow  of  beauty,  without  defect  or  blemish.  You  would 
think  it  was  a  shower  of  pearls  that  were  set  in  his  mouth;  his  lips 
were  rubies;  his  symmetrical  body  was  as  white  as  snow;  his  cheek 
was  like  the  mountain  ash-berry;  his  eyes  were  like  the  sloe;  his 
brows  and  eye-lashes  were  like  the  sheen  of  a  blue-black  lance." 

The  noted  17th  century  Irish  scholar  and  historian,  O'Flaherty, 
says:  "Cormac  exceeded  all  his  predecessors  in  magnificence,  munif- 
icence, wisdom,  and  learning,  as  also  in  military  achievements. 
His  palace  was  most  superbly  adorned  and  richly  furnished,  and 
his  numerous  family  proclaim  his  majesty  and  munificence;  the 
books  he  published,  and  the  schools  he  endowed  at  Temair  ( Tara) 
bear  unquestionable  testimony  of  his  learning.  There  were  three 
schools  instituted,"  in  the  first  the  most  eminent  professors  of  the 
art  of  war  were  engaged,  in  the  second,  history  was  taught,  and  in 
the  third,  jurisprudence  was  professed." 

He  sought  not  to  confine  the  benefits  of  his  rule  to  Eirinn,  but 
wanted  to  extend  them  to  Alba  also.  The  Four  Masters  record 
under  the  year  240,  that  the  fleet  of  Cormac  sailed  across  Magh 
Rian,  the  Plain  of  the  Sea,  and  obtained  for  him  the  sovereignty  of 
Alba. 

Cormac,  for  all  his  greatness,  was  not  invariably  just.  He  car- 
ried an  unjust  war  into  Munster — and  was  punished  therefor. 
Once  Tara  ran  short  of  provisions — which  to  befall  king  or  com- 
moner in  ancient  Ireland,  at  whose  residence  guests  might  any 
moment  arrive,  was  almost  the  unpardonable  sin.  On  this  occa- 
sion, Cormac's  high  steward  advised  him  that  the  great  province 
of  Munster  which,  by  its  size  and  wealth,  ought  to  pay  two-fifths 
of  the  tribute  of  Ireland  to  the  high-king,  only  paid  one-fifth, 
and  should  now  be  called  on  to  provision  Tara.  Cormac,  impressed 
by  the  argument,  made  demand  upon  Munster — which  Fiacha,  the 
son  of  Eogan  Mor,  the  son  of  Oilill  Olum,  promptly  refused. 
Cormac  immediately  marched  into  that  kingdom,  at  the  head  of 
his  army,  to  collect  what  he  considered  his  due.     Fiacha,  with  the 

•  O'Curry  says  he  can  find  no  authority  for  this  statement. 


CORMAC  MAC  AK  1  49 

Munstcrmcii  met  liim  at  the  place  which  Is  now  called  Knockhmg, 
in  Limerick,  gave  brave  battle  to,  and  completely  rf)iited,  the  High- 
King's  army,  pursued  them  into  Ossory,  and  hurniliatingly  com- 
pelled Cormac  to  give  him  securities  and  pledges,  and  to  promise 
to  send  him  hostages  from  Tara. 

O'Halloran  says  that  there  was  at  Tara  in  Cormac's  time,  a 
house  of  virgins  who  kept  constantly  alive  the  fires  of  Bel  or  the 
sun,  and  of  Samain,  the  moon.  It  became  historic  from  the  fact 
that  Dunlaing  MacEnda,  King  of  Leinster,  once  broke  into  this 
retreat,  and  put  the  virgins  to  the  sword — for  which  Cormac  de- 
creed death  to  the  scoundrel;  and  compelled  his  successors  to  send 
to  Tara,  every  year,  30  white  cows  with  calves  of  the  same  colour, 
30  brass  collars  for  the  cows,  and  30  chains  to  hold  them  while 
milking. 

Historians  record  that  the  first  watermill  was  introduced  into 
Eirinn  by  Cormac.  It  was  to  spare  toil  to  his  concubine,  Ciarnat, 
the  daughter  of  the  king  of  the  Picts,  that  he  did  it.  She  was  said 
to  have  surpassed  all  women  in  beauty.  The  men  of  Ulster  had 
carried  her  off  from  Alba.  From  them  Cormac  obtained  her;  and 
his  wife  Ethni,  jealous  of  her,  made  Ciarnat  her  slave,  compelling 
the  woman  to  grind  by  the  quern  every  day  nine  pecks  of  corn. 
Cormac,  it  is  said,  brought  craftsmen  from  Alba — where  water- 
mills  had  been  introduced  from  the  Romans — to  construct  the  mill 
— for  sparing  of  Ciarnat. 

A  new  classification  of  the  people  Is  said  to  have  been  made 
by  the  assembled  nobles  and  scholars,  at  the  Feis  of  Tara,  in  Cor- 
mac's time — being  ranked  according  to  their  mental  and  material 
qualifications. 

When  Cormac  found  himself  advanced  in  years,  he  resigned 
the  throne  and  its  cares.  Some  say  he  had  to  resign,  because  he 
lost  an  eye — lost  it  in  his  own  hall,  one  time  that  his  son,  Cellach, 
who  had  insulted  a  woman  of  the  Desi  was  thereinto  pursued  by 
the  avenger  of  the  Deisi,  the  chieftain,  Aengus,  who  killed  Cellach 
in  his  father's  presence,  and  in  the  scuffle,  put  out  the  eye  of  the 
monarch  also. 

Aengus,  it  is  worth  noting  here,  was  not  summarily  slain  by 
Cormac's  order.  This  philosophic  and  just  king  called  him  to 
answer  before  a  court  of  justice.  And,  for  his  double  crime,  Aengus 
and  his  clan  were  exiled  from  Meath,  where  they  (of  the  Southern 
Ciannachta)  had  their  patrimony.  They  sojourned  for  a  while  in 
Leinster,  and  afterwards  went  onward  to  Munster,  of  their  own 
kindred.  There  they  helped  the  Munster  King  (Aengus  of  Cashel) 
to  wrest  from  Leinster  large  territory  in  Tipperary  and  Water- 


50  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

ford — and  In  reward  there  was  settled  on  them  part  of  the  new 
territory — in  Waterford,  where  their  country  is  to  this  day  known 
as  the  Deisi. 

Cormac,  as  said,  resigned  the  High-Kingship,  thus  ending  one 
of  the  most  fruitful  as  well  as  illustrious  reigns  that  ever  blessed 
the  Island.  "He  was  the  greatest  king,"  says  one  of  the  old  his- 
torians, "that  Ireland  ever  knew.  In  power  and  eloquence,  in  the 
vigour  and  splendour  of  his  reign,  he  had  not  his  like  before  or 
since.  In  his  reign  no  one  needed  to  bolt  the  door,  no  one  needed  to 
guard  the  flock,  nor  was  any  one  in  all  Ireland  distressed  for  want 
of  food  or  clothing.  For  of  all  Ireland  this  wise  and  just  king 
made  a  beautiful  land  of  promise." 

He  retired  to  Cleite  Acaill,  on  the  Boyne,  where  he  gave  him- 
self to  study  and  good  works. 

Three  great  literary  works  are,  by  various  ancient  authorities, 
ascribed  to  him  in  his  retirement — namely,  Teagasc  an  Riogh  (In- 
structions of  a  King),  The  Book  of  Acaill,  and  The  Psaltair  of 
Tara.  Teagasc  an  Riogh  taking  the  form  of  a  dialogue  between 
Cormac  and  his  son  Cairbre  whom  he  is  instructing  for  the  duties 
of  his  position  as  Ard-Righ,  is  one  of  the  works  that  some  old 
writers  claim  to  have  originated  with  him — though  it  is  more  likely 
to  be  a  literary  product  of  several  centuries  later. ^ 

3  Of  whatever  ancient  age  they  are,  these  Precepts  form  a  rather  remarkable, 
very  wise,  code  of  ethics — of  which  some  samples  are  here  pieced  together — 
(chiefly  from  Kuno  Meyer's  version). 

"O  grandson  of  Conn,  O  Cormac,"  said  Cairbre,  "what  is  best  for  a  king?" 

"Not  hard  to  tell,"  said  Cormac.  "Best  for  him — firmness  without  anger,  pa- 
tience without  strife,  affability  without  haughtiness,  guarding  of  ancient  lore,  giv- 
ing justice,  truth,  peace,  giving  many  alms,  honoring  poets,  worshipping  the  great 
God. 

"...  I^t  him  attend  to  the  sick,  benefit  the  strong,  possess  truth,  chide  false- 
hood, love  righteousness,  curb  fear,  crush  criminals,  judge  truly,  foster  science, 
improve  his  soul,  utter  every  truth.  For  it  is  through  the  truth  of  a  ruler  that 
God  gives  all. 

"Let  him  restrain  the  great,  slay  evil-doers,  exalt  the  good,  consolidate  peace, 
check  unlawfulness,  protect  the  just,  confine  the  unjust. 

"He  should  question  the  wise,  follow  ancient  lore,  fulfil  the  law,  be  honest 
with  friends,  be  manly  with  foes,  learn  every  art,  know  every  language,  hearken 
to  elders,  be  deaf  to  the  rabble. 

"Let  him  be  gentle,  let  him  be  hard,  let  him  be  loving,  let  him  be  merciful, 
let  him  be  righteous,  let  him  be  patient,  let  him  be  persevering,  let  him  hate  false- 
iiood,  let  him  love  truth,  let  him  be  forgetful  of  wrong,  let  him  be  mindful  of 
good,  let  him  be  attended  by  a  host  in  gatherings,  and  by  few  in  secret  councils, 
let  his  covenants  be  firm,  let  his  levies  be  lenient,  let  his  judgments  and  decisions  be 
sharp  and  light.  .  .  .  For  it  is  by  these  qualities,  kings  and  lords  are  judged." 

"O  grand-son  of  Conn,  O  Cormac,"  said  Cairbre.  "What  were  your  habits 
when  you  were  a  lad?" 

"Not  hard  to  tell,"  said  Cormac, 

"I  was  a  listener  in  woods, 
I  was  a  gazer  at  stars, 
I  was  imseeing  among  secrets, 


CORMAC  MAC  ART  51 

A  second  book,  attributed  to  Cormac  is  the  Book  of  Acaill  so 
named  from  his  place  of  retirement.  It  is  a  book  of  the  principles 
of  Criminal  Law,  which  is  supposed  to  have  been  developed  and 
enriched  by  later  lawgivers  and  commentators — in  particular  by 
the  eminent  lawgiver,  Ceann  Falad,  who  died  in  677.  The  Book, 
of  Acaill  is  found  annexed  to  a  law  treatise  of  Ceann  Falad's.  Both 
are  preserved  and  form  a  part  of  the  Irish  Brehon  Laws.  The 
prolegomenon  of  the  Book  of  Acaill  says :  "The  place  of  this  book  is 
Acaill  close  to  Teamair  (Tara),  and  its  time  is  the  time  of  Cairbre 
Lifechair,  the  son  of  Cormac,  and  its  author,  Cormac,  and  the 
cause  of  its  having  been  composed  was  the  blinding  of  an  eye  of 
Cormac  by  Aengus  Gabuidech,  after  the  abduction  of  a  daughter 
of  Sorcer,  the  son  of  Art  Corb,  by  Cellach,  the  son  of  Cormac." 

The  scholars  differ  regarding  the  authenticity — but  several  of 

I  was  silent  in  a  wilderness, 

I  was  conversational  amonp  many, 

I  was  mild  in  the  mead-hall. 

I  was  fierce  in  the  battlefield, 

I  was  gentle  in  friendship, 

I  was  a  nurse  to  the  sick, 

I  was  weak  toward  the  strengthless, 

I  was  strong  toward  the  powerful, 

I  was  not  arrogant  though  I  was  wise, 

I  was  not  a  promiser  though  I  was  rich, 

I  was  not  boastful  though  I  was  skilled, 

I  would  not  speak  ill  of  the  absent, 

I  would  not  reproach,  but  1  would  praise, 

I  would  not  ask,  but  I  would  give — 

For  it  is  through  these  habits  that  the  young  become  old  and  kingly  warriors." 
"O  grandson  of  Conn,  O  Cormac,"  said  Cairbre,   "what  is  good   for  me?" 
"Not  hard  to  tell,"  said  Cormac,  "if  you  listen  to  my  teaching — 

"Do  not  deride  the  old,  though  you  are  young ; 
Nor  the  poor,  though  you  are  wealthy ; 
Nor  the  lame,  though  you  are  swift; 
Nor  the  blind,  though  you  are  given  sight; 
Nor  the  sick,  though  you  arc  strong; 
Nor  the  dull,  though  you  are  clever; 
Nor  the  foolish,  though  you  are  wise. 

Be  not  too  wise,  be  not  too  foolish  : 

Be  not  too  conceited,  be  not  too  difiident; 

Be  not  too  haughty,  be  not  too  humble ; 

Be  not  too  talkative,  be  not  too  silent ; 

Be  not  too  harsh,  be  not  too  feeble. 

If  you  be  too  wise,  they  will  expect   (too  much)  of  you; 

If  you  be  too  foolish,  you  will  be  deceived; 

If  you  be  too  conceited,  you  will  be  thought  vexatious ; 

If  you  be  too  humble,  you  will  be  without  honor; 

If  you  be  too  talkative,  you  will  not  be  heeded; 

If  you  be  too  silent,  you  will  not  be  regarded; 

If  you  be  too  harsh,  you  will  be  broken ; 

If  you  be  too  feeble,  you  will  be  crushed." 


52  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

them  conclude  that  the  foundations  of  it  at  least  are  Cormac's. 
All  of  them  agree  that  it  is  a  noteworthy  product  of  a  very  ancient 
lawgiver.  Archbishop  Hcaly,  however,  says  its  authenticity  "is 
proven  beyond  doubt," 

The  third  great  work  attributed  to  Cormac  is  the  Psaltair  na 
Tara.  This  is  no  longer  in  existence,  and  is  known  only  by  the 
frequent  references  to  it  of  ancient  chronologists,  genealogists, 
seanachies,  and  poets — which  references  prove  that  it  Avas  a  rich 
mine  of  very  ancient  historic  and  genealogic  information,  and  that 
it  was  regarded  as  the  greatest  and  most  reliable  authority  of  the 
very  early  days.  The  Book  of  Ballymote  records  that  it  contained 
"the  synchronisms  and  genealogies  as  well  as  succession  of  the 
kings,  the  battles,  etc.,  of  antiquity,  and  this  is  the  Psaltair  of  Tara, 
which  is  the  origin  and  the  fountain  of  the  historians  of  Eirinn 
from  that  period,  down  to  the  present  time." 

The  learned  O' Curry  thinks  the  Psaltair  was  in  existence  a 
long  time  before  Cormac,  and  that  Cormac  altered  and  enlarged 
it  to  bring  it  up  to  his  time.  He  further  says :  "We  have  reason 
to  believe  that  the  age  of  writing  existed  here,  long  before  Cor- 
mac's reign."  And  Healy  in  talking  about  that  remarkable  monu- 
ment of  ancient  lore  says:  "It  proves  to  a  certainty  that  in 
the  third  century  of  the  Christian  Era,  there  was  a  considerable 
amount  of  literary  culture  in  Ireland." 

O'Flaherty  says  of  Cormac,  "His  literary  productions,  still  ex- 
tant, show  him  a  wonderful  legislator  and  antiquarian." 

This  remarkable  king  died  in  the  year  267 — more  than  a  cen- 
tury and  a  half  before  the  coming  of  St.  Patrick.  By  reason  of 
his  extraordinary  wisdom,  the  righteousness  of  his  deeds,  judg- 
ments and  laws,  he  is  said  to  have  been  blest  with  the  light  of  the 
Christian  faith  seven  years  before  his  death.  There  is  an  ancient 
tract  called  Releg  na  Riogh  preserved  in  the  Book  of  the  Dun  Cow, 
which  records — "For  Cormac  had  the  faith  of  the  one  true  God, 
according  to  the  law;  for  he  said  he  would  not  adore  stones,  or 
trees,  but  that  he  would  adore  Him  who  made  them,  and  who  had 
power  over  all  the  elements,  i.e.,  the  one  powerful  God,  v.ho 
created  the  elements:  in  Him  he  would  believe.  And  he  was  the 
third  person  who  had  believed  in  l^rin,  before  the  arrival  of  St. 
Patrick.  Concobar  iMacXcssa  to  whom  Altus  ha^d  told  concernin;,^ 
the  Crucifixion  of  Christ,  was  the  first ;tMorannk  son  of  Cairbri 
Cinncait  (who  was  surnamed  MacMacin),  was  the  second  per- 
son; and  Cormac  was  the  third;  and  it  is  possible  that  others  fol- 
lowed on  their  track,  in  tlils  belief." 

O'Curry,   howc\'cr,    records  a    fourtfi   pagan   who   was   s;ii(l   lo 


CORMAL    MAC    ART  53 

have  got  the  taith  by  iiispir.uiuii — Art,  tlic  latlicr  ol  Cunnac,  and 
son  of  Conn  of  the  Hundred  Battles,  who,  tradition  says,  beheved 
on  the  eve  of  the  battle  of  Magh  Mocruimc — the  great  battle  in 
which  he  was  to  be  overthrown  and  slain  by  Lugaid  MacCon. 

The  traditions  about  Cormac  also  state  that  having  been  in- 
spired by  the  faith  he  made  dying  request  that  he  should  be  buried, 
not  with  the  other  pagan  kings  at  their  famous  burying  ground, 
Brugh-na-Boinne,  but  at  Ros  na  Kiogh  looking  toward  the  East, 
whence  would  dawn  the  holy  light  that  should  make  Eirinn  radiant. 
Disregarding  his  dying  wish,  the  Druids  ordered  that  he  should  be 
interred  with  his  ancestors  at  Brugh  of  Boyne.  But  when,  in  pur- 
suance of  this,  the  bearers  were  bearing  his  body  across  the  river, 
a  great  wave  swept  it  from  their  shoulders,  down  the  stream,  and 
cast  it  up  at  Ros  na  Riogh,  where,  according  to  his  wish,  he  was 
then  buried. 


CHAPTER  XI 

TARA 

Tara,  which  attained  the  climax  of  its  fame  under  Cormac,  Is  said 
to  have  been  founded  by  the  Firbolgs,  and  been  the  seat  of  kings 
thenceforth.  Ollam  Fodhi  first  gave  it  historic  fame  by  founding 
the  Feis  or  triennial  Parliament,  there,  seven  or  eight  centuries 
before  Christ.  O'Curry  says  It  was  under,  or  after,  Eremon,  the 
first  Milesian  high-king  that  it,  one  of  the  three  pleasantest  hills 
in  Ireland,  came  to  be  named  Tara — a  corruption  of  the  genitive 
form  of  the  compound  word,  Tea-Mur — meaning  "the  burial  place 
of  Tea,"  the  wife  of  Eremon,  and  daughter  of  a  King  of  Spain. 

In  its  heyday  Tara  must  have  been  Impressive.  The  great, 
beautiful  hill  was  dotted  with  seven  duns,  and  in  every  dun  were 
many  buildings — all  of  them,  of  course,  of  wood,  in  those  days — 
or  of  wood  and  metal. 

The  greatest  structure  there  was  the  Ml-Cuarta,  the  great 
banqueting  hall,  which  was  on  the  Ard-RIgh's  own  dun.  There 
was  also  the  House  of  a  Thousand  Soldiers,  the  ancient  poets  tell 
us.  Each  of  the  provincial  kings  had,  on  Tara,  a  house  that  was 
set  aside  for  him  when  he  came  up  to  attend  the  great  Parliament. 
There  was  a  Grianan  (sun-house)  for  the  provincial  queens,  and 
their  attendants.  The  Stronghold  of  the  Hostages  was  one  of  the 
structures.  Another  was  the  Star  of  the  Bards — a  meeting-house 
for  the  poets  and  the  historians,  the  doctors  and  judges.  This 
latter  was  built  by  Cormac.  He  also  rebuilt  the  great  banqueting 
hall,  the  Mi-Cuarta,  wherein  at  the  great  triennial  Feis,  all  the 
kings,  and  chiefs  and  nobles,  the  Ollams  or  doctors,  the  Brehona 
or  judges,  the  Files  or  poets,  and  the  Seanachles  or  historians,  were 
seated  according  to  rank. 

There  every  warrior  sat  under  his  own  shield,  which  hung  upon 
the  wall  above  the  place  reserved  for  Its  owner.  The  upper  end 
of  the  hall  was  reserved  for  the  Ollams,  the  Brehons,  the  Files, 
the  Seanachles,  the  Musicians,  and  other  professors  of  learned 
arts  and  sciences.  The  lords  of  territories  occupied  one  side  of 
the  hall,  and  the  captains  of  armies,  the  other  side. 

54 


TARA  55 

When  a  banquet  was  spread  in  tiie  Hall  of  Mi-Cuarta  or  wlien 
a  session  of  the  Feis  was  to  begin,  the  following  was  the  form  gone 
through. — The  Hall  was  first  cleared  of  all  but  three,  a  genealogist, 
a  marshal,  a  trumpeter.  Then,  at  a  word  from  the  marshal,  the 
trumpeter  sounded  his  horn,  in  response  to  which  came  the  shield- 
bearers  of  the  chiefs  and  nobles,  gathering  at  an  open  door.  The 
marshal  took  the  shield  of  each,  and  under  the  direction  of  the 
genealogist,  hung  it  in  its  proper  place,  above  the  seat  that  was 
thereby  reserved  for  its  owner.  A  second  time  the  trumpeter 
sounded  his  horn — which  now  brought  to  the  door  the  shield- 
bearers  of  the  captains.  Then  the  marshal,  under  the  direction  of 
the  genealogist,  hung  the  warriors'  shields  in  order.  Again  the 
trumpeter  blew  a  blast.  And  to  this  third  blast  answered  the 
nobles  and  the  warriors,  who  filed  in,  and  took  each  his  place 
beneath  his  own  shield — "so  that  there  was  neither  confusion  nor 
contention  for  places  among  them." 

The  great  Feis  was  held  at  Samain  (Hallowday).  It  lasted  for 
three  days  before  Samain  and  three  days  after.  But  the  Aonach 
or  great  fair,  the  assembly  of  the  .people  in  general,  which  was  a 
most  important  accompaniment  of  the  Feis,  seems  to  have  begun 
much  earlier. 

At  the  gathering  in  the  Mi-Cuarta,  the  Ard-Righ  of  Eirinn 
sat  mid-way  of  the  hall,  facing  West,  the  King  of  Ulster  sat  at  his 
right  hand,  the  King  of  Munster  at  his  left,  the  King  of  Leinster 
faced  him,  and  the  King  of  Connaught  sat  behind  him.  Naturally, 
at  such  state  assemblies  the  participants  arrayed  themselves  in  such 
splendour  as  those  ages  sanctioned.  Cormac  MacArt's  appearance 
at  the  Feis  of  Tara  is  thus  colourfully  described  by  one  of  the  an- 
cient poets : 

"Splendidly  does  Cormac  come  into  this  great  assembly;  for  the 
equal  of  his  form  has  not  appeared,  excepting  Conaire  Mor,  son  of 
Eidersgeal ;  or  Concobar,  the  son  of  Cathbad ;  or  Aengus,  the  son 
of  the  Daghda. 

"Beautiful  was  the  appearance  of  Cormac  in  that  assembly. 
Flowing,  slightly  curling,  golden  hair,  upon  him.  A  red  buckler, 
with  stars  and  animals  of  gold  and  fastenings  of  silver,  upon  him. 
A  crimson  cloak  in  wide  descending  folds  upon  him,  fastened  at  his 
breast  by  a  golden  brooch  set  with  precious  stones.  A  neck-tore  of 
gold  around  his  neck.^     A  white  shirt,  with  a  full  collar,  and  inter- 

'  That  the  wonderful,  remarkable  description  of  Tara's  ancient  greatness, 
glory,  and  luxurj,'  is  not  any  figment  of  the  fancy  of  the  hundreds  of  ancient  poets 
who  sang  its  praises,  is  evidenced  in  many  ways,  not  the  least  noteworthy  of  which 
is  the  silent  testimony  of  the  valuable  and  rarely  beautiful  ornaments  which  in  re- 
cent  times    have   been    dug   up    there — amongst    others,    two    splendid    gold    tores 


56  THE  STORY  OF  THi:  IRISH  RACE 

twined  with  red  gold  thread,  upon  him.  A  girdle  of  gold  inlaid 
with  precious  stones  around  him.  Two  wonderful  shoes  of  gold, 
with  runnings  of  gold,  upon  him.  Two  spears  with  golden  sockets 
in  his  hand,  and  with  many  rivets  of  red  bronze.  And  he  was,  be- 
sides, himself  syiiimetrical  and  beautiful  of  form,  without  blemish  or 
reproach." 

At  this  Feis  the  ancient  laws  were  recited  and  conllrmed,  new 
laws  were  enacted,  disputes  were  settled,  grievances  adjusted, 
wrongs  righted.  And  in  accordance  with  the  usual  form  at  all  such 
assemblies,  the  ancient  history  of  the  land  was  recited,  probably  by 
the  high-king's  seanachie,  who  had  the  many  other  critical  seana- 
chies  attending  to  his  every  word,  and  who,  accordingly,  dare  not 
seriously  distort  or  prevaricate.  This  constant  and  continual 
repetition,  down  through  the  ages,  of  the  ever  lengthening  history 
— repeated,  too,  almost  always  in  the  presence  of  many  critics — 
fixed  the  facts  of  the  past  story,  and  familiarised  them  to  all  the 
people.  And  while  plenty  of  poetic  colouring  and  artistic  exag- 
geration was  undoubtedly  permitted  to  the  poet-historian,  the  basic 
truths,  ever  had  to  be,  preserved  inviolate.  This  highly  efficient 
method  of  recording  and  transmitting  the  country's  history,  in 
verse,  too,  which  was  practised  for  a  thousand  years  before  the 
introduction  of  writing,  and  the  introduction  of  Christianity — and 
which  continued  to  be  practised  for  long  centuries  after  these  events 
— was  a  highly  practical  method,  which  effectively  preserved  for 
us  the  large  facts  of  our  country's  history  throughout  a  thousand 
of  the  years  of  dim  antiquity — when  the  history  of  most  other 
countries  is  a  dreary  blank. 

Every  prince  had  his  own  seanachie,  a  man  who,  having  studied 
twelve  years  under  masters,  w^as  well  versed  in  the  history  of 
Ireland  in  general  and  In  the  history  of  his  own  principality,  In 
particular.  For  more  easy  memorising  and  thus  familiarising  the 
multitude  with  the  facts  and  the  more  surely  to  guard  against  In- 
correct repetition,  all  Irish  histories  and  chronicles  were,  in  these 
early  ages,  cast  in  verse.  For  the  seanachie  had  to  make  the  studies 
of  a  poet  as  well  as  of  an  historian,  and  to  have  Intimate  acquaint- 
ance with  the  hundreds  of  kinds  of  Irish  verse. 

And  since,  at  all  minor  assemblies,  and  even  at  small  gather- 
ings, the  seanachie  was  constantly  requisitioned  for  the  purpose  of 
reciting  passages  of  history,  all  of  the  people  down  to  the  humblest 

(bands  of  twisted  gold  worn  around  the  neck),  one  of  them  being  five  feet  seven 
inches  in  length,  weighing  twenty-seven  ounces,  and  the  other  of  large  size  also, 
and   weighing  twelve  ounces.     P.oth   of  them  are  beautifully  wrought. 


TAKA  57 

had  that  pride  of  race,  of  clan,  and  of  family,  which  results  from 
familiarity  with  their  great  achievements.  Their  marvellously  or- 
ganised methods  of  recording  and  transmitting  history  signalises 
the  Gael  among  the  peoples  of  ancient  time — just  as  their  ancient 
Parliament  signalised  them. 

As  from  the  great  heart  and  centre  of  the  Irish  kingdom,  five 
great  arteries  or  roads  radiated  from  Tara  to  the  various  parts 
of  the  country — the  Slighe  Cualann,  which  ran  toward  the  present 
County  Wicklow ;  the  Slighe  Mor,  the  great  Western  road,  which 
ran  via  Dublin  to  Galway;  the  Slighe  Asail  which  ran  near  the 
present  Mullingar;  the  Slighe  Dala  which  ran  Southwest;  and  the 
Slighe  Midluachra,  the  Northern  road. 

Great,  noble  and  beautiful  truly  was  our  Tara  of  the  Kings.' 

2  Another  much  storied,  very  ancient  royal  residence  was  Ailech  in  Inishowen, 
said  to  have  been  founded  by  the  Dagda,  and  where,  long  afterwards,  but  still  in 
very  ancient  times,  a  wonderful,  beautiful  residence  was  said  to  have  been  erected 
by  a  famous  builder,  Frigrind,  who  had  eloped  with  Ailech,  the  daughter  of  the 
King  of  Alba.  It  was  for  her  that  he  built  within  the  great  stone  fort  of  Ailech 
(which  fort  still  stands  a  monument  to  the  pre-historic  builders)  this  beautiful 
house  which  a  poet  of  the  far-off  days  says  was  of  red  hue,  carved  and  em- 
blazoned with  gold  and  bronze,  and  so  thick-set  with  shining  gems  that  day  and 
night  were  equally  bright  within  it.  It  was  in  the  beginning  of  the  fourth  century 
the  legend  days,  that  Frigrind  erected  this  notable  structure.  Two  centuries  earlier 
Ptolemy,  the  Egyptian  geographer,  had  properly  located  this  royal  residence  upon 
his  map  of  Ireland. 

At  the  famous  Western  royal  residence  of  Rath-Cruachain,  the  house  of  Medb 
and  Ailill  is  poetically  pictured  by  another  of  the  ancients,  in  the  very  old  tale  of 
the  Tain  Bo  Fraich : — "The  manner  of  that  house  was  this :  There  were  seven 
companies  in  it ;  seven  compartments  from  the  fire  to  the  wall,  all  round  the  house. 
Every  compartment  had  a  front  of  bronze.  The  whole  was  composed  of  beau- 
tifully carved  red  yew.  Three  strips  of  bronze  were  in  the  front  of  each  com- 
partment. Seven  strips  of  bronze  from  the  foundation  of  the  house  to  the  ridge. 
The  house  from  this  out  was  built  of  pine.  A  covering  of  oak  shingles  was  what 
was  upon  it  on  the  outside.  Sixteen  windows  was  the  number  that  were  in  it,  for 
the  purpose  of  looking  out  of  it  and  for  admitting  light  into  it.  A  shutter  of 
bronze  to  each  window.  A  bar  of  bronze  across  each  shutter ;  four  times  seven 
ungas  of  bronze  was  what  each  bar  contained.  Ailill  and  Medb's  compartment 
was  made  altogether  of  bronze;  and  it  was  situated  in  the  middle  of  the  house, 
with  a  front  of  silver  and  gold  around  it.  There  was  a  silver  band  at  one  side 
of  it,  which  rose  to  the  ridge  of  the  house,  and  reached  all  round  it  from  the  one 
door  to  the  other.  The  arms  of  the  guests  were  hung  up  above  the  arms  of  all 
other  persons  in  that  house;  and  they  sat  themselves  down,  and  were  bade  wel- 
come," 

This  Rath  was  a  circular  stone  fort  of  dry  masonry,  with  wall  thirteen  feet 
thick  at  the  base,  and  surrounded  by  five  concentric  ramparts,  traces  of  three  of 
which  are  still  to  be  seen. 


CHAPTER  XII 

THE  FAIRS 

The  holding  of  the  Feis  of  Tara  was  the  occasion  also  for  holding 
a  great  Aonach  or  fair.  Almost  all  the  great  periodic  assemblages 
of  ancient  Ireland  had  fairs  in  their  train. 

After  that  of  Tara  the  most  famous  of  these  periodic  assem- 
blies were  those  held  at  Tlachtga.  Lisnech.  Cru^chan  and  Taillte 
— the  three  royal  residences  in  those  three  portions  of  the  royal 
domain  of  Meath,  which  had  been  annexed  from  Leinster,  Munster. 
Connaught  and  Ulster,  respectively.  Also  the  Fair  of  Eraain 
Macha  •,  in  the  present  county  ofAmiagh),  the  Fair  of  Cobnain  on 
the  Curragh  of  Kildare,  and  the  famous  Fair  of  Carman  (Wex- 
ford). 

As  mentioned,  some  of  the  fairs  originated  as  accompaninien: 
to  serious  state  or  provincial  representative  assemblages.  Many 
fairs,  however,  had  their  beginning  in  commemorative  funeral 
games,  at  the  grave  of  some  notable — as  the  Fair  of  Emain  Macha 
was  instituted  in  memory  of  the  great  Ulster  queen. 

In  the  case  of  a  fair  which  was  not  instituted  as  the  accompani- 
ment of  a  Feis.  a  Feis  usually  developed  as  an  accompaniment  of 
the  fair. 

For  at  all  such  fairs  the  chiefs,  the  judges,  the  scholars,  and 
other  leading  ones  held  dehberative  assemblies,  on  a  certain  day 
or  days,  during  the  fair's  progress.  Also  it  was  an  invariable  part 
of  the  pleasure  and  the  profit  of  the  fair  gathering,  that  the  best 
seanachies,  poets,  and  genealogists  in  attendance  should  gather 
the  crowds,  and  recite  to  them  portions  of  the  history  of  the  coun- 
try, province,  or  tuath  (district)  ;  the  deeds  of  the  great  ones  gone 
before:  the  praises  of  the  great  ones  who  still  walked  the  land: 
the  legends  and  traditions;  and  the  genealogies  of  the  principal 
families. 

There  were  certain  two  of  these  gatherings,  those  of  Emain 
Macha  and  Cruachan.  whereat  an  important  concern  was  the  selec- 
tion and  examination  of  candidates  for  the  various  crafts,  and  the 
certif.cating  the  successful  ones.  As  described  by  Keating,  the 
candidates  presented  them.selves  before  a  board  constituted  of  the 
Kins,  the  Ollams.  chiefs  and  nobles,  who  examined  and  passed 

58 


THE  FAIRS  59 

upon  each,  giving  him  the  right  to  practise  the  craft  or  trade  that 

he  ambitionecL 

At  Emain  and  Cniachan,  as  well  as  at  Tara,  the  assemblages 
were  primarily  political.  They  were  conventions  of  representa- 
tives from  all  parts,  for  the  purpose  of  discussing  "^tJAnal  afiairs — 
and  were  presided  over  by  the  king. 

The  yearly  Fair  of  Taillte  (now  Telltown)  in  Meath,  was 
mainly  for  athletic  contests — and  for  this  was  long  famous 
throughout  Eirinn,  Alba,  and  Britain,  In  the  course  of  time,  toe. 
Taillte  acquired  new  fame  as  a  marriage  mart.  Boys  and  girls, 
in  thousands,  were  brought  there  by  their  parents,  who  matched 
them,  and  bargained  about  their  tinnscra  (dowry) — in  a  place  set 
apart  for  the  purpose,  whose  Gaelic  name,  signifying  marriage- 
hollow,  still  commemorates  its  purpose.  The  games  oi  Taillte 
were  Ireland's  Olympics,  and,  we  may  be  sure,  caused  as  keen  com- 
petition and  high  excitement  as  ever  did  the  Grecian-  These  Taill- 
tin  games  took  place  during  the  first  week  of  August — and  the  first 
of  August,  to  this  day,  is  commonly  called  Lugnasad — the  games  of 
the  De  Danann  Lugh,  who  first  instituted  this  gathering  in  memory 
of  his  foster-mother,  Taillte.  Another  great  assemblage  for  games 
and  sports  was  held  by  the  Ulstermen  during  the  three  days  of 
Samain — on  the  plain  of  Muiremne  (in  Louth). 

The  last  Fair  of  Taillte  was  celebrated  in  the  year  in  which 
the  first  English  invaders  came  into  Ireland — in  1169.  It  was  held 
by  order  of  the  High- King,  Roderic  O'Connor — and  is  recorded 
by  The  Four  Masters,  who  state  that  the  horses  and  chariots, 
alone,  carrying  people  to  this  Fair,  extended  from  TalUte  to  near 
KeUs.  a  distance  of  six  miles. 

The  great  fairs  and  Feisanna  were  regarded  as  of  such  over- 
whelming national  importance  that  special  and  exceptional  laws 
and  ordinances  were  Instituted  to  insure  their  proper  carrying  out. 
For  such  occasion  the  king's  peace  was  proclaimed  for  all.  Dur- 
ing its  continuance  all  fugitives  from  justice  walked  free  men 
amongst  free  men.  At  the  fair,  going  to  it,  and  returning  from  it. 
no  oppressed  debtor  could  be  molested,  arrested,  or  distrained  for 
his  debt.  On  the  eve  of  a  feis  or  fair  all  personal  ornaments,  rings, 
bracelets,  or  brooches,  that  had  been  pawned  to  relieve  finanrial 
distress,  or  impounded  for  debts  overdue,  must,  for  the  time  of 
the  assemblage,  be  released  to  their  owners.  The  creditor  who  re- 
fused to  release  them  was  hea\-ily  fined  for  the  mental  suffering 
caused  those  who  were  forced  to  the  disgrace  of  appearing  without 
adornment  at  the  great  festive  gatherings,  whereat  all  the  nation 
appeared  in  its  richest,  most  beauriful,  and  best. 


6o  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

Another  wise  law  provided  for  the  peace  of  gatherings  where 
mingled  friend  and  foe,  where  heads  and  hearts  were  light,  and 
where  blood  ran  high.  Any  man  royal  or  simple,  who  broke  the 
king's  peace,  was  to  be  punished  with  death.  In  the  days  of  Colm 
Cille,  even  the  saint's  privilege  of  sanctuary  failed  to  save  a  king's 
son  who  had  disturbed  the  peace  of  the  Fair.  The  law  of  the  Fair 
was  inflexible.  Says  an  ancient  writer,  "They  were  carried  out 
without  breach  of  law,  without  crime,  without  violence,  without 
dishonour.     There  was  one  universal  Fair  truce." 

Surely,  highly  commendable  was  the  spirit,  and  highly  credit- 
able the  prudence,  of  the  ancient  lawmakers,  which  hedged  with 
wise  precautions  these  beautiful  days  of  jubilee  provided  for  a 
highly  sociable  and  gregarious,  but  clannish  and  quick-tempered 
people,  who  equally  loved  sporting  and  battling,  the  matching  of 
power  in  games,  civil  or  warlike. 

Joyce  points  out  that  there  were  three  objects  fulfilled  by  these 
great  gatherings.  Here  the  people  learnt  their  laws,  their  rights, 
the  past  history  of  their  country,  the  warlike  deeds  of  their  ances- 
tors. Here  also  they  got  their  relaxation  and  enjoyment,  in  the 
music,  the  poetry,  the  fun,  the  games,  and  the  sports,  provided  for 
them.  And  here,  likewise,  were  their  markets^  for  buying,  selling 
and  exchanging.  It  should  be  added  that  a  fourth  most  import- 
ant function  of  the  fairs  was  the  opportunity  they  provided  for 
mating  and  marrying  the  young,  and  thereby  drawing  closer  the 
relationship  of  families  and  clans  who  had  been  distant,  or  at 
enmity. 

Studying  the  account  of  "the  fun  at  the  fair"  in  those  faraway 
days  one  is  struck  by  the  slightness  of  the  change  which  the  lapse 
of  a  couple  of  thousand  years  has  effected.  Besides  athletic  feats 
and  racing  of  horses  and  chariots  they  had  there — we  quote  from 
the  poem  on  the  Fair  of  Carman: 

"Trumpets,  harps,  wide-mouthed  horns; 
Cruisechs,  timpanists,  without  fail. 
Poets,  ballad  singers  and  groups  of  agile  jugglers, 
Pipers,  fiddlers,  banded  men, 
Bow-men  and  flute  players. 
The  host  of  chattering  bird-like  fliers, 
Shouters  and  loud  bellowers, 
These  all  exert  themselves  to  the  utmost." 


1  They  had  three  different  tnarkets  there — 

"A  market  for  food,  a  market  for  live  cattle 
The  great  market  of  the  forei>,m  Greeks 
in  which  are  gold  and  nohle  raiment." 


THE  FAIRS  6 1 

The  fame  of  the  great  fair  of  Carman  Is  perpetuated  by  an 
ancient  poem,  preserved  in  the  Book  of  Ballymotc  and  in  the  Book 
of  Leinster.  The  description  of  the  Carman  fair  given  in  this 
poem  may  well  convey  to  us  a  general  picture  of  all  those  ancient 
Irish  fairs.  Here  are  set  down  some  excerpts  from  the  version 
given  in  the  Appendix  to  O'Curry: 

"Listen,  O  Lagenians  of  the  monuments! 
Ye  trutli-upholding  hosts! 
Until  you  get  from  me,  from  evciy  source. 
The  pleasant  history  of  far  famed  Carman. 

"Carman,  the  field  of  a  splendid  fair, 

With  a  widespread  unobstructed  green 
The  hosts  who  came  to  celebrate  it. 
On  it  they  contested  their  noble  races. 

"The  renowned  field  is  the  cemeterj-  of  kings, 
The  dearly  loved  of  noble  grades ; 
There  are  many  meeting  mounds, 
For  their  ever-loved  ancestral  hosts. 

"To  mourn  for  queens  and  for  kings. 

To  denounce  aggression  and  tyranny, 
Often  were  the  fair  hosts  in  autumn 
Upon  the  smooth  brow  of  noble  old  Carman. 

"Heaven,  earth,  sun,  moon,  and  sea, 
Fruits,  fire,  and  riches. 
Mouths,  ears,  alluring  eyes. 
Feet,  hands,  noses,  and  teeth — 

"Steeds,  swords,  beautiful  chariots, 
Spears,  shields,  human  faces. 
Dew,  fruits,  blossoms,  and  foliage. 
Day  and  night,  a  heavy  flooded  shore — 

"These  in  fulness  all  were  there. 

The  tribes  of  Banba  without  lasting  grief, — 
To  be  under  the  protection  of  the  fair, 
Every  third  year,  without  prohibition. 

"The  gentiles  of  the  Gaedhil  did  celebrate, 
In  Carman,  to  be  highly  boasted  of, 
A  fair  without  (breach  of)  law,  without  crime, 
Without  a  deed  of  violence,  without  dishonor. 


62  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

"On  the  Kalends  of  August  without  fail, 
They  repaired  thither  every  third  year ; 
There  aloud  with  boldness  they  proclaimed 
The  rights  of  every  law,  and  the  restraints." 

The  forbidden  things  are  enumerated: 

"To  sue,  to  levy,  to  controvert  debts, — 
The  abuse  of  steeds  in  their  career. 
Is  not  allowed  to  contending  racers, — 
Elopements,  arrests,  distraints — 

"That  no  man  goes  into  the  women's  Airecht, 

That  no  women  go  into  the  Airecht  of  fair  clean  men; 

That  no  abduction  is  heard  of, 

Nor  repudiation  of  husbands  or  of  wives — 

"Whoever  transgresses  the  law  of  the  assemblj' — 

Which  Benen  with  accuracy  indelibly  wrote, — 
Cannot  be  spared  upon  family  composition, 
But  he  must  die  for  his  transgression." 

The  music  at  the  fair: 

"There  are  its  many  great  privileges; — 

Trumpets,  Cruits,  wide-mouthed  horns, 
Cuisigs,  Timpanists  without  weariness, 
Poets  and  petty  rhymesters." 

The  literary  entertainment  provided  consisted  of  stories,  philos- 
ophy, history,  and  so  forth. 

"Fenian  tales  of  Find, — an  untiring  entertainment, — 
Destructions.  Cattle-preys,  Courtships, 
Inscribed  tablets,  and  books  of  trees, 
Satires,  and  sharp  edged  runes; 

"Proverbs,  maxims,  royal  precepts, 

And  the  truthful  instructions  of  Fithal, 
Occult  poetry,  topographical  etymologies, 
The  precepts  of  Cairbri  and  of  Cormac ; 

"The  Feasts,  with  the  great  Feast  of  Teamar, 
Fairs,  with  the  fair  of  Emania ; 

Annals  there  arc  verified. 

Every  division  into  which  Erin  was  divided; 


THE  FAIRS  63 

"The  history  of  the  household  of  Teamar— not  insignificant— 
The  knowledge  of  ever>'  territory  in  Erin, 
The  history  of  the  women  of  illustrious  families, 
Of  Courts,  Prohibitions,  Conquests; 

"The  noble  Testament  of  Cathair  the  Great 

To  his  descendants,  to  direct  the  steps  of  royal  rule 

Each  one  sits  in  his  lawful  place, 

So  that  all  attend  to  them  to  listen,  listen. 

"Pipes,  fiddles,  chainmen, 

Bow-men,  and  tube-players, 

A  crowd  of  babbling  painted  masks, 

Roarers  and  loud  bellowers. 

"They  all  exert  their  utmost  powers 

For  the  magnanimous  king  of  the  Barrow ; 
Until  the  noble  king  in  proper  measure  bestows 
Upon  each  art  its  rightful  meed. 

"Elopements,  slaughters,  musical  choruses, 

The  accurate  synchronisms  of  noble  races, 

The  succession'of  the  sovereign  kings  of  Bregia, 

Their  battles,  and  their  stern  valour. 

"Such  is  the  arrangement  of  the  fair, 
By  the  lively  ever  happy  host  ;— 
May  they  receive  from  the  Lord 
A  land  wnth  choicest  fruits." 


CHAPTER  XIII 

FIONN  AND  THE  FIAN 

It  is  only  recently  that  we  have  realised  the  all-important  part 
played  by  legendary  lore  in  forming  and  stamping  a  nation's  char- 
acter. A  people's  character  and  a  people's  heritage  of  tradition 
act  and  react  upon  each  other,  down  the  ages,  the  outstanding  qual- 
ities of  both  getting  ever  more  and  more  alike — so  long  as  their 
racial  traditions  are  cherished  as  an  intimate  part  of  their  life. 
But  the  people's  character  gets  a  new  direction  on  the  day  that 
there  comes  into  their  life  any  influence  which  lessens  their  loAnng 
regard  for  the  past. 

Than  the  Gaelic,  the  world  has  known  but  few  races  that  were 
enriched  with  a  richer  heritage  of  legend — poetic,  romantic,  heroic, 
idealistic,  wondrous,  humorous — which  in  ancient  ages  sprang  from 
the  souls  of  the  nation's  noblest,  and  through  all  subsequent  days 
nurtured  the  minds  and  souls  of  the  multitude.  In  these  wonder- 
ful traditions  every  ancient  great  poet  and  teacher  lives,  and  leads 
his  listening  people,  for  all  time. 

Of  all  the  great  bodies  of  ancient  Irish  legendary  lore,  none 
other,  with  the  possible  exception  of  the  Red  Branch  cycle,  has  had 
such  developing,  uplifting,  and  educational  effect  upon  the  Irish 
people,  through  the  ages,  as  the  wonderful  body  of  Fenian  tales — 
in  both  prose  and  verse,  rich  in  quality  and  rich  in  quantity. 

Fionn  MacCumail  (Finn  MacCool),  leader  of  the  Fian  (Fen- 
ians), in  the  time  of  Cormac  MacArt,  is  the  great  central  figure  of 
these  tales.  Fionn  and  the  Fian  were  not  figments  of  the  ancient 
poets'  fancy — as  think  some  who  know  of  this  lore  only  by  hear- 
say. The  man  Fionn  lived  and  died  in  the  third  century  of  the 
Christian  Era.  The  Four  Masters  chronicle  his  death  on  the 
Boyne,  under  A.  D.  283 — though  he  must  have  died  some  years 
earlier.  F^onn's  father  Cumal,  was  chief  of  the  Fian,  in  his  day; 
and  his  grandfather,  Trcun-Mor,  chief  before  that.  In  contrast 
to  the  Red  Branch  which  was  of  Ulster,  the  Fian  was  of  Munster 
and  Leinster  origin.^  Connaught  with  its  Clan  na  Moma  con- 
tributed largely  to  the  body,  later. 

^  Fionn's  clan.  Clan  na  FJaoiscne   (which  was  the  heart  of  the  Fian)  helongrd 
in  North  Munster. 

64 


FIONN  AND  THE  I  IAN  65 

It  was  in  the  reign  of  Conn,  at  the  very  eiid  of  the  second,  or 
beginning  of  the  third  century  that  was  founded  the  Pian — a  great 
standing  army  of  picked  and  specially  trained,  daring  warriors, 
whose  duty  was  to  carry  out  the  mandates  of  the  high-king — "To 
uphold  justice  and  put  down  injustice,  on  the  part  of  the  kings  and 
lords  of  Ireland — and  to  guard  the  harbors  from  foreign  invaders." 
From  this  latter  we  might  conjecture  that  an  expected  Roman  in- 
vasion first  called  the  Fian  into  existence. 

They  were  soldiers  in  time  of  war,  and  a  national  police  in 
time  of  peace.  We  are  informed  that  they  prevented  robberies, 
exacted  fines  and  tributes,  put  down  public  enemies  and  every  kind 
of  evil  that  might  afflict  the  country.  Moreover  they  moved  about 
from  place  to  place,  all  over  the  island.  During  the  summer  and 
harvest,  from  Beltinne  to  Samain — May  first  till  November  first — 
they  camped  in  the  open,  and  lived  by  the  chase.  During  the  win- 
ter half-year  they  were  quartered  upon  the  people. 

But  Fionn,  being  a  chieftain  himself  in  his  own  right,  had  a 
residence  on  the  hill  of  Allen  (Almuin)  in  Kildare.  An  old  poem 
(quoted  by  O'Mahony)  pictures  it  as  a  very  palatial  residence,  in- 
deed: 

"I  feasted  in  the  hall  of  Fionn, 
And  at  each  banquet  there  I  saw 
A  thousand  rich  cups  on  his  board, 
Whose  rims  were  bound  with  purest  gold, 

"And  twelve  great  buildings  once  stood  there. 
The  dwellings  of  those  mighty  hosts, 
Ruled  by  Tadg's  daughter's  warlike  son, 
At  Alma  of  the  noble  Fian. 

"And  constantly  there  burned  twelve  fires. 
Within  each  princely  house  of  these, 
And  round  each  flaming  hearth  there  sat 
A  hundred  warriors  of  the  Fian." 

The  Fianna-  recruited  at  the  great  fairs,  especially  at  Tara, 
Uisnech,  and  Taillte.  The  greatest  discrimination  was  used  in 
choosing  the  eligible  ones  from  amongst  the  candidate  throng — 
which  throng  included  in  plenty  sons  of  chieftains  and  princes. 

But  no  candidate  would  be  considered  unless  he,  his  family, 
and  clan,  were  prepared  philosophically  to  accept  for  him  life  or 

'  Fianna,  meaning  bodies  of  the  Fian,  is  the  plural  of  the  collective  noun,  Fian. 


66  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

death,  all  the  daily  hazards  of  a  hazardous  career — and  that  his 
family  and  his  clan  should,  from  the  day  he  joined  the  Fian,  re- 
nounce all  claims  to  satisfaction  or  vengeance  for  his  injuring  or 
ending.  His  comrades  must  henceforth  be  his  moral  heirs  and 
executors,  who  would  seek  and  get  the  satisfaction  due  if  he  were 
wounded  or  killed  by  any  means  that  violated  the  code  of  honor 
and  justice.  And,  it  should  here  be  remarked  that  tiie  high  ethical 
code  of  the  Red  Branch  Knights  in  the  days  of  Christ  was  not  any 
more  admirable  than  the  code  of  justice  and  of  honor  observed 
now,  two  centuries  after,  by  the  Fian. 

Many  and  hard  were  the  tests  for  him  who  sought  to  be  of  the 
noble  body. 

One  of  the  first  tests  was  literary:  for  no  candidate  was  pos- 
sible who  had  not  mastered  the  twelve  books  of  poetry.  With 
this  condition  in  mind  one  vv^ill  no  longer  wonder  that  the  Fian 
bequeathed  to  posterity  ten  thousand  fragrant  tales. 

In  a  trench,  the  depth  of  the  knee,  the  candidate,  with  a  shield 
and  hazel  staff  only,  must  protect  himself  from  nine  warriors,  cast- 
ing javelins  at  him  from  nine  ridges  away. 

Given  the  start  of  a  single  tree,  in  a  thick  wood,  he  has  to 
escape  unwounded  from  fleet  pursuers. 

So  skilful  must  he  be  in  wood-running,  and  so  agile,  that  in  the 
flight  no  single  braid  of  his  hair  Is  loosed  by  a  hanging  branch. 

His  step  must  be  so  light  that  underfoot  he  breaks  no  withered 
branch. 

In  his  course  he  must  bound  over  branches  the  height  of  his 
forehead,  and  stoop  under  others  the  height  of  his  knee,  without 
delaying,  or  leaving  a  trembling  branch  behind. 

Without  pausing  In  his  flight  he  must  pick  from  his  foot  the 
thorn  that  It  has  taken  up. 

In  facing  the  greatest  odds  the  weapon  must  not  shake  in  his 
hand. 

When  a  candidate  had  passed  the  tests,  and  was  approved  as 
fit  for  this  heroic  band,  there  were  four  geasa  (vows  of  chivalry) 
laid  upon  him,  as  the  final  condition  of  his  admission: 

1.  He  shall  marry  his  wife  without  portion — choosing  her 
for  her  manners  and  her  virtues. 

2.  He  shall  be  gentle  with  all  women. 

3.  He  shall  never  reserve  to  himself  anything  which  another 
person  stands  in  need  of. 

4.  He  shall  stand  fight  to  all  odds,  as  far  as  nine  to  one. 
Hard,  then,  was  the  task  of  him  who  entered  the  ranks  of  the 


FIONN  AND  THE  FIAN  67 

noble  F'ian.  But  in  the  ensuing  life  of  beauteous  adventure,  the 
fortunate  one  was  recompensed  an  hundred-fold. 

Roaming  and  roving  from  end  to  end  of  the  Island,  hunting 
and  fighting,  feasting  and  love-making,  the  Fian  made  legend  every 
day  of  their  lives.  New  romance  dawned  for  them  with  the  dawn- 
ing of  each  new  day.  Adventure  and  poetry  marched  with  them, 
on  either  hand.  They  lived  exciting  history;  they  breakfasted  with 
song,  supped  with  entrancing  story,  and,  on  their  three  beds  of 
branches,  rushes  and  moss,  bedded  with  rare  dreams  of  yesterday's 
pleasuring  and  the  morrow's  daring.  Their  ov.n  warrior-poets 
chanted  for  them  their  own  heroic  deeds;  their  own  musicians' 
carolled,  and  their  own  sgculadoirs  (story-tellers)  charmed  their 
.leisure  hour  with  blithesome  tale.  They  left  lasting  impression  on 
every  hill,  and  vale,  and  stream  from  North  to  South,  from  East  to 
West,  of  the  Island.  They  hung  rare  tales  of  themselves  on  every 
rowan-tree,  and  ten  thousand  great  grey  rocks  that  stud  the  Island's 
face,  are  monuments  immortal,  proclaiming  to  the  wondering  gen- 
erations, "Here  passed  Fionn  and  his  Fian."' 

There  were  three  cathas  (battalions)  of  the  Fian — three  thou- 
sand in  each  catha.  This,  in  time  of  peace.  In  time  of  war,  the 
quota  was  seven  cathas.  And  twenty-one  thousand  such  men, 
trained  in  agility  and  in  strength,  and  in  marvellous  feats  of  arms, 
by  their  mode  of  life  hardened  against  all  hardships,  accustomed 
to  reckless  daring,  and  familiar  with  death,  must  have  been  a  for- 
midable weapon  in  the  hands  of  the  High  King,  and  insured  re- 
spect for  him,  for  his  laws  and  his  commands,  in  the  hearts  of  all 
men  in  the  remotest  corners  of  the  country. 

Keating  says  they  ate  only  one  meal  a  day,  the  evening  meal. 
When  the  chase  was  ended  at  the  day's  end,  they  encamped  in  a 
pleasant  place,  and  dug  their  dinner-pits,  at  the  bottom  of  which 

2  The  sceptic  who  is  eager  to  discount  the  singular  pre-eminence,  physical,  spir- 
itual, and  intellectual,  of  the  ancient  Gael  says :  "Ah,  but  all  those  fine  things  are  the 
fictions  of  far-away  poets!"  Even  if  we  gratuitously  discard  the  compelling  pile  of 
contrary  evidence,  supplied  by  the  poems  and  the  histories,  by  the  ancient  legends 
and  the  ancient  laws,  and  thoughtlessly  assume  with  him  "that  the  fineness  of  an- 
cient Gaelic  character  is  a  fiction  of  the  old-time  poets, — then  such  beautiful  fic- 
tions of  such  beautiful  ideals,  by  themselves  presume  and  prove  a  beautiful-souled 
people,  capable  of  appreciating  lofty  ideals.  The  greatest  poet  is  never  more 
than  a  hand's  breadth  higher  than  his  people.  And  if  the  song  he  sings  lives  after 
him  forever,  that  is  proof  conclusive  that  the  people  who  cherished  it,  and  passed 
it  on  to  future  ages,  could  see  his  visions,  speak  his  language,  and  hear  with  him 
the  music  of  the  spheres.  In  any  age,  and  of  any  race,  the  visions  (fictions)  of  the 
poet,  are  only  the  reflections  from  the  mirror  of  heaven's  dome  of  the  souls  of  his 
people.  So  for  the  purpose  of  constructing  for  us  of  to-day  a  true  picture  of  our 
forefathers,  their  thoughts,  their  deeds,  their  character,  their  height,  their  depth, 
and  limitations,  every  merest  myth  and  legend  is  a  fact  four-square,  ready  for 
the  building. 


68  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

they  built  fires  that  made  the  dinner-stones  red  hot.  On  the  stones 
they  laid  the  meat,  wrapped  in  green  rushes,  and  buried  it  while  it 
broiled.  They  repaired  to  the  nearby  stream  to  bathe — then 
combed  and  plaited  their  hair — after  which  they  were  eager  for 
their  great  meal.  When  they  had  eaten,  they  seated  themselves 
on  the  ground,  in  circle  around  a  big  log-fire,  while  one  or  other  of 
their  myriad  gifted  bards  and  story-tellers  entertained  them  with 
poem,  with  story,  with  history  and  with  legend,  till  sleep  stole  over 
their  tired  limbs,  and  they  couched  them  beneath  fragrant  branches 
— on  "the  three  beddings  of  the  Fian" — first  green  boughs,  over 
that  green  moss,  and  finally  green  rushes. 

Although  the  Fianna  were  supposed  to  uphold  the  power  of 
the  Ard-Righ,  their  oath  of  fealty  was  not  to  him,  but  to  their  own 
chief. 

And  in  course  of  time,  in  the  reign  of  Cairbre  Lifeachar,  son 
of  Cormac,  they  revolted  against  the  Ard-Righ — Fionn  and  his 
Fian  joining  Breasil,  king  of  Leinster,  in  resisting  Cairbre's  levy- 
ing of  the  Boru  tribute.  Cairbre  met  with  overwhelming  defeat 
at  the  battle  of  Cnamros — where  he  is  said  to  have  left  nine  thou- 
sand dead  upon  the  field. 

One  reason  for  their  revolt  was  because  Cairbre  had  favoured 
the  Clan  na  Morna,  the  Connaught  branch  of  the  Fian,  from 
whom  Fionn  had  formerly  usurped  power  and  favour  for  his  own 
branch,  the  Clan  na  Baoscni.  Cairbre  had  put  away  the  latter, 
and  made  the  former,  under  their  leader  Aedh  the  Comely,  his 
buannacht  (paid  soldiers). 

Also,  from  enjoying  too  much  power  too  long,  the  Clan  na 
Baoscni  had  got  arrogant.  Amongst  other  privileges  which  they 
came  to  claim  as  their  right  was  that  no  maiden  in  the  land,  of 
any  rank,  should  marry  outside  the  Fian  unless  she  was  first  offered 
in  marriage  to  the  eligible  in  their  ranks.  And  when  at  length 
they  demanded  gold  tribute  from  Cairbre  himself,  because,  with- 
out asking  their  approval,  he  chose  to  marry  his  beautiful  daugh- 
ter, Sgeimsolas  (Light  of  Beauty)  to  a  chief  of  the  Deisi,  the  final 
break  befell.  They  allied  themselves  with  the  King  of  Munster, 
Mogh  Corb,  whose  mother,  Samair,  was  a  daughter  of  Fionn,  and 
whose  father,  Cormac  Cas,  was  son  to  the  great  Oilill  Olum,  son 
of  Mogh  Nuadat.  Since  it  was  Goll  MacMorna  who  had  slain 
Mogh  Nuadat  on  the  field  of  Moylena,  the  Munstermen  had  double 
reason  for  allying  with  the  Clan  na  Baoscni  against  the  Clan  na 
Morna  and  their  master,  Cairbre. 

In  the  year  280  A.  D.,  both  sides  met  in  death  grapple  at  the 
battle  of  Gabra — one  of  the  fiercest  fights  of  ancient  times.     Oisin, 


IIOXX   AM)  THr.   FIAX  69 

the  son  of  Fionn  (who  was  now  dead),  led  the  Fian.  Oisin's  son, 
Oscar,  the  most  powerful  fighter  of  the  Fian,  was  killed  in  single 
combat  by  Cairbre.  And  the  Fianna,  who  had  so  long  filled  such 
a  shining  part  in  Ireland's  history,  were  annihilated.*  Though 
Cairbrc's  army  and  the  Clan  na  Alorna  under  Aedh,  won,  they 
had  but  little  to  boast  of — and  not  a  large  number  of  them  were 
left  to  boast.  Cairbre  carried  himself  out  of  the  battle,  but,  as 
he  returned  to  Tara,  was  killed  by  one  of  liis  own  kin.  Aedh  the 
Comely  survived ;  and  Mogh  Corb  escaped.  These  two  leaders 
afterwards  renewed  the  fight  in  Muskerry,  where  Aedh  killed 
Mogh. 

But  the  Fian  na  h-Eireann  were  gone  forever. 
Yet,  though  dead,  they  live.  The  lays  of  Oisin,  the  Dialogue 
of  the  Ancients,  and  innumerable  other  Finian  poems  and  tales 
have  kept,  and  will  keep,  their  name  and  their  fame  imperishable.^ 
Not  only  is  the  Fian  in  general  immortalised,  but  the  names,  the 
qualities,  and  the  characteristics  of  every  one  of  Fionn's  trusted 
lieutenants — Oscar  who  never  wronged  bard  or  woman,  Gol  the 
mighty,  Caoilte  the  sweet-tongued,  Diarmuid  Donn  the  beautiful, 
the  bitter-tongued  Conan,  and  the  rest  of  them,  have  lived  and 
will  live.  Even  their  hounds  are  with  us,  immortal.  Bran,  Sgeo- 
lan,  and  their  famed  fellows  still  follow  the  stag  over  the  wooded 
hills  of  Eirinn,  and  wake  the  echoes  of  our  mountain  glens,  by  their 
bay  melodious. 

"The  two  hounds  which  belonged  to  Fionn. 

When  they  were  let  loose  through  Glen  Rath ; 
Were  sweeter  than  musical  instruments, 
And  their  face  outwards  from  the  Suir." 

In  every  corner  of  Ireland  to  the  remotest  headland,  the  stories 
of  the  Fian  awake  the  admiration,  and  excite  the  emulation  of  our 
people.  Round  every  hearth,  in  every  cottage,  on  every  hillside  in 
Eirinn,  the  Fian  is  the  enchanted  word  with  which  the  seanachie 
awakes  the  instant  interest  and  for  as  long  as  he  likes  holds  the 
spellbound  attention  of  man  and  child,  of  learned  and  simple,  rich 
and  poor,  old  and  young. 

The  best  of  the  stories  of  the  Fian  are  preserved  to  us  in  the 
poems  of  Oisin,  the  son  of  Fionn,  the  chief  bard  of  the  Fian,  In  the 

*  One  old  tale  has  it  that  Oisin  and  Caoilte  were  the  only  ones  of  the  Fian  who 
escaped  with  their  lives  from  the  battle. 

'  Legend  says  they  had  four  leading  poets — Fionn,  his  two  sons,  Oisin  and 
Fergus  Finnbeoil,  and  Caoilte. 


70  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

Agallamh  na  Seanorach,  and  many  other  fine  poems  of  olden  rime. 

The  Agallam  na  Seanorach  (the  Colloquy  of  the  Ancients), 
by  far  the  finest  collection  of  Fenian  tales,  is  supposed  to  be  an 
account  of  the  Fian's  great  doings,  given  in  to  Patrick  by  Oisin 
and  Caoilte — more  than  150  years  after. 

After  the  overthrow  of  the  Fian,  Caoilte  is  supposed  to  have 
lived  with  the  Tuatha  De  Danann,  under  the  hills — until  the  com- 
ing of  St.  Patrick.  Oisin  had  been  carried  away  to  the  Land  of 
Youth,  under  the  western  ocean.  Both  of  them  return  to  their 
mortal  existence,  and  to  Ireland,  when  Patrick  is  in  the  land,  win- 
ning it  from  Crom  Cruach  to  Christ.  Patrick  meets  and  converts 
each  of  them.  They  attach  themselves  to  his  company,  and  travel 
Ireland  with  him.  When  the  Saint  is  wearied  from  much  travelling 
and  work,  or,  as  often  happens,  from  the  perversity  of  the  people 
he  has  to  deal  with,  Oisin  or  Caoilte  refresh  and  beguile  him  with 
many  a  sweet  tale  of  the  Fian — all  of  which,  says  the  tradirion,  the 
pleased  Patrick  had  his  scribe  Breogan  write  down  and  preserve 
for  posterity.  These  tales  make  the  Agallam  na  Seanorach. 
The  tired  Patrick  would  say : 

"Oisin,  sweet  to  me  is  thy  voice ! 

A  blessing  on  the  soul  of  Fionn — 
And  relate  to  us  the  great  deer-hunt 
That  day  in  Sliab-nam-Ban-Fionn." 

Often  however  Oisin,  old,  blind,  and  bitterly  remembering  the 
happy  long-gone  days,  was  far  from  sweet  in  tongue  or  temper. 

"Oh,  Patrick,  sad  is  the  tale, 

To  be  after  the  heroes,  thus  feeble ; 

Listening  to  clerics  and  to  bells, 

Whilst  I  am  a  poor,  blind,  and  old  man. 

"If  Fionn  and  the  Fenians  lived, 

I  would  abandon  the  clerics  and  the  bells; 
I  would  follow  the  deer  from  the  glen. 
And  would  fain  lay  hold  of  his  foot." 

He  was  ever  longing  for  by-gone  joys — 

"The  warbling  of  the  blackbird  of  Litir  Lee, 
The  wave  of  Rughraidhe  lathing  the  shore; 
The  bellowing  of  the  ox  of  Magh-maoin, 
And  the  lowing  of  the  calf  M  Glcann-da-maoii. 


FIONN  AND  THE  MAX  71 

**Thc  resounding  of  the  chase  on  Sliab  g-Crot, 
The  noise  of  the  fawns  around  Sliab  Cua ; 
The  sea-gulls  scream  on  Lorrus,  yonder, 
Or  the  screech  of  the  ravens  over  the  battlefield. 

"The  tossing  of  the  hulls  of  the  barks  by  the  wave, 
The  yell  of  the  hounds  at  Drumlish; 
The  cry  of  Bran  at  Cnoc-an-air, 
Or  the  murmur  of  the  streams  about  Sliab  Mis. 

"Oh,  delight  to  Fionn  and  the  heroes 

Was  the  cry  of  his  hounds  afar  on  the  mountain ; 

The  wolves  starting  from  their  dens, 

The  exultation  of  his  hosts,  that  was  his  delight. 

And  Gisin  could  never  comprehend  why  Fionn  and  ihc   bian 
should,  or  could,  now  be  in  Hell — 

"What  did  Fionn  do  to  God, 

Except  to  attend  on  hosts  and  schools; 

A  great  while  bestowing  gold, 

And  another  while  delighting  in  his  hounds. 

"Were  the  Clanna  IVIorna  within   [in  Hell] 
Or  the  Clanna  Baoiscne,  the  mighty  men ; 
They  would  take  Fionn  out, 
Or  would  have  the  house  to  themselves. 

"If  Faolan  and  Goll  lived, 

Diarmuid  the  brown  haired  and  Oscar  the  noble; 
In  any  house  that  demon  or  God  ever  formed, 
Fionn  and  the  Fenians  could  not  be  in  bondage. 

"Were  there  a  place,  above  or  below, 
Better  than  Heaven; 
'Tis  there  Fionn  would  go. 
At  the  head  of  his  Fianna." 

vSometimes  his  boasting  and  his  perversity  provoked  to  ire  the 
quick-tempered  Patrick — 

"Miser>'  attend  thee,  old  man, 

AVho  speakest  the  words  of  madness; 
God  is  better  for  one  hour, 
Than  all  the  Fians  of  Eire." 


72  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

This  would  elicit  retort  in  kind  from  Oisin — 

"O  Patrick  of  the  crooked  crozier, 

Who  make  me  that  impertinent  answer; 
Thy  crozier  would  be  in  atoms, 
Were  Oscar  present. 

"Were  mj''  son  Oscar  and  God 

Hand  to  hand  on  Cnoc-na-Fiann 

If  I  saw  my  son  down, 

I  would  then  say  God  was  a  stronger  man." 

But  the  ardent  Patrick  would  insist  on  impressing  this  olJ 
heathen  that  in  power,  might,  and  all  good  qualities,  God  was  in- 
finitely beyond  all  mortals.  This  was  very  hard  for  Oisin  to  com- 
prehend or  admit — 

"Hadst  thou  seen,  O  chaste  cleric, 

The  Fenians  one  day  on  yonder  Southern  strand ; 

Or  at  Naas  of  Leinster  of  the  gentle  streams, 

Then  the  Fenians  thou  wouldst  greatly  have  esteemed. 

"Patrick,  enquire  of  God, 

Whether  he  recollects  when  the  Fenians  were  alive ; 
Or  hath  he  seen  East  or  West, 
Men  their  equal,  in  the  time  of  fight. 

"Or,  hath  he  seen  in  his  own  countr}-. 
Though  high  it  be  above  our  heads; 
In  conflict,  in  battle,  or  in  might, 
A  man  who  Avas  equal  to  Fionn." 

Moreover,  these  old  comrades  of  his,  from  whose  example, 
and  from  the  admiring  of  whom,  Patrick  strove  to  turn  him — 
possessed  those  very  virtues  which,  according  to  Patrick's  preach- 
ing, should  have  won  them  Heaven — 

"We  (the  Fenians)  never  used  to  tell  untruth, 
Falsehood  was  never  attributed  to  us; 
By  truth  and  the  might  of  our  hands, 
We  came  safe  out  of  every  conflict. 

"There  never  sat  a  cleric  in  a  church. 

Though  melodiously  ye  think  they  chant  psalms, 
More  true  to  his  word  than  the  Fian, 
Men  who  never  shrank  from  fierce  conflicts. 


FIONN  AND  THl-    MAX  73 

"A  cleric  never  sat  in  a  church, 

O  Patrick  mild  of  the  s^veet  voice! 

More  hospitable  than  Fionn  himself; 

A  man  who  was  not  niggardly  in  bestowing  gold. 

"Fionn  never  suffered  in  his  day 

Any  one  to  be  in  pain  or  difficulty ; 
AVithout  redeeming  him,  by  slKcr  or  gold, 
By  battle  or  fight,  till  he  got  the  victory. 

"All  that  thou  and  thy  clerics  tell, 

According  to  the  laws  of  Heaven's  king; 

These  (qualities)  were  possessed  by  the  Fian  of  Fionn, 

And  they  are  more  powerful  in  God's  kingdom. 

"Great  would  be  the  shame  for  God, 

Not  to  release  Fionn,  from  the  shackles  of  pain; 
For  if  God  himself  were  in  bonds. 
The  chief  would  fight  on  his  behalf." 

But  desire  for  Oisin's  delightful  tales  of  these  brave  Pagans 
would  overcome  In  Patrick  the  zest  for  theological  controversy — 

"Oisin,  sweet  to  me  is  thy  voice, 

And  a  blessing,  furthermore,  on  the  soul  of  Fionn  I 

Relate  to  us  how  many  deer 

Were  slain  at  Sliabh-nam-Ban-Fionn." 

And,  Oisin,  mollified,  forgiving  and  forgetting  Patrick's  stric- 
tures on  his  Fian  fellows,  would  forthwith  launch  into  another  of 
his  rare  tales, 


CHAPTER  XIV 

THE  BREAK  OF  ULSTER 

Of  the  line  of  Ir,  son  of  Milesius,  to  whom  Ulster  had  been  ap- 
portioned, that  Branch  called  the  Clan  na  Rory  (after  its  great 
founder,  Rory,  who  had  been  King  of  Ulster,  and  also  High-King 
of  Ireland)  now  had  ruled  the  province  for  nearly  700  years, 
namely,  for  more  than  300  years  before  the  Christian  Era,  and 
more  than  300  years  after.  And  their  capital  city  and  the  King's 
seat  had  been  at  Emain  Macha.  During  practically  all  of  this 
time,  from  that  fort's  first  founding  by  Queen  Macha,  the  Royal 
Court  of  Ulster  had  been  a  court  of  splendour,  and  ever  noted  as  a 
centre  of  chivalry  and  the  home  of  poetry. 

And  the  power,  and  might,  and  courage  of  Ulster  had  ever 
acted  as  a  brake  on  the  ambitions  of  their  neighbouring  royal  depre- 
dators, and  especially  the  royal  aggressors  of  Connaught,  who 
were  made  to  fear  Ulster's  name. 

But  in  the  beginning  of  the  fourth  century,  Ulster's  power  was 
irrevocably  broken,  and  by  far  the  greater  portion  of  her  territory 
wrested  from  her — her  people  driven  into  miserably  narrow 
bounds  from  which,  ever  after,  they  can  hardly  be  said  to  have 
emerged. 

It  was  when  Muiredeach  Tireach,  grandson  of  Carbri  of  the 
Liffey,  was  High-King  of  Ireland,  that  Ulster  was  despoiled  and 
broken  by  his  nephews,  the  three  Collas,  who,  on  the  ruins  of  the 
old  kingdom  of  Uladh,  founded  a  new  kingdom — of  Oirgialla 
(Oriel) — which  was  henceforth  for  nearly  a  thousand  years  to 
play  an  important  part  in  the  history  of  Northern  Ireland. 

Muiredeach's  father,  Fiacha  (son  of  Carbri),  was  reigning 
High-King  at  Tara  in  the  beginning  of  the  fourth  century.  Muire- 
deach, a  young  man  of  exceeding  ability,  was  made  King  of  Con- 
naught  (for  during  some  centuries  now  the  Ard-Righship  was  in 
possession  of  the  Connaught  royal  family)  and  the  throne  of  Con- 
naught  was  usually  the  stepping-stone  to  the  high  throne  at  Tara. 
Yet  because  of  the  general  Irish  custom  which  alternated  the  head- 
ship of  a  kingdom  or  a  chieftainry  between  two  collateral  branches 

74 


THK  BREAK  OF  ULSTER  75 

of  a  paramount  family,  King  Fiacha's  nephew,  CoUa  Uais  (the  No- 
ble), ambitioned  the  Ard-Righship  in  succession  to  Fiacha. 

Nov»',  at  a  time  when  IVIuircdcach  wa^  in  Munstcr,  fighting  his 
father's  battles  with  great  success  and  bright  renown  Colla  Uais 
saw  himself  eclipsed,  and  popular  feeling  leaning  to  the  victorious 
Mulredeach  as  the  proper  successor  to  his  father,  Fiacha.  So 
Colla  Uais,  and  his  two  brothers,  Colla  Da-Crioch  and  Colla  Maen, 
gathered  an  army  of  their  own  adherents,  formidably  augmented 
it  by  seducing  from  their  allegiance  a  large  portion  of  Ard-Righ 
Fiacha's  army,  and  giving  battle  to  Fiacha,  at  Taillten  in  Meath, 
overthrew  and  slew  him. 

They  seized  the  throne  for  Colla  Uais  who  reigned  Ard-Righ 
for  four  years.  At  the  end  of  that  time  he,  in  turn,  was  over- 
thrown by  Muiredeach,  and  fled  with  his  two  brothers  and  their 
followers,  to  Alba,  to  the  King  of  the  Picts,  who  was  his  mother's 
father. 

Then  Muiredeach  became  Ard-Righ  of  Ireland,  and  reigned 
for  27  years. 

But  in  the  third  year  of  Muiredeach's  reign  the  three  Collas 
returned.  The  story  says,  a  Druid  at  the  court  of  the  king  of  the 
Picts  divined  that  should  they  return  to  Ireland,  and  Muiredeach 
take  the  life  of  one  of  them,  the  Irish  crown  should  fall  to  the  sur- 
vivors. And  on  the  Druid's  disclosure,  they,  keenly  covetous  of 
the  Ard-Righship,  promptly  acted. 

They  sailed  for  Ireland,  went  to  Tara,  and  into  the  presence  of 
the  King.  Muiredeach  was  naturally  surprised  to  find  his  father's 
slayers  audaciously  present  themselves  before  him;  but,  being  a 
man  of  superior  qualities,  he  surprised  them  by  his  kindly  greeting. 
Then  he  asked  what  news  they  brought.  They,  determined  to 
provoke  this  good  man,  replied,  tauntingly:  "We  killed  your 
father." 

"That,"  said  Muiredeach  calmly,  "is  not  news  to  me." 

"Then,"  they  said,  with  bravado,  "you  want  your  revenge — 
and  may  have  it." 

"Yes,"  said  the  great  man,  "I  want  my  revenge — so,  you  are 
all  three  forgiven  your  crime." 

The  three  Collas  were  at  first  dumbfounded  by  a  great-minded- 
ness  Incomprehensible  to  them.  But  they  were  not  to  be  turned 
from  their  object.  This  dull  man  must  be  baited  to  vengeance. 
They  said,  "You  take  the  way  of  a  coward." 

And  the  great  Muiredeach,  far  from  resenting  the  insolent 
taunt  again  surprised  and  dumbfounded  them  by  a  noble,  gentle 
reply — which  completely  won  their  hearts  to  him,  and  filched  from 


76  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

their  minds  the  foul  ambition.  They  thereupon  professed  their 
profound  sorrow,  and  swore  fealty  to  him. 

But  the  keen-minded  Muiredeach  knew  that  these  bold  youths 
were  not  meant  to  loll  at  court,  and  that  if  he  did  not  find  fitting 
trouble  for  them,  they  would,  themselves,  in  all  certainty  find 
trouble  which  might  be  in  no  way  welcome  to  him.  So  he  directed 
them  to  face  North  and  win  swordland  for  themselves  from  the 
Ultach  (Ulstermen) — on  which  direction  they  promptly  acted. 

The  ostensible  cause  of  their  attack  upon  Ulster  was  the  an- 
cient grudge  borne  that  province  because  many  generations  before, 
the  Ulster  king,  Tiobraide,  had  sent  to  Tara  fifty  robbers  disguised 
as  women,  who  had  slain  Conn  of  the  Hundred  Battles — and  be- 
cause, a  generation  later,  the  Ulster  prince,  Fergus  Blacktooth,  had, 
by  setting  fire  to  his  hair  at  a  feast,  put  a  blemish  upon  Cormac 
MacArt,  which,  for  a  time,  debarred  him  from  the  throne  which 
Fergus  then  usurped. 

But  the  Collas  first  went  to  their  kin  in  Connaught  and  there 
gathered  a  great  army  for  the  invasion  of  Ulster.  On  the  plain 
of  Farney  in  Monaghan  they  met  the  Ulstermen  under  their  king, 
Fergus,  and  on  seven  successive  days  broke  battle  upon  them, 
finally  slaying  Fergus  and  putting  the  Ultach  to  complete  rout. 
Then  they  ravaged  and  destroyed  famed  and  ancient  Emain  Macha, 
and  drove  the  Ultach  east  of  the  Uri  River  and  Loch  Neagh — 
from  the  great  expanse  of  their  olden  kingdom,  hemming  them 
into  the  straitened  limits  of  the  new  kingdom,  which  comprised 
only  parts  of  the  present  two  counties  of  Antrim  and  Down.  Of 
the  conquered  portion  of  Ulster,  from  Louth  in  the  south  to  Derry 
in  the  north,  and  from  Loch  Neagh  to  Loch  Erne,  the  Collas  made 
themselves  the  new  kingdom  of  Oirgialla  (Oriel),  which  was  pos- 
sessed, afterwards,  by  their  descendants,  the  MacMahons,  O'Han- 
lons,  O'Carrolls,  and  MacGuires. 


CHAPTER  XV 

NIALL  OF  THE  NINE   HOSTAGES 

NiALL  of  the  Nine  Hostages  was  the  greatest  khig  that  Ireland 
knew  between  the  time  of  Cormac  MacArt  and  the  coming  of 
Patrick.  His  reign  was  epochal.  He  not  only  ruled  Ireland  greatly 
and  strongly,  but  carried  the  name  and  the  fame,  and  the  power 
and  the  fear,  of  Ireland  into  all  neighbouring  nations.  He  was, 
moreover,  founder  of  the  longest,  most  important,  and  most  power- 
ful Irish  dynasty.  Almost  without  interruption  his  descendants 
were  Ard-Righs  of  Ireland  for  600  years.  Under  him  the  spirit 
of  pagan  Ireland  upleaped  in  its  last  great  red  flame  of  military 
glory,  a  flame  that,  in  another  generation,  was  to  be  superseded  by 
a  great  white  flame,  far  less  fierce  but  far  more  powerful — and 
one  which,  unlike  this  one,  was  to  shed  its  light  far,  far  beyond 
the  bounds  of  neighbouring  nations — to  the  uttermost  bounds  of 
Europe.  That  is  the  great  flame  that  Patrick  was  to  kindle,  and 
which  was  to  expand  and  grow,  ever  mounting  higher  and  spread- 
ing farther,  year  by  year,  for  three  hundred  years. 

And  Niall's  career  was  full  of  drama — romantic  and  tragic. 

Niall  was  a  grandson  of  Muiredeach  TIreach.  His  father, 
Eochaid  Mulgh-medon,  son  of  Muiredeach,  became  Ard-Righ  mid- 
way of  the  fourth  century.  By  his  wife,  Carthann,  daughter  of  a 
British  king,  Eochaid  had  the  son  Niall.  By  another  wife,  Mong- 
Fionn,  daughter  of  the  King  of  Munster,  Eochaid  had  four  sons, 
Brian,  Fiachra,  Aillll,  and  Fergus.  Mong-FIonn  was  a  bitter, 
jealous  and  ambitious  woman,  who  set  her  heart  upon  having  her 
son,  Brian,  succeed  his  father  as  Ard-RIgh.  As  Niall  was  his 
father's  favourite,  Mong-FIonn  did  not  rest  until  she  had  outcast 
him  and  his  mother,  Carthann,  and  made  Carthann  her  menial, 
carrying  water  to  the  court.  The  child  was  rescued  by  a  great  poet 
of  that  time,  Torna,^  who  reared  and  educated  him. 

When  he  had  reached  budding  manhood,  Tori^a  brought  him 

^  Toma  was  also  fosterer  of  G)rc,  king  of  Cashel — one  of  the  three  Kings  who 
is  said  to  have  been  on  the  board  with  St.  Patrick,  at  the  revision  of  the  laws. 


78  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

back  to  court  to  take  his  rightful  place — much  to  his  father's  joy. 
Then  Niall,  showing  strength  of  character,  even  in  his  early  youth, 
took  his  mother  from  her  menial  task,  and  restored  her  to  her 
place. 

Of  Niall's  youth  there  are  many  legends,  but  two  in  particular 
show  the  working  of  his  destiny. 

One  of  these  legends  tells  how,  on  a  day,  the  five  brothers  being 
in  the  smith's  forge  when  it  took  fire,  they  were  commanded  to 
run  and  save  what  they  could.  Their  father,  who  was  looking  on 
(and  who,  say  some,  designedly  caused  the  fire,  to  test  his  sons), 
observed  with  interest  Niall's  distinctiveness  of  character,  his  good 
sense  and  good  judgment.  While  Brian  saved  the  chariots  from 
the  fire,  Ailill  a  shield  and  a  sword,  Fiachra  the  old  forge  trough, 
and  Fergus  only  a  bundle  of  firewood,  Niall  carried  out  the  bel- 
lows, the  sledges,  the  anvil,  and  anvil-block— saved  the  soul  of  the 
forge,  and  saved  the  smith  from  ruin. 

Then  his  father  said:  "It  is  Niall  who  should  succeed  me  as 
Ard-Righ  of  Eirinn." 

The  other  legend  tells  how,  on  a  day  when  the  five  brothers 
were  hunting,  and  all  of  them  sorely  thirsted,  they  at  length  dis- 
covered a  well,  in  the  woods,  which,  however,  was  guarded  by  a 
withered  and  ugly,  repulsive,  old  hag,  who  granted  a  drink  only 
to  such  as  should  first  kiss  her.  Thirsty  as  they  were,  neither  one 
of  Niall's  four  brothers  could  muster  enough  resolve  to  pay  the 
price.  But  Niall  unhesitatingly  went  forward  and  kissed  the  ugly 
old  hag — from  whom  the  rags  Immediately  dropped,  and  the  age 
and  witheredness  also,  disclosing  a  radiantly  beautiful  maiden,  who 
was  In  reality  the  symbol  of  sovereignty.  Then,  before  Brian, 
Fiachra,  Ailill,  and  Fergus  were  permitted  to  quench  their  raging 
thirst  all  four  of  them  had  to  yield  to  Niall  their  chances  for  the 
kingship — and  to  swear  loyalty  to  him. 

But  Mong-FIonn  schemed  so  well  that,  when  Eochaid  died  at 
Tara,  she  had  her  brother,  Crimthann,  take  the  crown,  to  the  ex- 
clusion of  Niall — with  the  Intention  that  Crimthann  should  wear 
it  until  her  son,  Brian,  came  of  age.  To  her  bitter  wrath,  how- 
ever, Crimthann,  instead  of  acting  as  a  rot  faineant,  merely  filling  a 
gap,  threw  over  Mong-FIonn's  control,  and  made  himself  a  real 
king,  and  a  powerful,  not  only  ruling  Ireland  but  making  suc- 
cessful expeditions  abroad  against  the  PIcts  In  Alba,  and  against 
the  Britons  and  Romans  both  In  Britain  and  in  Gaul,  meeting  great 
success.  Inspiring  respect  for  his  might,  and  from  his  foreign  cam- 
paigns bringing  back  to  Eirinn  great  booty. 


NIALL  OF   J  HE  NINE  HOSTAGES  79 

During  his  almost  twenty  years'  reign  the  evil  and  designing, 
covetous  Nlong-Fionn  never  ceased  planning  for  her  son  Brian's 
enthroning  through  the  downfall  of  Crimthann.  In  her  main  ob- 
ject she  failed.  She,  however,  succeeded  in  killing  Crimthann  by 
poison,  but  at  the  cost  of  her  own  life;  for,  to  induce  him  to  be- 
lieve the  poison  cup  harmless — she  herself  had  to  drink  from  it 
first.     To  attain  her  ambition  she  gave  her  life — in  vain." 

Niall's  first  foreign  expedition  was  to  Alba,  to  subdue  the  Picts. 
The  little  Irish  (Scotic)  colony  in  that  part  of  Alba  just  opposite 
to  Antrim  had  gradually  been  growing  in  numbers,  strength,  and 
prestige — until  they  excited  the  jealousy  and  enmity  of  the  Picts, 
who  tried  to  crush  them.  Niall  fitted  out  a  large  fleet  and  sailed 
to  the  assistance  of  his  people.  Joined  then  by  the  Irish  in  Alba, 
he  marched  against  the  Picts,  overcame  them,  took  hostages  from 
them  and  had  Argyle  and  Cantire  settled  upon  the  Albanach  Irish. 

After  obtaining  obedience  from  the  Picts,  his  next  foreign  raid 
was  into  Britain.  When  Maximus  and  his  Roman  legions  were, 
in  consequence  of  the  barbarian  pressure  upon  the  Continental 
Roman  Empire,  Avithdrawing  from  Britain,  Niall,  with  his  Irish 
hosts  and  Pictish  allies,  treaded  upon  their  hurrying  heels.  Yet 
did  the  Romans  claim  victory  over  Niall.  For  it  is  said  his  was 
the  host  referred  to  by  the  Roman  poet,  Claudian,  when  in  prais- 
ing the  Roman  general,  Stilicho,  he  says  Britain  was  protected  by 
this  bold  general. 

"When  Scots  came  thundering  from  the  Irish  shores, 
And  ocean  trembled  struck  by  hostile  oars." 

Such  rare  booty  was  to  be  got  from  the  retreating  Romans  that 
Niall  who  had  had  a  fleet  with  him,  and  had  it  coast  around  Britain, 
crossed  the  English  Channel,  and  pursued  the  Romans  into  Gaul. 
He  had  laid  Britain  helpless,  and  in  the  maritime  parts  of  Armori- 
can  Gaul  must  have  worked  wide  devastation. 

Gildas,  the  ancient  British  (Welsh)  historian,  records  three 
great  devastations  of  Britain  by  the  Scots  (Irish)  and  Picts,  of 
which  this  invasion  led  by  Niall  was  probably  the  first. 

Niall  must  have  made  many  incursions  into  Britain  and  prob- 
ably several  into  Gaul.  He  carried  back  hostages,  many  captives, 
and  great  booty  from  these  expeditions.     Yet  how  often  out  of 


2  Not  only  did  the  Ard-Righship  of  Eirinn  pass  from  Brian,  but  the  kingship 
of  Connaught,  also.  This  latter  fell  to  Fiachra  and  his  posterity,  who,  for  70O 
years  after,  held  it,  to  the  exclusion  of  Brian  and  his  posterity.  The  Ard-Righship 
fell  to  the  more  worthy  Niall.    That  was  in  tlie  last  quarter  of  the  fourth  century. 


So  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

evil  Cometh  good.  It  was  in  one  of  these  GaUic  expeditions  that 
the  lad  Succat,  destined  under  his  later  name  of  Patrick  to  be  the 
greatest  and  noblest  figure  Ireland  ever  knew,  was  taken  in  a  sweep 
of  captives,  carried  to  Ireland  and  to  Antrim,"  there  to  herd  the 
swine  of  the  chieftain,  Milcho.  Many  and  many  a  time,  in  Alba, 
in  Britain,  and  in  Gaul,  must  Niall  have  measured  his  leadership 
against  the  best  leadership  of  Rome,  and  pitted  the  courage  and 
wild  daring  of  his  Scotic  hosts  against  the  skill  of  the  Imperial 
legions.  Yet  his  fall  in  a  foreign  land  was  to  be  compassed,  not 
by  the  strategy  or  might  of  the  foreign  enemy,  but  by  the  treachery 
of  one  of  his  own. 

He  fell  on  the  banks  of  the  River  Loire,  in  France,  by  the  hand 
of  Eochaid,  the  son  of  Enna  Ceannselaigh,  King  of  Leinster,  who, 
from  ambush,  with  an  arrow,  shot  dead  the  great  king. 

Eochaid,  coming  in  the  train  of  Gabran,  king  of  the  Alban  Dal- 
Riada,  had  probably  come  purposely  to  France  for  this  chance. 
The  old  sore  of  the  Boru  Tribute  imposed  by  the  Ard-Righ  of  Tara 
upon  the  King  of  Leinster  was,  of  course,  aback  of  this  tragedy. 
The  evils  begotten  of  that  deep  sore  were  the  immediate  cause. 
Enna  Ceannselaigh,  King  of  Leinster,  had  several  times  put  defeat 
upon  Ard-Righ  Eochaid,  the  father  of  Niall.  Niall  himself,  since 
he  had  become  Ard-Righ,  had  had  trouble  with  the  Leinster  royal 
family.  And,  once,  this  Eochaid,  son  of  King  Enna,  taking  advan- 
tage of  Niall's  absence  on  a  British  expedition,  had  actually  at- 
tempted to  seize  Tara.  On  Niall's  return  he  punished  Leinster 
for  the  bold  outrage,  took  Eochaid,  and  held  him  at  Tara  as  a 
hostage.  But  Eochaid,  in  the  course  of  time,  escaped,  and  fled  for 
his  father's  realm.  On  his  way  home,  near  the  Liffey,  he  came  to 
the  residence  of  Laidcenn  who  was  a  poet  at  the  court  of  Niall, 
Here  he  wreaked  his  ire  upon  the  poet's  son,  killing  him.  For 
this  unholy  violation  of  the  sanctity  of  a  poet's  house,  even  his 
royal  father  with  all  the  forces  of  Leinster  would  not  be  able  to 
save  him  from  vengeance  sure  and  swift — which  must  fall,  if  he 
remained  in  Ireland.  Eochaid  fled  from  Ireland,  and  sheltered 
him  at  the  court  of  Gabran,  king  of  the  Scottish  Dal  Riada. 

The  sorrowing  poet-father  took  his  own  revenge  upon  Lein- 
ster. For  a  full  year,  it  is  said,  he  satirised  that  country,  and  its 
king  and  its  people,  till,  in  accordance  with  the  ancient  belief  in 
the  fearful  power  of  a  poet's  satire  "neither  corn  nor  grass,  nor 
other  green  things,  grew  there." 

When  Niall  was  about  to  set  out  upon  his  final  expedition  Into 

3  Probus'  life  of  Patrick  sets  him  down  in  Mayo  by  Croagh  Patrick. 


MALL  OF  THE  Nh\E  HOSTAGES  8i 

Britain  .ind  Gaul,  he  had  sent  command  to  Gabran  to  join  him  with 
his  forces — which  gave  Eochaid  the  opportunity  of  dogging  Niall's 
footsteps  abroad,  and  taking  his  revenge.  Eochaid  hid  himself  in 
a  grove  on  the  banks  of  the  Loire  just  opposite  Niall's  camp — and 
at  favourable  opportunity  speeding  an  arrow  to  the  great  man's 
heart,  ended  a  notable  career. 

The  victorious  host  of  the  Irish,  now  a  sorrowing  multitude, 
had  to  turn  their  backs  upon  victory  and  Gaul,  and  bearing  the 
body  of  their  worshipped  chief,  return  to  their  island,  crying  loud 
their  lamentations  instead  of  chanting  long  anticipated  paeans  of 

joy- 

The  slain  warrior  was  laid  to  rest  at  Ochain — the  honoured 
place,  getting  its  name,  says  an  old  historian,  from  the  mighty  sigh- 
ing and  lamentations  made  by  the  men  of  Eirinn  at  the  hiding  in 
earth  of  their  greatest  and  best. 

Niall's  reign  and  life  ended  In  the  year  404  A.  D. 

By  two  wives  Niall  Is  said  to  have  had  fourteen  sons — eight  of 
whom  founding  families,  and  It  may  be  said  founding  principal- 
ities and  dynasties,  lived  to  history. 

"He  was  a  man,"  says  Gratianus  Lucius,  "very  valiant,  most 
skilled  In  war.  He  overcame  in  several  engagements  the  Albanians, 
PIcts  and  Gauls,  and  carried  off  great  numbers  of  prisoners  and  of 
cattle." 

Four  of  these  sons,  namely,  Flacald  the  ancestor  of  the  Mac- 
Geoghegans  and  O'Molloys,  Laegaire  the  ancestor  of  the  O'Quin- 
lans,  Conal  CrImthannI  ancestor  of  the  O'Melaghlalns,  and  Mani 
ancestor  of  the  MacCatharnys,  settled  In  Meath  and  adjoining 
parts,  and  are  since  known  to  history  as  the  Southern  Ui  Neill  (or 
y  Neill).  His  son,  Conal  Gulban — against  the  will  and  command 
of  his  father — led  his  brothers,  Eogan,  Carbrl,  and  Enna  Fionn 
to  found  kingdoms  In  the  northwest  of  the  Island.  The  Instiga- 
tion of  Conal  Gulban's  disobedient  march  of  conquest  was  the  slay- 
ing of  his  tutor  by  the  Connaughtmen.  From  Connaught  he  then 
conquered  the  northwest  of  the  Island — the  present  counties  of 
Donegal  and  Tyrone,  and  parts  of  Derry,  Fermanagh,  Leitrim, 
and  SUgo.  TIr  Conal  (Donegal)  Conal  Gulban  reserved  for  him- 
self. Tir  Eogan  (Tyrone)  became  the  domain  of  Eogan.  The 
northeast  of  Sllgo  and  North  Leitrim  went  to  Carbri.  And  Enna 
Fionn  was  settled  In  the  southern  shoulder  of  TIr  Conal. 

Eogan  became  ancestor  of  the  royal  house  of  O'Neill  of  Ty- 
rone, and  Conal  Gulban  of  the  royal  house  of  O'Donnell,  of  Done- 
gal. Although  In  later  centuries  the  Kinel  Conal  and  the  KInel 
Eogan  developed  a  fierce  rivalry,  so  great  was  the  affection  be- 


82  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

tween  the  brother  founders  of  the  two  families  that  when  Conal 
Gulban  was  killed  in  464  by  a  clan  of  the  Firbolgs,  on  the  Plain 
of  Magh  Slecht,  in  the  present  county  of  Cavan,  his  brother,  Eogan, 
within  a  year  after,  died  of  grief. 

As  was  mentioned  before,  even  the  kingship  of  Connaught  did 
not  fall  to  Niall's  half-brother,  Brian,*  the  favourite  of  Mong- 
Fionn.  That  overlordship  went  to  Fiachra,  and  was  continued  to 
his  posterity  thenceforward  to  the  12th  century. 

Now  on  the  death  of  Niall,  his  brother  Fiachra's  son,  Dathi, 
became  Ard-Righ — and  followed  in  Niall's  footsteps,  leading  his 
armies  abroad  for  foreign  conquest,  and  for  the  bringing  home  of 
foreign  spoils.  He  set  out  on  his  career  of  conquest  at  the  age  of 
seventeen — after  a  Druid  at  Tara  had  told  him  that  he  would  be 
conqueror  of  Alba  and  impress  his  power  on  other  foreign  lands. 
He  first  brought  Alba  to  submission — fighting  and  overcoming  Fere- 
dach  Finn,  King  of  the  Picts.  (Conal  Gulban,  son  of  Niall,  seized 
hold  of  that  king  and  killed  him  against  a  pillar  stone.)  Then, 
as  Niall  had  followed  upon  the  heels  of  Maximus  in  his  evacuation 
of  Britain,  Dathi  followed  up  and  hastened  the  later  retreat  of 
Constantine  with  his  Roman  legions  from  that  kingdom.  He  fol- 
lowed them  into  Gaul — where  he  was  killed  by  lightning.  If  it 
be  true,  as  recorded  by  the  ancient  historian,  that  it  was  at  the  foot 
of  the  Alps  he  met  his  death,  we  must  conclude  that  Dathi  was 
both  a  bold  and  powerful  prince.' 

Dathi's  body,  too,  was  borne  home  over  land  and  sea  and  was 
buried  in  the  great  cemetery  of  the  Connaught  kings,  at  Cruachan. 

From  Niall's  day  onward  to  the  nth  century,  this  Dathi  and 
his  son,  Ailill  Molt,  were  the  only  Ard-Righs  that  Connaught  gave 
to  Tara  and  Ireland.  All  the  other  kings  of  Tara,  for  the  space 
of  600  years,  were  of  the  family  of  Niall — usually  taken  alternately 
from  the  Northern  Ui  Neill  and  the  Southern  Ui  Nelll. 

The  final  cancelling  of  Connaught's  claim  to  the  throne  of  Tara 
came  in  the  last  quarter  of  the  5th  century  in  about  the  20th  year 
of  the  reign  of  the  aforesaid  Ailill  Molt — when  Lugaid,  the  son 
of  Laegaire  and  grandson  of  Niall,  aided  by  Murchertach  Mac- 

*  Brian  is  ancestor  of  the  Connaught  O'Conors,  the  O'Reillys,  O'Rorkes, 
OTlahertys,  MacDermotts,  and  MacDonoughs.  Fiachra  is  the  ancestor  of  the 
O'Dowds,  O'Kevans,  O'Hynes,  OShaughnessys,  O'Qerys. 

5  The  Abbe  MacGeoghegan,  chaplain  to  the  Irish  brigade  in  the  service  of 
France,  and  noted  Irish  historian,  says  that  in  his  day  there  still  existed  in  Pied- 
Tnont  a  tradition  of  the  invading  Irish  king  being  there,  and  of  his  having  spent 
a  night  at  the  castle  of  Sales—which  latter  fact,  the  Abbe  says,  was  recorded  in 
an  ancient  registry  in  the  archives  of  the  House  of  Sales. 


NIALL  OF  THE  NlNii  HOSTAGES  83 

Erca  of  the  Northern  Ui  Neill,  and  by  the  King  of  Ulad  and  the 
King  of  Leinster,  completely  overthrew  Aihll  Molt  and  the  Con- 
naught  forces,  at  the  great  battle  of  Ocha.  And  henceforth,  for 
long  centuries  the  paramount  lords  of  the  land  were  of  the  family 
of  the  great  Niall  of  the  Nine  Hostages. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

IRISH  INVASIONS  OF  BRITAIN 

In  spite  of  their  apparently  Isolated  position  the  Irish,  from  the 
earliest  times,  seem  to  have  kept  up  a  fair  intercourse  with  for- 
eign countries — ^being  intimate  with  Alba  (Scotland)  and  Britain, 
and  somewhat  less  Intimate  with  France,  and  with  other  Conti- 
nental countries.  The  ancient  traditions  of  all  lands  naturally  re- 
flect the  true  manners  and  customs  of  those  countries,  and  echo 
truly  the  old-time  happenings.  The  ancient  Irish  tales  bristle  with 
references  to  the  aforementioned  Intercourse,  and  with  evidence 
that  foreigners  of  diverse  races  were  frequently  entertained  in 
Irish  courts,  foreign  mercenaries  sometimes  employed  In  Irish  wars, 
and  foreign  matrimonial  alliances  occasionally  contracted  by  Irish 
royal  families. 

Labraid  Loingseach  In  very  distant,  pre-Christian  days,  was 
said  to  have  brought  back  from  his  exile  in  France  two  thousand 
Galllsh  soldiers,  by  whom  he  avenged  his  grandfather's  murder, 
and  put  himself  upon  the  throne.  The  very  ancient  poetical  ac- 
count of  the  Battle  of  Ross-na-rl  says  that  Conor  MacNessa  (who 
reigned  In  Ulster  at  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  Era)  sent  an 
embassy  to  some  foreign  country,  and  that  Cano,  a  foreigner,  went 
as  pilot,  to  teach  them  their  way  over  the  surface  of  the  sea.  The 
Tain  tells  us  that  Queen  Maeve  (Conor's  contemporary)  had  a 
number  of  Gallish  mercenaries  In  her  army  M^hen  she  went  against 
Ulster. 

British  and  Pictlsh  visitors  are  frequent  In  the  old  tales — and 
even  the  Northmen — these  latter  almost  always  as  enemies.  Saxo 
Grammaticus  says  that  the  Northmen  besieged  Dublin — or  some 
great  fort  that  stood  there — in  the  first  century.  Cuchullain,  in 
the  old  tale,  is  made  to  fight  a  Scandinavian,  Swaran,  the  son  of 
Starno.  And  the  Fianna  In  the  legends  had  many  an  encounter 
with  the  Northmen.  At  the  battle  of  Magh  Mochruime  (In  the 
final  years  of  the  second  century),  we  are  told  that  MacCon  had 
in  the  army  which  he  led  against  Art  the  Lonely  many  foreigners 
whom  he  had  gathered  with  him  on  his  travels — Franks,  Saxons, 

84 


IRISH  INVASIONS  OF  BRITAIN  85 

Britons,  and  Albans.  That  great  old  tale,  the  Bruidean  da  Dearga, 
shows  Saxons  at  thf  mnrt  of  Conari  Mor  (in  the  century  before 
Christ). 

Although  the  Irish  were  not  a  sea-going  people — in  this  respect 
bearing  not  the  remotest  comparison  with  the  Northmen — and 
probably  because,  unlike  the  Northmen,  their  country  was  so  rich 
and  fruitful  as  not  to  make  sea-going  a  necessity — yet  they  seem 
to  have  been  moderately  well  equipped  for  sea-travel  and  moder- 
ately expert  in  the  art.  They  certainly  sailed  as  far  as  France, 
and  several  of  the  stories  would  indicate  that  they  sailed  to  Spain. 
But  this  is  highly  doubtful.  Yet  the  Book  of  Rights  (said  to  have 
been  first  compiled  in  the  early  third  century,  under  direction  of 
Cormac  MacArt)  informs  us  that  ten  ships  with  beds  was  part  of 
the  yearly  tribute  paid  from  the  king  of  Cashel  to  the  Ard-Righ. 
Part  of  the  Book  of  Acaill  (also  said  to  have  been  compiled  by 
Cormac  MacArt)  contains  Muir-Brethra,  Sea-laws,  and  defines  the 
rights  and  duties  of  foreign  trading  vessels. 

The  Annals  of  Tighernach  tell  us  that  in  the  year  222  Cormac's 
fleet  sailed  over  the  sea  for  three  years.  We  are  told  that  NIall 
took  his  fleet  with  him  v/hen  he  invaded  Britain;  that  he  had  it 
sail  around  the  British  Coast,  and  then  convey  his  army  to  France. 
And  Cormac's  Glossary  says  that  Breccan,  grandson  of  Niall,  had 
a  trade  fleet  of  50  currachs  sailing  bet^'een  Ireland  and  Scotland 
— which  were  swallowed  up  by  the  whirlpool  off  Rathlin  Island — 
ever  since  called  Coire-Breccain  after  him  who  met  disaster  there. 

There  is  a  tale  of  how  Conal  Cearnach,  once,  at  the  instigation 
of  Fraech,  went  over  the  sea  eastward  into  Britain,  over  the  Muir 
Nicht  to  the  Continent,  over  Saxony  to  the  North  of  Lombardy 
till  he  reached  the  Alps — to  recover  plunder.^ 

In  Patrick's  time  we  find  the  slave-boy,  quitting  his  slavery,  ar- 
rive at  the  sea  just  in  time  to  catch  a  ship  about  to  sail  for  foreign 
lands.  And  a  little  later  still,  when  that  troublesome  Irish  agitator 
and  denouncer  of  royal  vice,  Columbanus,  is  ordered  to  be  de- 
ported from  France  to  his  own  country,  they  readily  find  a  ship 
at  Nantes,  just  about  to  sail  for  Ireland.  These  historic  happen- 
ings imply  that  there  must  then  have  been  fairly  intimate  inter- 
course between  Ireland  and  other  lands. 

Of  course  in  the  pre-Christian  days  practically  all  Irish  foreign 
military  expeditions  were  into  Alba  and  Britain. 

The  Romans,  though  they  valued  and  held  Britain  a  long  time, 

*  It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  repeat  that  the  evidential  points  taken  from  tales  are 
not  set  down  as  facts — but  as  the  probable  or  possible  echoes  of  facts. 


86  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

and  even  penetrated  deep  into  Alba,  never  once  ventured  irtt^  Ire- 
land—though it  is  recorded  that  at  one  time  they  were  collecting 
their  forces  in  the  Northeast  of  Britain,  to  attempt  the  Irish  con- 
quest.    And  the  Roman  general,  Agricola,  who,   in  the  year   80 
A.  D.  finished  the  conquest  of  Britain,  evidently  considered  the  con- 
quering of  Ireland.     His  historian   son-in-law,  Tacitus,  mentions 
how  he  frequently  talked  with  Agricola  on  that  subject;  that  Agric- 
ola had  had  an  Irish  prince  (an  exile,  or  a  prisoner)   from  whose 
talk  he  concluded  that  the  conquest  of  Ireland  might  be  accom- 
phshed  by  one  Roman  legion,   and  a  small  number  of  auxiliary 
troops.     Undoubtedly  he   formed  this  conclusion   from  learning 
that  Ireland  (as  an  ancient  Latin  historian  puts  it)  contained  "six- 
teen different  nations" — by  which  he  meant  different  tribes.     Hav- 
ing successfully  won  the  rule  of  Britain,  by  assaulting  separately 
the  many  tribes  of  that  country,  it  was  a  natural  conclusion  that 
tribal  Ireland  should  as  easily  fall  into  the  Roman  net.     And  his 
conjecture  was  probably  correct.     The  want  of  a  strong  and  per- 
manent autocratic  central  authority  in  Ireland,   commanding  the 
respect  and  obedience  of  the  various  sub-kingdoms  and  unifying 
Ireland's  power,  always  left  the  nation  open  to  the  great  danger 
of  foreign  conquest.     Tacitus  says  that  two  tribes  of  the  Britons 
could  rarely  be  got  together  against  the  foreign  foe.     The  self- 
same was  always  the  weakness  of  Ireland  and  of  all  tribal  nations. 
Yet  the  Romans  never  launched  their  attack  against  Ireland's 
independence;  though  oftentimes  they  must  have  been  sorely  pro- 
voked so  to  do,  because  of  the  frequent  harassing  attacks  of  the 
Irish  upon  their  territories  in   Britain.     Their  discovery  of  the 
fierceness  of  Irish  fighters  may  have  played  a  part  in  dissuading 
them  from  the  Irish  venture.    The  recklessness  and  persistency  of 
Irish  fighting  taught  them  to  respect  Irish  fighters,  and  Irish  com- 
manders.     Continental  records  show  that  the   Romans  recruited, 
anyhow  one,  and  possibly  many,  Irish  regiments,  for  Continental 
service.     Latin  inscriptions  have  been  found  on  the  Rhine   front 
showing  that  the   "Primi   Scotti"    (First   Scots)    regiments   safe- 
guarded the  Roman  Empire  there.     The  Emperor  Diocletian  ap- 
pointed as  Commander  in  Gaul  an  Irishman  of  distinguished  abil- 
ity.    This  was  Carausius,  who  had  charge  of  the  defence  of  the 
maritime  parts.     Eventually  they  broke  with  him — and  broke  him 
— because,  they  say,  of  his  greed  of  gold.     However,  considering 
himself  as  good  as  his  masters,  he  went  into  Britain,  and  set  up 
opposition  to  them  there.    He  assumed  the  kingship  of  the  Britons, 
and  as  he  was  an  able  statesman  as  well  as  fine  fighter,  ruled  Brit- 
ain well  for  the  space  of  seven  years.     Carausius  was  native  of  an 


IF^ISH   INVASIONS  OF  BRITAIN  87 

Irish  city  whicii  the  Roman  liistorian  calls  "Mcnapia-  in  Ireland." 
It  was  in  the  reign  of  Carbri  Lifcachar  over  Ireland  that  this,  his 
brother  Irishman,  was  ruling  over  Britain. 

Of  course  various  kings  of  Ireland  were,  at  various  times,  styled 
kings  of  Britain  also.  And  parts  of  Britain,  if  not  all  of  it,  paid 
tribute  to  these  Irish  overlords.  Cormac's  Glossary  tells  that  the 
first  lap-dog  was  brought  into  Ireland  by  Irish  envoys  who  were 
collecting  the  Irish  tribute  Irom  southwestern  England.  "For  at 
that  time,"  says  the  Glossary,  "the  sway  of  the  Gaels  was  great 
over  the  Britons.  They  divided  Alba  between  them,  and  each  one 
knew  the  habitation  of  his  friends."  (Which  is  to  say  that  tb 
various  resident  Irish  lords  or  deputies  in  Britain,  were  thi'"!- ; 
located,  in  touch  one  with  another.)  "And,"  it  continues,  .'^[^ 
(iaels  did  not  carry  on  less  agriculture  at  the  east  of  the  seas,  than 
at  home  in  Scotia.  And  they  erected  habitations  and  regal  forts 
there." 

Roman  coins,  some  probably  taken  in  tribute,  some  in  Vv^ar 
booty,  and  some  in  trade,  have  been  found  in  various  parts  of  Ire- 
land. Gold  coins  of  the  times  of  Theodosius  and  Valentinian,  and 
copper  coins  of  Nero,  have  been  found  in  Meath,  Antrim,  and 
Derry,  respectively. 

Though,  because  of  the  independent  tribal  system  and  conse- 
quent want  of  cohesion,  the  Irish  nation  was  weak  for  defence,  yet 
was  it  strong  for  offence — and  could,  and  did,  again  and  again, 
brave  the  best  of  the  Roman  legions.  It  was  their  wonderful  dis- 
cipline and  their  weight  of  numbers  that  enabled  the  Romans  to 
overcome  the  bold  Irish  attacks  in  Britain.  And  when  at  length 
Rome,  threatened  by  the  invading  hordes  nearer  home,  had  to  call 
back  from  her  island  outposts,  legion  after  legion  of  her  soldiers, 
and  that  her  army  in  Britain  was  weakened,  the  Irish  ('Scots,  as 
they  were  always  called  by  the  Roman  historians)  in  alliance  with 
the  Picts,  helped  to  push  south  the  garrisons  that  were  left  and 
eventually  to  crowd  them  oli  the  island. 

Britain  was  then  left  at  the  mercy  of  her  northern  and  western 
neighbours,  and  as  the  British  had  grown  efifete  under  Roman  occu- 
pation, and  were  no  longer  fighters,  they  suffered  fearfully  from 
these  invasions. 

It  was  after  the  destruction  of  Emania  (A.  D.  331)  that  the 
Irish  and  Pictish  invasions  of  Britain  assumed  their  most  serious 
phase.    The  Connaught  royal  house  and  Its  kin  was  then  securely 


not 


2  Ptolemy,  a  couple  of  centuries  earlier,  also  mentions  this  Irish  citj-.     It  h; 
been  identified  by  our  historians. 


88  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

established  over  the  greater  part  of  Ireland— and  probably  be- 
cause of  this  easy  security  at  home  the  Irish  fighters  had  both  time 
and  inclination  to  look  abroad  for  that  excitem.ent  and  adventure 
which  was  the  breath  of  their  nostrils.  Soon,  so  successfully  and 
so  threateningly  did  they  carry  on  their  British  operations  that  in 
343  the  Emperor  himself,  Constantine,  had  to  take  personal  charge 
of  repelling  them. 

Marcellinus  records  another  invasion  of  the  Picts  and  Scots  in 
the  year  360 — when  they  proved  a  terror  to  the  Romans — and  still 
another  in  364,  at  the  inconvenient  time  when  Gaul  was  being 
ravaged  by  Continental  enemies  of  the  Empire — and  yet  again  in 
368.  He  alv/ays  refers  to  them  as  the  Scots.  (The  country  which 
^^-"/fiow  call  Scotland  was  then  inhabited  by  the  Picts  in  the  North, 
^Xiid  by  the  Caledonii  in  the  South.  The  colony  of  Scots  from  Ire- 
land which  later  gave  the  country  its  name,  was  still  an  insignificant 
tribe  clinging  to  the  islands  and  headlands  opposite  Antrim.) 

Probably  this  latter  invasion,  as  well  as  some  subsequent  ones, 
was  conducted  by  the  Ard-Righ  Crimthann,  uncle  of  Niall.  Irish 
records  say  that  Crimthann  the  Great  reigned  over  Britain  (mean- 
ing, of  course,  a  chief  part  of  Britain)  for  13  years,  from  366  to 
379.  The  Roman  general,  Theodosius,  father  of  the  Emperor  of 
that  name,  led  the  Roman  legions  against  this  victorious  Irish  king, 
and  finally  drove  him  out.  The  Roman  poet,  Claudian,  says: 
*'And  Theodosius,  following  the  Scots  through  all  windings,  broke 
the  waves  of  the  H>'perborean  Sea  with  his  adventurous  oars." 
From  references  in  the  writings  of  the  Romans,  it  is  evident  that  the 
Irish  and  the  Picts  had  at  various  times  made  treaty  with  them. 
Ammianus  Marcellinus,  speaking  of  the  invasion  of  360,  says  that 
those  nations  "had  broken  the  agreed  peace  in  the  British  prov- 
inces." 

In  386  the  invaders,  successfully  fighting  their  way,  had  al- 
most reached  the  gates  of  London.  Theodosius  overcame  and 
drove  them  back. 

The  British  historian  Gildas,  records  three  great  invasions  of 
the  allied  fighters,  the  Picts  and  the  Scots — in  396,  418  and  426. 
For  their  attacks  had  then  grown  fiercer — as  the  Roman  garrison 
in  Britain  had  been  depleted  for  much  needed  service  against  the 
Continental  invaders  of  the  Empire.  Each  time  the  Britons  had 
to  beg  their  Roman  conquerors  to  return  and  protect  them.  They 
sent  embassies  to  Rome  thus  entreating.  By  command  of  the  Ro- 
mans they  made  the  great  dike  across  their  Northern  boundary 
from  sea  to  sea,  to  keep  out  the  invaders.  But  the  Romans  were 
scarcely  gone  when  the  invaders  came  flying  over  the  dike.     And 


IRISH  INVASIONS  OF  BRITAIN  89 

the  Britons  had  once  more  to  cry  out  for  Roman  protection.  The 
next  time  that  the  Romans  returned  to  free  them  from  their  op- 
pressors, they  ordered  the  Britons  to  put  up  a  defence  of  solid 
masonwork  across  their  country.  And  in  consequence  was  built 
the  great  Roman  wall,  12  feet  high  and  8  feet  thick — extending 
from  sea  to  sea. 

But  walls  were  useless  against  these  persevering  and  indomitable 
invaders.  The  Britons  tediously  had  to  appeal  to  Rome  again. 
In  their  appeal  they  said  that  their  "barbarian"  enemies  drove 
them  upon  the  sea,  and  the  sea  threw  them  back  upon  the  bar- 
barians, so  that  they  were  either  slaughtered  or  drowned. 

In  the  year  450  the  Britons,  to  save  themselves  from  theii 
enemies,  chose  as  their  king  a  strong  man,  Vortigern,  who,  it 
claimed  by  some,  was  Irish,  his  proper  title  being  Mor-Tigeaniii 
(high-lord). 

Finally,  to  free  themselves  from  the  yoke  of  their  neighbours, 
the  British  in  474  invited  over  Hengis  and  Horsa  with  their  Saxon 
host.  They  readily  came,  cleared  the  country  of  the  Picts  and 
Scots,  and  then  appropriated  it  for  themselves.  The  poor  harried 
Britons  had  exchanged  one  yoke  for  another. 

A  long  while  after,  the  Irish  were  still  dominating  Wales.  One 
particularly  important  Irish  invasion  of  Wales,  an  account  of  which 
is  contained  in  an  ancient  Welsh  manuscript,  was  conducted  by  an 
Irish  commander,  whom  they  named  Ganfael,  which  probably 
stands  for  Ceannfaelad — and  who  may  have  been  Ceannfaelad, 
son  to  King  Blathmac,  mentioned  by  the  Four  Masters  under  date 
670.  After  this  conquest  of  Wales,  the  Welsh  account  says  that 
the  Irish  ruled  there  for  59  years.  They  were  driven  out  bv  Cas- 
wallawn. 

Sullivan,  in  his  introduction  to  O'Curry,  says  that  for  a  long 
time  Wales  was  ruled  by  chiefs  who  were  not  only  Irish  but  prob- 
ably owed  allegiance  to  Irish  kings. 

The  Christian  faith  which  the  whole  Irish  people  imbibed  so 
readily  from  Patrick  during  the  fifth  century  caused  a  radical  change 
In  their  character.  After  that  century,  there  is  not,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  the  presumed  Welsh  conquest,  any  other  recorded  in- 
stances of  military  raids  abroad.  If  we  compare  the  history  of 
Ireland  in  the  6th  century,  after  Christianity  was  received,  with 
that  of  the  4th  century,  before  the  coming  of  Christianity,  the 
wonderful  change  and  contrast  is  probably  much  more  striking  than 
any  other  such  change  in  any  other  nation  known  to  history. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

GENERAL  REVIEW  OF  PAGAN  IRELAND 

Before  quitting  the  story  of  the  Race  in  its  pagan  days,  let  us  see 
definitely  just  what  stage  of  civilisation  the  Irish  people  had  now 
reached. 

In  the  centuries  before  St.  Patrick  the  keen  and  inquiring,  in- 
tellectual, ones  at  the  Irish  courts  must  have  had  a  fair  general 
knowledge  of  what  was  transpiring  in  the  intellectual  and  com- 
mercial world  around  the  Mediterranean.  And  in  turn  that  world 
must  have  had  a  general  knowledge  of  Ireland  and  its  circum- 
stances. Ptolemy's  second  century  map  of  Ireland  with  its  good, 
general  outline  of  the  shape  and  proportions  of  the  Island,  and  oi 
its  coastline,  and  the  generally  correct  details  marked  upon  it,  is  a 
surprise  to  those  who  took  it  for  granted  that  Hibernia  or  lerna 
was  little  more  than  a  name  to  the  learned  of  Greece  and  Rome  in 
the  first  century  of  the  Christian  Era.  The  general  correctness, 
for  instance,  with  which  Ptolemy  traces  the  River  Shannon,  and 
other  rivers  and  lakes,  is  significant — as  well  as  his  properly  locat- 
ing such  royal  sites  as  Ailech,  and  Emain  Macha. 

Marcianus  Heracleota,  in  the  third  century,  was  acquainted 
with  sixteen  different  Irish  clans,  and  records  that  there  were  in 
Ireland  eleven  cities  of  note.  These  assemblages  of  habitations 
which  he  called  cities  were  not  of  course  those  commerical  centres 
which  the  Romans  usually  knew  as  cities.  They  were  evidently 
the  great  assemblages  of  habitations  that  gathered  around  a  royal 
court.  When  wc  note  that  Tara  had  twenty  acres  of  raths,  that 
these  raths  were  covered  with  residences  of  the  leading  ones,  and 
that  we  might  naturally  expect,  in  addition,  other  many  hundreds 
of  residences — habitations  of  the  common  people — upon  the  plain 
and  around  the  foot  of  the  hill,  we  may  well  understand  the  mean- 
ing of  Marcianus'  "eleven  cities  of  note."  (We  may  here  add 
that  the  chief  structures  then  were  almost  always  built  of  wood 
— with  some  bronze — while  the  hvibitations  of  the  general  mass  of 
the  people  were  constructed  of  upright  poles  supporting  walls  of 
wicker  work,  or  else  were  simple  bothies.) 

90 


GENERAL  REVII::\V  OK  PAGAN   IRELAND         91 

But  in  the  first  century  of  the  Christian  Era,  Tacitus  tells  us 
that  the  Irish  ports  were  well  known  to  commerce  and  to  mer- 
chants. The  Pha'nicians  undoubtedly  carried  on  a  fair  trade  be- 
tween the  Mediterranean  and  Ireland.  The  very  fertile  island, 
fruitful  in  soil,  and  not  poor  in  minerals,  had  much  to  give  to  the 
Mediterranean  trraiers,  and  much  to  get  from  them.  When  their 
ships  sailed  into  the  various  Irish  ports,  we  can  readily  see  the 
Phoenician  agents  travelling  thence,  at  head  of  bands  of  burdened 
slaves,  white,  and  brown,  and  black,  bent  under  the  rich  merchan- 
dise of  Tyre  and  Sidon — penetrating  the  country,  to  the  various 
inland  royal  courts,  to  the  duns  of  the  chiefs  and  brughaids,  an*^ 
to  the  many  great  fairs,  for  which  Ireland  was  then  distinguished. 
And  we  can  see  them  returning,  laden  with  the  wealth  of  Ireland's 
woods  and  vales,  and  of  her  earth — pelts  and  metals  and  ores,  and 
corn;  rare  products,  too,  of  her  weav'er's  shuttle;  fancy  ones  of 
her  women's  needle;  and  delicate  work  of  her  craftsmen.  Around 
the  big  blazing  fire,  at  the  Court,  in  the  evening,  we  can  hear  these 
merchants,  mellowed  by  Irish  mead,  enchanting  the  king,  the  king's 
scholars,  his  warriors  and  visitors,  with  account  of  the  works  and 
the  wars,  and  the  laws  and  the  lore,  the  statesmen,  the  orators,  the 
poets  and  historians,  of  their  far  fascinating  world.  And  we  can 
furthermore  see  occasional  ambitious  natives — with  that  roving 
disposition  for  which  a  few  centuries  later  they  became  noted.  If 
not  notorious,  on  the  Continent — some  thirsting  for  knowledge, 
and  some  for  adventure,  returning  with  the  merchants  to  their 
ships,  and  sailing  away  to  the  far  lands  that  seemed  haloed  in 
glory.  Most  of  these  adventurers  were  eventually  swallowed  up 
in  oblivion,  so  far  as  concerned  the  land  and  the  kin  that  they  left; 
though  it  is  certain  in  later  years  there  were  not  a  few  citizen  orna- 
ments of  the  far-flung  proud  Roman  Empire,  who,  if  from  them 
were  torn  the  toga,  would  stand  revealed  exiles  of  Eirinn — such, 
for  Instance,  as  the  great  Latin  poet  Sedullus  (Seadhal),the  Chris- 
tian Virgil,  and  the  noted  Roman  lawyer  and  famous  heresiarch 
Celestlus  (Cellach),  of  whom  we  shall  treat  In  a  future  chapter. 

Undoubtedly  Ireland  was  then  rich  In  metals,  and  the  hands 
of  Its  unsurpassed  craftsmen  deftly  wrought  from  them  not  only 
the  utilitarian  article,  but  also  ornaments  whose  beauty  astonishes 
connoisseurs  to-day.  From  the  common  sickle  of  the  far-away 
bronze  age  to  the  delicately  beautiful  spear  of  days  only  a  little  less 
ancient,  and  to  the  beautiful,  spiral-decorated  bronze  ornaments — 
of  all  of  which,  rare  specimens  still  exist — Ireland  can  show  sam.ples 
of  pre-Christian  metalwork  which  in  perfectness  are  paralleled  by 
the  productions  of  few  of  the  most  ancient  countries. 


92  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

The  Ceird  or  metalworker,  in  ancient  Ireland,  was  ever  a 
highly-honoured  craftsman,  who,  because  of  the  beauty  and  excel- 
lence of  his  work,  ranked  among  the  nobles.  And  the  soil  of  Ire- 
land is  still  wealthy  with  the  buried  evidences  of  his  superb  artistry. 

Here  may  be  mentioned,  too,  the  very  ancient  art  of  enamelling, 
in  which  the  early  Irish  artists  excelled.  Philostrates,  a  Greek 
teacher  in  the  Imperial  Palace  in  Rome  at  the  time  of  Septimus 
Severus  (about  200  A.  D.)  is  supposedly  referring  to  the  Irish, 
when  he  describes,  as  a  new  art  to  him,  enamels  which  he  examined 
on  the  horse  trappings  of  "barbarians  who  live  in  the  ocean."  (To 
the  egotistical  Roman  all  who  lived  beyond  Roman  influence  and 
did  not  adopt  Roman  culture,  were  "barbarians.")  Very  beautiful 
examples  of  this  Irish  enamel  work  can  be  seen  on  those  two  vener- 
able and  beautiful  treasures,  the  Ardach  chalice,  and  the  Cross  of 
Cong.  And  though  these  articles  are  hoary  with  antiquity,  the 
enamel  craftsmanship  shown  on  them,  was  in  its  turn  hoary  when 
they  themselves  were  new. 

Ireland  was  rich  in  gold.  It  was  the  one  country  above  all 
others  in  Western  Europe  that  was  distinguished  for  its  gold 
wealth.  Professor  Mentelius  says  that  the  ancient  gold  of  Scandi- 
navia came  chiefly  from  Ireland  "which  during  the  bronze  age  was 
one  of  the  lands  in  Europe  richest  in  gold."  ^  The  ancient  gold  orna- 
ments preserved  in  the  National  Museum  in  Dublin  weigh  570 
ounces;  while  in  the  British  Museum  the  total  gold  ornament  col- 
lection from  England,  Wales  and  Scotland  combined,  is  only  50 
ounces. 

The  ancient  seanachies  in  the  olden  tales  constantly  convey  to 
us  an  impressive  sense  of  the  lavishness  with  which  the  precious 
metals  were,  in  those  times,  used.  In  quoting  from  the  tale  of  the 
Bruidean  Da  Dearga  the  poetic  description  of  the  maiden  Edain, 
dressing  at  the  fountain,  O' Curry  says  that  the  old  writer  might 
well  be  charged  with  too  extravagant  fiction,  if  we  did  not  still 
have,  in  proof  of  its  accuracy,  the  combs,  the  gracefully  carved 
caskets  of  gold,  the  clasps  and  the  fastenings,  and  the  gold  balls 
in  which  the  ends  of  the  ladies'  flowing  locks  were  anciently  in- 
serted. 

"There  was  of  old  an  admirable  illustrious  king  over  Eirinn, 
whose  name  was  Eochaid  Fedleach.  He  on  one  occasion  passed  over 
the  fair-green  of  Bri  Leith,  where  he  saw  a  woman  on  the  brink 
of  a  fountain,  having  a  comb  and  a  casket  of  silver,  ornamented  with 


1  In  the  year  1796  nuggets  of  native  gold  weighing  7  ounces,  9  ounces,  18  and 
22  ounces  were  picked  up  in  a  mountain  stream  that  flows  between  Wicklow  and 
Wexford. 


GENERAL  REVIEW  OF  PAGAN  IRELAND         93 

^old,  washing  licr  head  in  a  silver  basin  with  four  birds  of  gold 
perched  upon  it,  and  little  sparkling  gems  of  crimson  carbuncle  upon 
the  outer  edges  of  the  basin.  A  short,  crimson  cloak,  with  a  beau* 
tiful  gloss,  lying  near  her;  a  brooch  of  silver,  inlaid  with  sparkles 
of  gold,  in  that  cloak.  A  smock,  long  and  warm,  gathered  and 
soft,  of  green  silk,  with  a  border  of  red  gold,  upon  her.  Won- 
derful clasps  of  gold  and  silver  at  her  breast,  and  at  her  shoulder- 
blades,  and  at  her  shoulders  in  that  smock,  on  all  sides.  The  sun 
shone  upon  it,  while  the  men  (that  is  the  king,  and  his  retinue)  were 
all  shaded  in  red,  from  the  reflection  of  the  gold  against  the  sun, 
from  the  green  silk.  Two  golden-yellow  tresses  upon  her  head,  each 
of  them  plaited  with  four  locks  or  strands,  and  a  ball  of  gold  upon 
the  point  of  each  tress.  The  color  of  that  hair  was  like  the  flowers 
of  the  bog  fir  in  the  summer,  or  like  red  gold  immediately  after  re- 
ceiving its  coloring.  And  there  she  was  disentangling  her  hair,  and 
her  two  arms  out  through  the  bosom  of  her  smock." 

Silver  and  bronze  ornament,  also,  were  plentifully  used  then. 
The  old  story-teller  is  of  course  idealising  some  realities  that  must 
have  been  in  themselves  both  rich  and  beautiful,  when  he  gives  a 
description  of  the  dun,  which  Cormac  MacArt  entered  in  the  Land 
of  Promise.  ''Lie  saw  there  a  very  large  house  with  its  rafters 
of  bronze,  and  its  wattling  of  silver,  and  a  thatch  of  the  wings  of 
white  birds.  And  he  saw  too  a  sparkling  well  within  the  lis,  and 
five  streams  issuing  from  it,  and  the  hosts  around  drinking  the 
waters  of  these  streams." 

The  reader  will  remember  that  at  the  Feis  of  Cruachan  and 
of  Emain  Macha  were  held  examinations  for  the  various  kinds  of 
craftsmen.  Sixty  persons  of  each  craft  were  selected  at  each  feis, 
and  assigned  each  to  his  own  district.  But  even  then,  before  he 
could  practice  in  that  district,  the  chosen  craftsmen  had  to  be  finally 
examined  and  approved  by  the  Saoi-re-Ceird  or  master  mechanic 
of  his  own  craft,  in  that  district. 

Speaking  of  two  pieces  of  a  Pagan  Irish  bronze  ornament  pre- 
served in  the  Petrie  Museum,  Miss  Stokes  says:  "If  they  are  not 
the  finest  pieces  of  casting  ever  seen,  yet,  as  specimens  of  design 
and  workmanship  they  are,  perhaps,  unsurpassed."  And  she 
quotes  the  authority  Kemble,  the  author  of  "Horae  Ferales,"  who 
says  of  them:  "For  beauty  of  design  and  execution,  they  may 
challenge  comparison  with  any  specimen  of  bronze  work  that  it 
has  ever  been  my  fortune  to  see."  Those  few  words  from  these 
two  eminent  authorities,  more  strikingly  impress  upon  us  the  won- 
derful advance  of  art  in  pre-Christian  Ireland  than  could  volumes 
written  upon  the  subject. 


94  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

Evidence  of  beautiful  Irish  art,  in  days  more  ancient  still,  is 
found  in  the  delicately  ornamented  burial  urns  of  beautiful  form, 
that  have  been  dug  up  out  of  ancient  raths,  and  taken  out  of  the 
very  ancient  Irish  sepulchres.  Some  of  these  urns  are  pottery,  some 
are  stone — evidencing  the  forv/ardness  of  the  Irish  mind  in  the 
remote  and  supposedly  primitive  Stone  Age.  Also,  the  great  dome- 
roofed  sepulchres  of  the  royal  cemeteries  on  the  Boyne,  wherein 
the  beautiful  urns  containing  the  ashes  of  the  dead  were  preserved, 
are  admirable  evidences  of  the  singular  advancement  of  ancient 
Ireland  among  the  countries  of  the  West — as  also  are  the  much 
later,  but  still  very  ancient,  pre-Christian,  gigantic  stone  forts  lilce 
those  of  Dun  Aengus  on  the  island  of  Aran,  and  Ailech  in  Inish- 
owen,  with  their  great  walls  of  marvellously  fine  construction. 

Apropos  ^of  modes  of  burial  in  pre-Christian  days,  of  interest 
is  Caoilte's  description  of  one.  In  an  ancient  tale  in  the  Book  of 
the  Dun  Cow,  this  old  Fenian  warrior,  returned  to  earth  from  his 
long  sojourn  in  the  enchanted  palaces  of  the  Tuatha  De  Danann, 
is  called  upon  to  settle  a  dispute  about  a  happening  which  was  now 
history,  but  which  befell  during  his  former  days  on  earth — the 
death  of 'King  Eochaid  Airgtech  (who  was  slain  in  battle  in  An- 
trim, A.  D.  280).  Caoihe  says:  'There  is  a  chest  of  stone  about 
him  there  in  the  earth;  there  upon  the  chest  are  two  bracelets  of 
silver,  and  his  bunne-do-ats  (ancient  ornaments)  and  his  neck 
torque  of  silver.  And  by  his  tomb  there  is  a  stone  pillar,  and  on 
the  end  of  the  pillar  that  is  in  the  earth  is  an  Ogham  which  says : 
'Here  Eochaid  Airgtech.  Caoilte  slew  me  in  an  encounter  against 
Finn.'  " 

It  is  generally  assumed  that,  for  making  short,  important  rec- 
ords, the  early  Irish  used  the  ogham  style  of  writing,  repre- 
sented by  numbers  of  straight  lines  upon  both  sides  of  the  edge- 
angle  of  a  flag  or  tablet  of  wood.  The  ogham  letters  are  named 
for  trees.  They  follow  in  an  order  totally  different  from  the  order 
of  the  letters  in  all  other  alphabets.  The  Irish  call  this  alphabet 
Beth-luis-nion — the  three  syllables  of  which  word  are  the  three  first 
letters  (b,  1,  n)  of  that  alphabet.  Great  numbers  of  ogham  stones 
have  been  found  in  Ireland,  and  the  form  of  the  language  used  on 
them  points  to  the  conclusion  that  these  stones  are  mainly  from 
pre-Christian  times.  Though  it  is  the  opinion  of  some  noted 
scholars  that  ogham  was  introduced  into  Ireland  at  or  immediately 
after  the  coming  of  Christianity.  Anyhow,  the  ogham  writing 
continued  to  be  used  down  to  the  sixth  and  even  the  seventh  cen- 
tury. The  Continental  Celtologist  Zeuss  who  was  profoundly  im- 
pressed with  the  great  antiquity  of  it,   found  ogham  among  the 


GENERAL  REVIEW  OF  PAGAN  IRELAND         95 

glossei  on  a  copy  of  Priscian,  which  emanated  from  the  Swiss-Irish 
school  and  monastery  of  St.  Gall — glosses  that  were  written  by 
Irishmen  in  the  7th  or  8th  century.  He  concluded  that  the  Irish 
in  pagan  days  wrote  only  in  ogham. 

Several  leading  scholars  agree,  however,  that  books  were  writ- 
ten in  Ireland  for  a  long  time  before  the  coming  of  Patrick.  Says 
Dr.  Todd:  "That  a  pagan  literature  existed  in  Ireland  before 
Patrick,  and  that  some  of  it  is  preserved,  is  highly  probable."  He 
points  out  that  some  fragments  found  in  the  Brehon  Laws  show 
internal  evidence  of  pagan  origin,  and  of  high  antiquity.  O'Curry 
says  that  St.  Patrick  found  the  country  teeming  with  men  distin- 
guished for  their  acquirements  in  the  native  language  and  litera- 
ture, if  not  in  other  languages;  philosophers,  Druids,  poets,  judges. 
"Even  at  that  remote  period,"  he  says,  "we  were  a  nation  not  en- 
tirely without  a  native  literature,  and  a  national  cultivation  suffi- 
cient to  sustain  a  system  of  society,  and  an  internal  political  gov- 
ernment so  enlightened  that,  as  our  history  proves,  Christianity 
did  not  teach  us  to  subvert,  but  rather  endeavored  to  unite  with  it; 
a  system,  moreover,  which  had  sufficient  vitality  to  remain  in  full 
force  through  all  the  vicissitudes  of  the  country,  even  till  many 
ages  after  the  intrusion  of  the  Anglo-Normans,  in  the  twelfth  cen- 
tury— who  themselves  indeed  found  It  so  just  and  comprehensive 
that  they  adopted  it  in  preference  to  the  laws  of  the  countries  from 
which  they  came." 

There  is  foreign  evidence,  too,  of  a  pre-Christian  Irish  litera- 
ture. In  the  fourth  century  of  the  Christian  Era  there  was  pro- 
duced on  the  Continent  a  work,  Cosmographia  Aethici  Istrii,  com- 
piled by  a  Christian  philosopher  of  that  time,  in  which  are  recorded 
the  observations  of  Aethicus  of  Istria  on  his  travels  in  various 
countries.  He  tells  of  visiting  Ireland  and  remaining  there  some 
time,  examining  the  books  of  the  Irish,  about  which  he.  In  egotistical 
Latin  way  is  scornful.  From  Oroslus'  history  Joyce  quotes  the 
terse  account  of  his  visit  to  Ireland — "He  hastened  (from  Spain) 
to  Hibernia  and  remained  there  some  time  examining  their  volumes; 
and  he  called  them  (f.  e.,  the  Irish  sages)  ideomochos  or  ideo- 
histas,  that  Is,  unskilled  tollers  or  uncultivated  teachers." 

The  hard-headed  Scotch-Englishman,  Fergusson,  concludes  that 
from  the  time  of  Cormac  MacArt  (middle  of  the  third  century) 
the  Irish  had  books.  In  his  View  of  the  State  of  Ireland,  Edmund 
Spenser  (who  so  frequently  derides  the  Irish  people  among  whom 
he  spent  days  both  pleasant  and  profitable)  says:  "It  is  certain 
that  Ireland  hath  had  the  use  of  letters  very  aunclently  and  long 
before  England.     Whence  they  had  those  letters  it  is  hard  to  sav 


96  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

.  .  .  but  that  they  had  letters  aunclently  is  nothing  doubtful,  for 
the  Saxons  of  England  are  said  to  have  their  letters  and  learning, 
and  learned  them  from  the  Irish,  and  that  also  appeareth  by  the 
hkeness  of  the  character,  for  the  Saxon  character  is  the  same  with 
the  Irish." 

After  the  Seanchus  Mor  was  compiled  by  a  council  of  the 
learned  ones  under  direction  of  St.  Patrick — a  collection  of  the 
old  laws  expurgated  and  Christianised — various  accounts  agree  in 
stating  that  he  committed  to  the  flames  a  pile  of  old  pagan  volumes 
— some  say  up  to  two  hundred.  But  it  is  probable  that  this  con- 
clusion about  Patrick  burning  the  pagan  books  may,  by  the  old  au- 
thorities, have  been  arrived  at  rather  by  inference  than  Instance. 

In  both  the  Book  of  Ballymote  and  the  Book  of  Lecan  there 
is  an  ancient  Irish  grammar,  in  four  parts,  in  which  the  Gaelic 
language  is  elaborately  compared  with  the  Latin,  and  occasionally 
with  the  Greek  and  Hebrew.  The  first  three  parts  of  this  grammar 
are  attributed  to  pre-Christian  Irish  scholars,  and  only  the  fourth 
to  an  ante-Patrician  scholar,  the  celebrated  Ceann  Faelad — a  re- 
markable man  in  many  ways.  Some  who  believe  that  he  is  rightly 
credited  with  part  four  of  the  book,  also  think  that  he  revised,  or 
rewrote,  or  was  himself  the  author  of,  the  other  three  parts. 

There  is  an  ancient  metrical  life  of  St.  Patrick  attributed  to 
Fiacc — who,  when  Patrick  came,  had  been  a  disciple  and  pupil  of 
the  court  poet,  Dubtach,  and  whom  Patrick  converted  and  chose 
as  one  of  his  disciples.  It  contains  one  hundred  and  thirty-six  lines 
In  the  most  ancient  style.  Idiom,  and  rhythm  of  the  Gaelic.  The 
oldest  existing  copy  Is  contained  In  a  remarkable  collection,  that  Is 
more  than  a  thousand  years  old,  the  Liber  Hymnorum.  Several 
noted  antiquarians  express  their  belief  that  this  remarkable  hymn 
or  poem  Is  the  genuine  work  of  him  to  whom  It  was  attributed. 
If  the  work  be  really  Fiacc's,  then,  though  It  was  written  In  Chris- 
tian days,  it  Is  obviously  the  fruit  of  pagan  culture. 

The  same,  of  course,  is  true  of  the  Seanachus  Mor,  that  won- 
derful code  of  laws  compiled  under  Patrick.  Sullivan,  in  his  In- 
troduction to  O' Curry,  treating  of  the  Brehon  Laws,  proves  that 
the  fundamental  principles  of  them  belong  to  very  early  pagan 
times — and  says  that  the  latest  period  at  which  those  institutions 
could  have  attained  their  full  development  was  in  the  seventh  or 
eighth  century. 

Among  shining  lights  of  pagan  Ireland,  Keating  enumerates — 
a  famous  wise  Brighitt  of  whom  survives  the  phrase  "Briathra 
Brighdi,"  the  Sayings  of  Brighitt;  Conla  of  the  Mild  Judgments, 


GENERAL  REVIEW  OF  PAGAN  IRELAND         97 

a  Connaught  sage;  the  two  Senchans;  Morann,  the  son  of  Maen; 
Fercertni,  the  poet;  Neidi,  the  son  of  Adna;  Athairni;  Fergus,  his 
son;  Feradach  the  Just;  Fithil  the  Sage;  Fergus,  the  poet;  Dub- 
thach  O'Lugair;  and  Rossa,  the  son  of  Tirchin  (the  last  three  of 
whom  laid  the  old  laws  before  St.  Patrick).  And  he  points  out  on 
ancient  authority,  that  in  pagan  times  in  Ireland  so  high  was  the 
ethical  standard  that  no  one  could  hold  the  rank  of  Ollam  ri-Sean- 
chus,  or  Doctor  of  History,  who  once  falsified  a  fact,  and  that  no 
one  could  hold  the  rank  of  Brehon,  or  Doctor  of  Law,  who  had 
once  given  a  corrupt  judgment. 

Finally,  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  the  late  Professor  Zimmer 
(of  the  University  of  Berlin)  most  eminent  of  recent  Celtologists 
on  the  Continent,  concludes  that  Irish  schools  had  begun  to  be 
known  on  the  Continent  before  the  coming  of  Patrick — by  the  end 
of  the  fourth  century. 

Altogether,  the  mass  of  evidence  is  strongly  in  favour  of  the 
supposition  that  Ireland  was  in  the  enjoyment  of  letters  long  be- 
fore the  introduction  of  Christianity. 

While  there  is  much  evidence  to  show  that  the  pagan  Irish  in- 
dulged in  the  sun  worship  which  their  ancestors  brought  with  them 
from  the  East,  there  is  also  some  little  ancient  evidence,  including 
a  sentence  from  the  pen  of  St.  Patrick  himself,  betraying  that  some 
idol  worship  must  have  been  practised  there,  likewise.  'Though 
it  is  quite  possible  that  this  idol  worship  may  have  pertained  not 
to  the  Milesian  but  to  one  or  other  of  the  subject  races  on  the 
Island. 

The  idol,  Crom  Cruach,  which  stood  on  the  plain  of  Magh 
Slecht  (near  Ballymagauran,  in  Cavan)  before  which  the  ancient 
Tighernmas  and  his  host,  long  centuries  before  Christ,  were 
stricken  w^ith  sudden  death,  on  the  eve  of  Samain  (Hallow  Eve) 
was  destroyed,  it  is  said,  by  Patrick.  The  image  or  the  pillar  of 
Crom  Cruach  was  said  to  be  of  gold  and  silver  (probably  covered 
with  these  metals)  and  around  it  were  twelve  other  images  or 
pillars  of  brass  or  bronze. 

Before  St.  Patrick's  time  O'Curry  says  the  instruction  of  youth 
seems  to  have  been  in  the  hands  of  the  Files  (philosophers)  and 
the  Druids.  The  instruction  was  sometimes  given  indoors,  but 
oftentimes  in  the  open  air.  And  frequently  the  teaching  was  car- 
ried on  as  the  master  and  his  pupils  travelled  from  place  to  place 
over  the  country. 

The  Druid  is  frequently  mentioned  in  the  old  Irish  tales  and 
poems.    The  Irish  word  Draoi  is  used — which,  by  general  accept- 


98  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

ance,  is  rendered  Druid.  However,  there  seems  to  have  been  very 
great  ceremonial  difference  at  least  between  the  Druidism  of  Ire- 
land (if  it  was  Druidism)  and  the  Druidism  of  Wales  and  Gaul. 
But  to  the  Irish,  as  to  the  Continental  Druid,  fire  and  water  were 
sacred  elements.  The  holy  wells  of  all  Christian  days,  from  Pat- 
rick's time  to  the  present,  were  still  holy  in  pagan  times.  And 
the  festive  bon-fires  still  lighted  on  all  hills  of  Ireland  on  Midsum- 
mer Night  (which  term  we  apply  to  the  night  of  June  23rd)  with 
torches  from  which,  even  in  the  present  generation,  the  sacred  circle 
of  fire  was  drawn  around  the  growing  crop  to  insure  both  its  pro- 
tection and  its  fruitfulness — and  through  the  embers  of  which  the 
cattle  were,  for  their  blessing,  driven — these  bon-fires  are  assuredly 
of  pagan  origin,  marking  a  great  sun  feast,  on  that  day  on  which 
the  Sun-god  was  supposed  to  be  longest  above  the  horizon.  The 
Irish  name  for  May-day,  Baltinne,  meaning  the  fire  of  Bal,  or  the 
sun,  commemorates  another  of  the  great  sun  festivals  of  our  fore- 
fathers. And  the  title  Bal  given  to  the  sun-god  is  the  same  title 
which  the  faraway  ancestors  of  the  Milesians  knew  and  reverenced 
in  the  far  Eastern  land,  before  their  chronicled  wanderings  began. 
Patrick  had  to  preach  against  this  sun  worship — "All  those  who 
adore  it,"  he  says  in  his  Confession,  "shall  in  misery  and  wretched- 
ness be  given  unto  punishment." 

That  frequent  and  much  reverenced  character,  the  Draoi,  is 
said,  by  some,  including  John  D'Alton,  to  have  been,  not  at  all  a 
Druid  priest,  but  a  wiseman  and  instructor.  There  were  two  of 
these,  namely,  Luchru  and  Lugad  the  Bald,  who,  at  the  court  of 
King  Laegaire,  met,  encountered,  and  tried  to  overthrow  Patrick, 
when  he  first  appeared  there.  Other  two  of  them,  Mai  and  Caplait, 
were  at  the  royal  palace  of  Cruachan,  instructing  the  two  beautiful 
daughters  of  the  king,  Eithne  the  Fair  and  Fedelm  the  Ruddy. 

Most  famous  of  Irish  Druids  was  Mogh  Ruith,  a  great  Mun- 
ster  magician — of  whom  is  the  legend  that  after  having  exhausted 
all  the  secret  knowledge  of  these  islands,  he  went  with  his  clever 
daughter,  Tlachtga,  to  Italy,  to  Simon  Magus,  to  assist  him  in  his 
contention  with  the  Apostles.  With  the  aid  of  Simon  Magus  they 
constructed  a  dread,  magical  wheel,  the  Roth  Ramach,  Rollin^j; 
Wheel — which  rolled  along  the  skies,  blinded  all  who  saw,  and 
killed  all  who  touched  it. 

In  these  pre-Christian  days  the  paradise  of  the  Gael,  to  which 
went  the  good  and  the  heroic,  was  beneath  the  hills,  or  far  off  under 
the  sea.  It  is  variously  named — Magh  Mell,  the  Plain  of  Pleas- 
ure: Tir-Tairnigri,  the  Land  of  Promise;  I-Breasil,  the  Isle  of  the 
Blessed;  or  Tir  na  n-Og,  the  Land  of  Perpetual  Youth — "^  land 


GENERAL  REVIEW  OF  PAGAN  IRELAND         99 

wherein  there  is  not  save  truth,  and  where  i«  neither  age  nor  decay, 
sorrow  nor  gladness,  nor  envy  nor  jealousy,  hatred  nor  haughti- 
ness." 

Midir,  a  chief  immortal  of  the  immortal  Tuatha  De  Danann 
whose  paradise  was  under  the  hill  of  Bri  Leith,  in  Longford,  very 
finely  describes  this  paradise,  in  his  poetic  address  to  Queen  Edain, 
when  he  surprised  her,  with  her  fifty  beautiful  maidens,  bathing  at 
Inver. 

"O  Befind!  wilt  thou  come  with  me 

To  a  wonderful  land  that  is  mine, 
Where  the  hair  is  like  the  blossom  of  the  golden  sobarche. 
Where  the  tender  body  is  as  fair  as  snow. 

"There  shall  be  neither  grief  nor  care  ; 

White  are  the  teeth,  black  the  eyebrows, 
Pleasant  to  the  eye  the  number  of  our  host; 
On  every  cheek  is  the  hue  of  the  foxglove. 

"Crimson  of  the  plain  is  eacli  brake, 

Delightful  to  the  eye  the  blackbird's  eggs; 
Though  pleasant  to  behold  are  the  plains  of  Inisfail, 

Rarely  wouldst  thou  think  of  them  after  frequenting  the  Great 
Plain. 

"Tliough  intoxicating  thou  deemest  the  ales  of  Inisfail, 
More  intoxicating  are  the  ales  of  the  good  land — 
The  wonderful  land — the  land  I  speak  of, 
Where  youth  never  grows  to  old  age. 

"Warm  sweet  streams  traverse  the  land, 
The  choicest  of  mead  and  wine ; 
Handsome  people  without  blemish, 

Conception  without  sin,  without  stain. 

"We  see  every  one  on  every  side, 
And  no  one  seeth  us; 
The  cloud  of  Adam's  transgression 

Has  caused  this  concealment  of  us  from  them. 

"O  lady,  if  thou  comest  to  my  valiant  people, 
A  diadem  of  gold  shall  be  on  thy  head ; 
Flesh  of  sv.nne,  all  fresh,  banquets  of  new  milk  and  ale, 
Shalt  thou  have  with  me  there,  O  Befind !"  ^ 

2  Translated  by  Dr.  Joyce. 

Among ^  modern   poets   who   have   described   the   enchanted    land,   one   of   the 
many  beautiful  descriptions  is  by  Ethna  Carbery  in  her  "Four  Winds  of  Eirinn" — 


loo  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

Many  of  the  noted  heroes  of  old  were  borne  away  In  the  body 
to  the  pagan  paradise.  Oisin,  it  will  be  remembered,  was  taken 
there,  and  his  comrade-in-arms,  Caoilte:  and  Conla,  the  son  of 
Conn,  was  by  a  fairy  maiden  carried  there  in  a  crystal  boat.  The 
famous  Voyage  of  Bran,  one  of  the  finest  of  ancient  Irish  stories, 
gives  an  account  of  Bran's  search,  over  the  western  wave,  for  that 
coveted  land.     He  found  the  happy  isles  of  paradise — and  sailed 

I-BREASIL 

There  is  a  way  I  am  fain  to  go — 

To  the  mystical  land  where  all  are  young, 
Where  the  silver  branches  have  buds  of  snow, 

And  every  leaf  is  a  singing  tongue. 

It  lies  beyond  the  night  and  day. 

Over  shadowy  hill,  and  moorland  wide, 
And  whoso  enters  casts  care  away. 

And  wistful  longings  unsatisfied. 

There  are  sweet  white  women,  a  radiant  throng, 

Swaying  like  flowers  in  a  scented  wind ; 
But  between  us  the  veil  of  earth  is  strong. 

And  my  ej'es  to  their  luring  eyes  are  blind. 

A  blossom  of  fire  is  each  beauteous  bird. 

Scarlet  and  gold  on  melodious  wings, 
And  never  so  haunting  a  strain  was  heard 

From  royal  harp  in  the  Hall  of  Kings. 

The  sacred  trees  stand  in  rainbow  dew, 

Apple  and  ash  and  the  twisted  thorn, 
Quicken  and  holly,  and  dusky  yew. 

Ancient  ere  ever  grey  Time  was  born. 

The  oak  spreads  mighty  beneath  the  sun 
In  a  wonderful  dazzle  of  moonlight  green — 

Oh,  would  I  might  hasten  from  tasks  undone, 
And  journey  whither  no  grief  hath  been! 

Were  I  past  the  mountains  of  opal  flame, 
I  would  seek  a  couch  of  the  king-fern  brown, 

And  when  from  its  seed  glad  slumber  came, 
A  flock  of  rare  dreams  would  flutter  down. 

But  I  move  without  in  an  endless  fret. 
While  somewhere  beyond  earth's  brink  afar, 

Forgotten  of  men,  in  a  rose-rim  set, 
I-Breasil  shines  like  a  beckoning  star. 

The  Irish  scliolar  O'Flaherty  in  1684  in  his  "lar  Connacht"  tells :  "There  is 
now  living  Morrogh  O'Ley,  who  imagines  he  was  himself  personally  in  O'Brazil," — 
he  went  there  from  Aran — and  came  back  to  Galway  6  or  8  years  later  and  began 
(as  a  result)  to  practise  "both  chirurgery  and  phisick,  and  so  continues  ever  since 
to  practise,  tho'  he  never  studied  or  practised  either  all  his  life  time  before,  as  all 
we  that  knew  him  since  a  boy  can  averr."  Hardiman  says  the  story  now  is  that 
the  Book  of  O'Brazil  was  given  him  there — but  he  was  not  to  open  it  for  seven 
years. 

O'Flaherty  relates  that  about  20  years  before  he  wrote,  a  boat  out  of  the 
Owles,  blown  west  by  night,  next  day  about  noon  spied  land  so  near  that  they  could 


GENERAL  REVIEW  OF  PAGAN  IRELAND        loi 

among  them  for  hundreds  of  years.  At  last  venturing  home  to 
Kerry  one  of  his  company  jumped  on  shore,  and  became  a  heap  of 
dust.  Laegaire  of  Connaught  with  fifty  men  reigns  in  Magh  Mell 
— jointly  with  Fiachna  who  had  gone  before  him. 

The  voyage  of  St.  Brendan,  too,  was  in  search  of  this  Land  of 
Promise. 

For  that  enchanted  land  did  not  fade  away  before  the  light  of 
Christianity.  Even  to  many  of  the  spiritual-minded,  present-day 
dwellers  on  the  Western  margin  of  Ireland,  7  ir  n'an-Og  or  I-Brea- 
sil,  exists  under  the  sea,  just  at  the  horizon's  rim.  Some  rarely 
blessed  people  still  alive,  have,  on  occasion,  seen  it  on  a  beautiful 
summer's  eve  rise  over  the  sea,  in  all  its  intoxicating,  indescribable, 
beauty.  And  more  than  once  have  courageous  fishermen  tried  to 
reclaim  it  for  mortal  man — but  ever  in  vain — and  sometimes,  also, 
with  dire  result  to  the  adventurous  one.^ 

see  sheep  grazing  on  shore — yet  dared  not  touch  shore,  imagining  it  was  O'Brazil. 
They  were  two  days  coming  back  toward  home. 

In  the  early  17th  century  Leslie  of  Glasslough,  Co.  Monaghan  (ancestor  of  the 
present  Leslie  family  there)  secured  a  grant  of  I-Breasil  when  it  should  be  re- 
covered— such  recovery  or  disenchantment  being  considered  imminent  then  (as  it 
was  in  every  generation).  Hardiman  in  his  "Irish  Minstrelsy"  reprints  a  letter  sent 
from  W.  Hamilton  of  Derry  in  1674  to  a  friend  in  London  advising  him  of  the 
discovery,  a  few  weeks  before,  and  practical  recovery,  of  I-Breasil,  by  the  Captain 
of  a  Killybegs  schooner.  The  curious  account  is  given  in  most  circumstantial  de- 
tail— and  Hamilton  asks  his  friend  to  inform  young  Leslie  of  the  good  news,  that 
he  may  claim  the  land  under  his  father's  patent. 

3  Sometimes  the  spiritual  Celt  even  in  those  pagan  times  had  a  paradise  here 
on  earth.  Such  was  the  case  in  the  reign  of  Geide  Ollgotach,  Geide  of  the  great 
voice,  so  called,  says  the  Book  of  Leinster,  because  of  the  peaceful,  harmonious 
character  of  his  reign,  when  the  people  heard  each  other's  words  and  voices,  with 
the  same  delight  as  if  they  had  been  the  strings  of  the  melodious  harp  of  Ben- 
Crotta. 


I02  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

SELECTION  OF  WORKS  DEALING  WITH  THE  VARIOUS 
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in  Proc.  Roy.  Soc.  Antiq.,  Ireland,  1890-91. 
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Wakeman,  Wm.  F. :     Handbook  of  Irish  Antiquities:  Pagan  and  Christian. 
Wilde,  Sir  Wm.,  M.D. :     Catalogue  of  Irish  Antiquities. 

The  Boyne  and  Blackwater. 

Wood-Martin,  Col.  W.  G.:     Pagan  Ireland. 

Traces  of  the  Elder  Faiths  of  Ireland,  1902. 

Rude  Stone  Monuments. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

IRISH  CHRISTIANITY  BEFORE  ST.  PATRICK 

While  St,  Patrick  was  unquestionably  the  evangeliser  of  Ireland, 
there  is  now  hardly  a  doubt  remaining  in  the  minds  of  the  scholars 
that  Christianity  had  foothold  on  the  Island  before  he  came — and 
long  before,  think  some. 

In  A.  D.  431,  a  year  before  the  coming  of  Patrick  on  his  Chris- 
tian mission,  Palladius  (who,  by  one  authority,  John  Sichard,  is 
even  said  to  have  been  himself  an  Irishman)  was  sent  by  the  Pope 
"ad  Scotos  in  Christum  credente" — to  the  Irish  believing  in  Christ 
— which  words  clearly  show  Rome  to  have  been  impressed  with 
the  fact  that  the  Irish  Christians  then  were  of  some  numerical  im- 
portance. 

"It  is  universally  admitted,"  says  George  Stokes,  "that  there 
were  Christian  congregations  in  Ireland  before  Palladius  came." 

It  is  an  interesting  curiosity  to  find  told  among  the  ancients — 
as  recorded  by  Eusebius  and  Nicephorus — that  some  of  the  apostles 
visited  the  Western  Islands.  Julian  of  Toledo  says  that  James 
addressed  a  canonical  letter  from  Ireland  to  the  Jews  in  Spain. 
And  Vincentius  of  Bauvais  says  that  James,  the  son  of  Zebedee, 
preached  in  Ireland  and  that  when  he  returned  to  Jerusalem — 
where  he  was  martyred — he  took  with  him  seven  Irish  disciples. 

Usher  quotes  Nicephorus'  Ecclesiastical  History  as  saying  that 
Simon  Zelotus  brought  the  Gospel  to  these  islands,  and  was  cruci- 
fied in  Britain. 

St.  Paul  is  also  mentioned  as  having  been  in  these  Western 
lands. 

Reference  has  been  made  to  the  tradition  of  Conal  Cearnach's 
visit  to  Jerusalem.  Richardson  (Prael.  Ecc.  History)  says  he 
brought  back  the  faith  to  Conor  MacNessa,  and  others  of  the 
Ultach,  and  that  several  Irish  went  to  Jerusalem  to  be  baptised.  '/ 

While  the  foregoing  are  set  down  as  Interesting  curiosities,  it 
is  still  an  easy  matter  to  conclude,  as  a  result  of  the  frequent  inter- 
course between  Ireland  and  the  Romanised  possessions  of  both 
Britain  and  Gaul,  and  of  the  interchange  of  war  captives  and 

103 


104  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

refugees  likewise,  and  the  coming  and  going  of  travellers,  that  the 
doctrines  of  Christianity,  which  in  the  early  centuries  were  promul- 
gated with  such  ardour  and  spread  to  the  earth's  ends  with  such 
amazing  rapidity,  must  have  been  convej:ed  to  Ireland  from  many 
sources,  and  through  many  channels-^and  that  these  new  strange 
doctrines  must  have  been  many  times  examined  and  frequently  de- 
bated by  the  scholars  at  the  Irish  courts,  ever  eager  to  discuss  the 
doings  of  the  outside  world. 

Although  Christianity  did  not  obtain  a  hold  upon  the  minds  of 
the  mass  of  the  British  people  until  Augustine,  to  some  extent,  and 
the  Irish  missionaries,  in  the  main,  carried  the  doctrines  of  Christ 
to  them,  it  is  known  that  there  was  Christianity  in  Britain  in  the 
latter  half  of  the  first  century  of  the  Christian  Era — obviously  con- 
veyed there  by  ardent  Continental  Christians  in  the  Roman  legions. 
And  at  the  Council  of  Aries  (in  the  year  314)  a  few  British  bishops 
were  in  attendance. 

Boliandus  says  that  Palladius  probably  found  in  Ireland  more 
Christians  than  he  made.  And  that  some  Irish  Christians  figured 
prominently  on  the  Continent  of  Europe  in  the  pre-Patrician  days 
is  fairly  well  established  by  Continental  records.  "It  is  evident," 
says  Dr.  Todd,  "there  were  Irish  Christians  on  the  Continent  of 
Europe  before  the  mission  of  St.  Patrick,  some  of  whom  had  at- 
tained to  considerable  literary  and  ecclesiastical  eminence."  He 
refers  to,  among  others,  Mansuy  or  Mansuetus  of  Toul,  and  says 
that  in  all  probability  he  was  an  Irishman,  distinguished  as  an  emi- 
nent Christian  missionary  about  a  century  before  Patrick.  Man- 
suy was  sent  from  Rome  to  be  first  Bishop  of  Toul  (in  Lorraine). 
His  tenth  century  metrical  biographer,  the  abbot  Adso,  shows  that 
Mansuy's  Irish  nativity  was  then  taken  for  granted: 

"Insula  Christicolas  gestabat  Hibernia  gentes, 
Unde  genus,  traxil,  et  satus  inde  fiiit." 

(Hibernia's  soil  was  rich  in  Christian  grace; 

There  Mansuy  saw  the  light,  there  lived  his  noble  race.) 

Near  Toul  more  than  half  a  century  before  Patrick's  day,  in 
the  time  of  the  apostate  Julian,  and,  say  some,  in  the  presence  of 
Julian,  was  martyred  St.  Eliphius,  with  his  brother,  Eucharius,  and 
their  sisters — who,  says  Peter  Merss,  were  Hibernians  of  royal 
blood.  Rupert  of  Luitz,  in  his  "Life  of  St.  Eliph,"  says,  too,  that 
he  was  son  of  the  King  of  Scotia  (Hibernia).  Mt.  St.  Eliph  where 
he  is  buried  still  commemorates  him.  St.  Eliph  did  great  mission- 
ary work  in  the  city  of  Toul,  suffered  imprisonment,  and  after- 
wards converted  four  hundred  people. 


IRISH  CHRISTIANITY  BEFORE  ST.  PATRICK    105 

Usher  states  that  St.  Florentinus  who  was  imprisoned  by  Clau- 
dius, and  converted  and  baptised  ninety-six  men  and  women  fellow 
prisoners  as  well  as  his  jailer,  Asterius,  "was  a  glorious  confessor 
of  Christ,  born  in  Ireland."  It  is  by  no  means  certain,  however, 
that  Florentinus  flourished  before  Patrick. 

The  poet,  St.  Sedulius  (in  the  Irish,  Siadal),  is  asserted  to  be 
Irish  by  many  authorities,  from  IVithemius  who  called  him  "Scotus 
Hybernienses,"  down  to  present  day  scholars.  Dr.  Sigerson  says 
it  was  this  poet  and  Irishman  who  first  introduced  into  Latin  poetry 
the  Irish  rhyme  and  assonance,  which,  at  that  time,  were  cultivated 
only  in  Ireland.  His  most  noted  work,  "Carmen  Paschale,"  earned 
for  him  the  title  of  the  Christian  Virgil.  Sedulius  travelled  much 
in  Southern  Europe  and  in  Asia.  He  dedicated  a  work  to  the  Em- 
peror Theodosius. 

By  far  the  most  brilliant  Continental  celebrity  claimed  for  Ire- 
land before  the  days  of  St.  Patrick,  is  undoubtedly  Celestius,  the 
disciple  of  Pelagius,  who  drew  world-wide  attention  to  himself  in 
the  very  first  years  of  the  fifth  century.  This  noted  man's  nation- 
ality is  disputed,  but  amongst  those  who  have  gone  into  the  subject 
there  is  fair  consensus  of  opinion  that  he  was  at  least  Irish  in  blood 
if  not  also  Irish  by  birth — cither  Irish  of  Ireland,  or  Irish  of  the 
Irish  colony  in  Scotland.  For  those  who  would  deny  his  Scotic 
(Irish)  origin  there  is  no  way  of  getting  around  the  allusions  in 
St.  Jerome's  abuse  of  him,  where  once  he  calls  him  a  "stupid  fel- 
low, loaded  with  the  porridge  of  the  Scots,"  and  again,  "a  huge 
and  corpulent  Alban  dog  who  can  do  more  with  his  claws  than 
with  his  teeth,  for  he  is  by  descent  of  the  Scotic  nation."  He  was  a 
well-known  Ia\vyer  in  Rome  about  the  year  400  when  he  began 
espousing  the  heretical  doctrines  of  Pelagius,  so  warmly,  persist- 
ently and  aggressively,  that  he  overshadowed  his  master.  Those 
who  would  argue  that  he  is  not  Irish  have  to  admit  that  he  showed 
the  eloquence,  persuasiveness,  aggressiveness  of  a  true  Irish- 
man. He  went  to  Carthage  to  preach  against  St.  Augustine.  He 
spoke  before  the  Patriarch  in  Constantinople  and  before  the  Pope 
in  Rome.  Both  by  Imperial  and  Ecclesiastical  decree  he  w-as  ex- 
pelled again  and  again  from  both  Rome  and  Constantinople.  But 
this  only  increased  his  vigour,  his  ardour,  and  his  militancy.  He  is 
said  to  have  won  over  to  his  side  Pope  Zosimus  in  416 — whom  it 
took  all  the  powers  of  Augustine  and  Jerome  to  win  back  again. 
This  man  who  would  not  be  downed,  turned  up  at  the  Council  of 
Ephesus  in  431,  espousing,  against  the  Pope,  the  cause  of  the 
patriarch,  Nestorius,  in  the  great  Nestorian  controversy.  He  was 
excommunicated  by  the  Ephesian  Council.    He  had  been  condemned 


io6  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

by  the  Senate  of  Carthage  tvventy  years  earher — but  that  had  not 
dampened  his  ardour  or  dulled  die  edge  of  his  word. 

There  is  mention  made  by  Gennadius  of  three  epistles  said  to 
have  been  written  by  this  fighter,  "to  his  parents  in  Ireland" — 
before  he  espoused  the  cause  of  Pelagius. 

It  is  Dr.  Douglas  Hyde's  conclusion  that  the  Scot  whom  St. 
Jerome  abuses  is  not  Celestius,  but  his  heresiarch  master,  Pelagius. 
He  says:  "Pelagius  was  an  Irishman,  descended  from  an  Irish 
colony  in  Britain." 

"  Lanigan  concludes  that  Celestius  "of  Pelagius,  the  most  able 
favourite,"  surely  seems  Irish.  TJbher,  O'Connor,  Petrie  and 
Stokes  hold  the  same  opinion.  And  Dr.  Todd  sums  up  his  conclu- 
sion in  the  following  words:  "Be  this  as  it  may,  it  must  sufi&ce  to 
observe  that  St.  Jerome  manifestly  speaks  of  an  Irishman  who  was 
a  professor  of  Christianity,  engaged  in  the  controversies  of  that 
day.  This  is  unquestionable  evidence  that  there  was  at  least  one 
Irishman  on  the  Continent  of  Europe  at  that  early  period  who 
-Wis  a  Christian." 

Pelagius  was  the  genius,  and  Celestius  the  brilliant  talent,  of 
the  great  Pelagian  controversy. 

The  brothers  Moroni,  who  wrote  the  life  of  the  Irish  evan- 
geliser,  and  patron  saint,  of  their  city  Tarentum,  St.  Cataldo  (Irish, 
Cathal),  say  that  he  came  there  in  the  second  century — but  other 
evidence,  which  we  may  treat  of  later,  would  show  that  he  was 
antc-Patrician. 

So  much  for  the  claims  of  Continental  Irish  Christians  before 
St.  Patrick.^,  Now  to  return  to  the  claims  made  for  Irish  Chris- 
tians living  in  Ireland.  Many  of  the  old  Irish  authorities,  and 
indeed  a  few  of  the  modern,  urging  that  Christianity  had  not  a 
disputed,  but  firm,  foothold  in  some  parts  of  the  South,  say  that 
four  of  the  well-known  Irish  saints  flourished  and  preached  to  na- 
tive congregations  before  Patrick  began  his  mission — Saints  Ailbe 
of  Emly,  Declan  of  Ardmore,  Ibar  of  Beg  Eri,  and  Ciaran  of 
Saighir.  Colgan  indeed  says  that  not  only  were  these  four  prc- 
Patrician,  but  eight  or  nine  other  old  Irish  saints,  also. 

It  is  Hyde's  opinion  that  the  pre-Patrician  claims  made  for 
Declan  and  Ailbc  are  substantiated.  "We  have  it  from  the  most 
ancient  Acts  of  our  Saints,"  says  Colgan,  "written  one  thousand 
years  ago  and  up,  that  there  were  in  Ireland  not  only  many  be- 
lievers of  Christ,  but  also  many  distinguished  for  sanctity,  before 
Patrick  and  Palladius  came."  There  is  a  tradition  of  Ailbe  that  in 
the  beginning  of  the  fifth  century,  returning  with  fifty  companions 


IRISH  LllRlbllAMTV   BIiIORE  ST.  PATRICK    107 

from  Rome,  he  prcadied  to  the  Gentiles  and  baptised  many  and 
built  a  monastery  for  them. 

This  is  what  an  ancient  Life  of  St.  Declan  says  upon  the  sub- 
ject of  the  four  bishops,  his  alleged  forerunners,  making  their 
submission  to  Patrick: 

"The  four  Bishops  aforesaid,  who  were  in  Ireland  before  St. 
Patrick,  having  been  sent  from  Rome,  as  he  also  was,  nainely.  Ailbc, 
Declan,  Ciaran  and  Ibar,  were  not  of  the  same  mind  as  St.  Patrick, 
but  differed  with  him ;  nevertheless,  in  the  end  they  came  to  an  agree- 
ment with  him.  Ciaran,  indeed  yielded  all  subjection,  and  concord, 
and  supremacy  to  Patrick,  both  when  he  was  present  and  absent. 
But  Ailbe,  seeing  that  the  great  men  of  Ireland  were  running  after 
Patrick,  came  to  Sl  Patrick  in  the  city  of  Cashel,  and  there,  with 
all  humilit}',  accepted  him  as  his  master  in  presence  of  King  Aongus; 
this,  however,  had  not  been  his  original  intention.  P'or  those  Bishofjs 
had  previously  constituted  Ailbe  their  master,  and  therefore  he  came 
to  St.  Patrick  before  them,  lest  they,  on  his  account,  should  resist 
Patrick.  But  Ibar,  by  no  argument  could  be  induced  to  agree  with 
St.  Patrick  or  to  be  subject  to  him.  For  he  was  unwilling  to  re- 
ceive a  patron  of  Ireland  from  a  foreign  nation;  and  Patrick  was 
by  birth  a  Briton,  although  nurtured  in  Ireland,  having  been  taken 
a  captive  in  his  boyhood.  And  Ibar  and  Patrick  had  at  first  great 
conflicts  together,  but  afterwards,  at  the  persuasion  of  an  angel,  they 
made  peace,  and  concord,  and  fraternity  together.  Declan,  indeed, 
was  unwilling  to  resist  St.  Patrick  because  he  had  before  made  fra- 
ternitv-  with  him  in  Italy:  but  neither  did  he  think  of  becoming  his 
subject,  inasmuch  as  he  also  had  the  apostolic  dignity:  but  having 
been  at  length  admonished  by  an  angel,  he  came  to  Patrick  to  do 
his  will." 


::::> 


Talking  of  the  claims  made  for  St.  Ciaran  of  Saighir,  MacNeill 
urges  that  southwest  Cork,  being,  as  shown  by  historical  incidents, 
in  touch  with  foreign  lands,  might  well  have  got  Christianity  be- 
fore Patrick  came. 

Usher  agrees  with  Colgan  regarding  the  four  first  mentioned. 
But  such  keen  thinkers  as  Lanigan  and  Todd  decisively  deny  their 
pre-Patrician  claims — and  by  some  it  is  alleged  that  these  claims 
made  for  the  four  southern  saints  were  cunning  inventions  of  the 
iith  and  12th  centuries,  when  there  was  being  waged  a  struggle 
for  the  spiritual  supremacy  of  the  Munstcr  See  of  Cashel  over  the 
old  Primatial  See  of  Armagh. 

Archbishop  Healy  thinks  that  Ibar  w.is  probably  pre-Patrician. 
He,   anyhow,   became   a   disciple   of   Patrick.      He   retired   to   the 


io8  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

Island  of  Beg-Eri,'  in  Wexford  Harbor,  about  fifteen  years  before 
the  fifth  century's  end,  and  died  in  the  last  year  of  the  century. 

The  dates  of  the  deaths  of  these  men,  as  recorded  in  the  An- 
nals, and  pretty  generally  agreed  upon,  tend  to  prove  that  they 
could  not  possibly  have  been  pre-Patrician,  unless  we  suppose  them 
to  have  far  outstayed  the  ordinary  span — for  all  of  them  hved  into 
the  sixth  century,  with  the  exception  of  St  Ibar  who,  as  mentioned, 
died  on  the  threshold  of  that  century. 

At  all  events  it  is  a  safe  conclusion  that  there  were  groups  of 
Christians  in  Ireland  when  Palladius,  preceding  St.  Patrick,  came. 

Palladius  landed  in  the  southeast  of  the  Island.  He  stayed 
only  a  short  time,  yet — and  this  is  additional  evidence  of  his  having 
found  Christians  there — he  had  erected  three  churches  before  he 
left.  He  departed  in  the  same  year — some  say  driven  out  by  a 
Leinster  chieftain,  Nathi — and  went  to  Alba,  where  he  died.  It 
was  on  the  news  reaching  Rome  of  his  departure  from  Ireland  and 
his  death  that  permission  was  given  to  Patrick  to  follow  his  heart's 
desire,  and,  answering  the  cries  which  he  had  heard  in  his  dream 
from  the  children  of  Focluit  Wood,  go  to  the  evangelising  of  the 
people  whom  he  loved. 

Lannigan,  Rev.  John,  D.D. :     Ecclesiastical  History  of  Ireland. 

Hyde,  Douglas,  LL.D. :    A  Literary  History  of  Ireland. 

Stokes,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Geo.  T. :     Ireland  and  the  Celtic  Church. 

MacGeoghegan,  Abbe:     Historj^  of  Ireland. 

Keating's  History  of  Ireland. 

Healy,  the  Most  Rev.  Jno. :     Ireland's  Ancient  Schools  and  Scholars. 

St.  Patrick. 

1  Says  the  tradition,  when  Patrick  threatened  Ibar  that  if  he  did  not  make  sub- 
mission, he  would  not  suffer  him  to  remain  in  Eire,  Ibar  answered,  "If  I  will  not 
be  in  Eire,  it  will  be  Eire  where  I  am" — hence  "Beg-Eri"  (little  Ireland). 


CHAPTER  XIX 

ST.    PATRICK 

The  coming  of  Patrick  to  Ireland  marks  the  greatest  of  Irish 
epochs. 

Of  all  most  momentous  happenings  in  Irish  history,  this  seem- 
ingly simple  one  had  the  most  extraordinary,  most  far-reaching 
effect.  It  changed  the  face  of  the  nation,  and  utterly  changed  the 
nation's  destiny.  The  coming  of  Patrick  may  be  said  to  have  had 
sublime  effect  not  on  Ireland  alone,  but  upon  the  world.  It  was  a 
v/orld  event. 

The  man  himself  proved  to  be  a  world  figure — one  of  the  mas- 
sive giants  who  tower  distinct  and  sublime  above  the  dense  mists 
of  dim  antiquity — one,  too,  of  whom  it  may  truly  be  said  that  the 
more  intimately  you  approach  him  and  the  nearer  you  view  him, 
the  greater  he  grows.  He  was  one  of  the  greatest  of  Celts,  be- 
came one  of  the  greatest  of  Irishmen,  and  one  of  the  very  great 
among  men. 

Patrick  first  came  to  Ireland — as  a  captive — in  the  year  389,  in 
the  reign  of  Niall.  It  was  forty-three  years  later,  in  the  year  432, 
the  reign  of  Laoghaire,  that  he  came  upon  the  mission  which  was 
so  miraculously  to  change  the  Island's  destiny.  An  ancient  Pagan 
prophecy  attributed  to  Conn  of  the  Hundred  Battles  says :  "With 
Laoghaire  the  Valiant  will  the  land  be  humbled  by  the  coming  of 
the  Tailcenn  (i.e.,  Patrick)  :  houses  across  (i.e.,  churches)  :  bent 
staffs  which  shall  pluck  the  flowers  from  their  high  places." 

In  the  period  of  Patrick's  coming  the  great  Roman  Empire 
was  crumbling,  while  Ireland,  with  fleets  on  the  sea  and  armies  in 
foreign  lands,  had  reached  the  pinnacle  of  her  political  power — a 
time  that  would  seem  the  least  propitious  for  winning  men  to  the 
meek  and  abnegatory  doctrines  of  Christ.  Yet  was  it,  in  His  own 
mysterious  way,  God's  chosen  time  for  sending  His  chosen  man. 

There  is  endless  dispute  as  to  where  exactly  was  the  birthplace 
of  Patrick,  which,  in  his  Confession  he  appears  to  tell  us  was  in 
"Bannaven  of  Taberniae."^     Many  authorities  hold  that  it  was 

1  Though  strictly  speaking  the  only  assurance  to  be  found  in  that  sentence  of 
the  Confession  is  that  he  was  there  taken  captive. 

109 


no  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

near  Dumbarton,  in  the  most  Northern  Roman  province  of  Celtic 
Britain-  Others  hold  that  it  was  in  the  Celtic  province  of  Brittany 
in  France.  In  his  Confession  arc  pieces  of  internal  evidence  that 
sustain  cither  theory.  The  fact  that  St.  Martin  of  Tours  was  his 
maternal  uncle  is  one  of  the  strong  points  in  favour  of  his  Conti- 
nental origin.  His  father,  Calporn  held  municipal  office  in  the 
Romanised  town  (of  Britain  or  Brittany)  which  was  his  native 
place — was  a  Decurion,  a  kind  of  magistrate,  there.  His  mother, 
Conchessa,  was  niece  of  St.  Martin.  He  him.self  was  christened 
Succat,  signifying  "clever  in  war." 

Wherever  he  was  born  it  seems  to  have  been  from  Brittany, 
from  the  home  of  his  mother's  parents,  where  he  was  visiting,  that 
at  the  age  of  sixteen  he  was  taken  captive,  with  his  two  sisters. 
Darerca  and  Lupida.  It  was  in  a  raid  made  by  the  men  who  sailed 
on  a  fleet  of  King  Niall,  says  Keating.  They  were  borne  to  Ire- 
land, and  his  sisters  said  to  have  been  placed  in  Muirthemne 
(Louth)  while  he  was  sold  to  an  Antrim  chieftain  named  Miliue, 
who  set  him  herding  his  flocks  in  the  valley  of  the  Braid,  around 
the  foot  of  the  mountain,  Sliab  Mis." 

His  occupation  as  a  herd  upon  a  mountainside  was  fine  proba- 
tion for  the  holy  career  that  was  to  be  Patrick's.  He  confesses 
in  his  biography  that  in  his  wayward  youth  at  home  he  had  for- 
gotten God,  and  from  Him  wandered  into  the  ways  of  sin.  Alone 
with  his  herd  upon  Sliab  Mis  during  the  day  and  the  night,  the 
months  and  the  seasons,  his  spirituality  was  reawakened.  And 
God  guided  his  feet  to  the  path  of  duty  again.  "I  was  always 
careful,"  he  says,  in  the  affecting  picture  which  he  paints  of  the 
herdboy's  wonderful  days  on  the  mountains,  "to  lead  my  flocks  to 
pasture,  and  to  pray  fervently.  The  love  and  fear  of  God 
more  and  more  inflamed  my  heart;  my  faith  enlarged,  my  spirit 
augmented,  so  that  I  said  a  hundred  prayers  by  day  and  almost 
as  many  by  night.  I  arose  before  day  in  the  snow,  in  the  frost,  and 
the  rain,  yet  I  received  no  harm,  nor  was  I  affected  with  slothful- 
ness.     For  then  the  spirit  of  God  was  warm  within  me." 

And  thus  did  he  spend  seven  years  in  human  slavery,  working 
out,  with  God,  his  spiritual  freedom.  And  his  human  freedom  fol- 
lowed. In  a  dream  that  came  to  him  he  was  told  to  travel  to  the 
seashore  at  a  certain  place  two  hundred  miles  distant,  where  he 
should  find  a  ship  on  which  he  would  make  his  escape.     He  found 

'  One  of  his  biographers,  Probus,  says  that  it  was  into  the  country  of  Tirawley, 
in  Mayo,  that  Patrick  was  «old — and  on  the  mountain  of  Croagh  Patrick  herded  his 
flocks.  There  is  grave  doubt  as  to  whether  Darerca  and  Lupida  were  sisters 
(other  than   ?i«;ters   in   rehpion)    of   his. 


ST.  PATRICK  lii 

the  ship  and  ^vas  taken  on  board — after  first  getting  a  refusal  and 
being  turned  away  by  the  captain — and  in  the  seventh  year  of  his 
captivity  he  sailed  away  from  Ireland. 

And  be  it  noted  that  the  Irish  land  A\hich  he  had  entered  as  a 
foreigner,  he  now  left  as  an  Irishman.  For,  as  he  was  destined 
to  give  a  new  faith  and  new  soul  to  Ireland,  Ireland  had  given  a 
new  faith  and  new  soul  to  him.  He  had  found  himself  and  found 
God  in  that  land  to  which  he  was  destined  to  bring  God.  In  his 
seven  years'  slavery  the  Irish  tongue  had  become  his  tongue,  and 
his  spirit  was  the  Irish  spirit,  which  at  that  impressionable  age  he 
had  imbibed.  So,  to  make  him  truly  one  of  the  people  to  v/hom 
he  was  to  carry  God's  word,  God  had  wisely  ordained  his  slave 
service  among  them  during  the  very  six  or  seven  years  in  which 
men's  characters  are  stamped  with  the  qualities  of  those  amongst 
whom  they  move.  For  it  is  not  where  a  man  is  born,  or  spends 
the  careless  years  of  childhood,  but  where  and  among  whom  he 
spends  the  plastic  and  absorbent  years  of  youth,  that  determines 
his  true  nationality.  So  the  Irishman,  Patrick,  now  sailed  away 
from  his  own  land,  whereto  had  arrived,  several  years  before,  an 
alien  Patrick. 

A  three  days'  voyage  brought  him  to  the  land  from  which  he 
had  been  carried  captive — after  which  a  distressing  journey  of 
twenty-eight  days  through  deserts  and  wilds  brought  him  to  his 
home,  where  the  lost  one  was  welcomed  with  great  rejoicing. 

Yet,  though  his  people  resolved  never  to  let  him  from  their 
sight  again,  and  though  it  gladdened  him  to  be  with  his  kin,  his 
heart  could  find  no  peace  for  thinking  of  the  country  and  the  people 
that  had  grown  into  his  soul,  and  had  become  his.  There  were 
centred  the  thoughts  of  the  day,  the  dreams  of  the  night. 

Till  at  length  he  had  a  vivid  night  vision,  in  which  there  came 
to  him  a  man,  Victor,  from  Ireland,  bearing  letters  which  were 
marked,  "Vox  Flibernionacum" — which,  however,  he  could  not  read 
understandingly,  for  keen  pathetic  cries  filled  his  ears,  from  the 
people  of  Focluit  Wood  beseeching  him  to  come  to  them.  "And 
there  I  saw  a  vision  during  the  night,  a  man  coming  from  the  west; 
his  name  was  Victoricus,  and  had  with  him  many  letters;  he  gave 
me  one  to  read,  and  in  the  beginning  of  it  was  a  voice  from  Ire- 
land. I  then  thought  it  to  be  the  voice  of  the  inhabitants  of  Focluit 
Wood,  adjoining  the  western  sea;  they  appeared  to  cry  out  in  one 
voice,  saying,  'Come  to  us,  O  holy  youth,  and  walk  among  us.' 
With  this  I  was  feelingly  touched,  and  could  read  no  longer:  I 
then  awoke." 

After  this  he  could  not  rest  inactive.     He  must  prepare  him- 


112  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

self  for  the  task  of  carrying  the  Gospel  of  Christ  to  the  people 
of  his  heart.  And  despite  the  tears  and  entreaties  of  his  own  rela- 
tives, he  bade  good-bye  to  them  and  home,  and  travelled  away  to 
study  for  the  ministry.^ 

But,  finally,  having  been  consecrated  Bishop,  Pope  Celestine 
commissioned  him  to  carry  the  gospel  to  the  land  of  his  love — and 
conferred  on  him  the  Roman  noble  name  Patricius. 

He  reached  Ireland  in  432  in  the  fourth  year  of  the  reign  of 
Laoghaire,  son  of  Niall,  High-King.* 

3  A  tantalising  vagueness  settles  over  the  history  of  his  Continental  travels  in 
search  of  learning  and  ordination.  And  very  many  conflicting  accounts  of  his 
travels  and  studies  are  given.  In  396,  he  is  said  to  have  entered  the  monastery  of 
Marmoutiers,  near  Tours,  a  foundation  of  his  uncle,  St.  Martin.  Here  he  remained 
till  Martin's  death,  which  occurred,  some  say  in  397,  some  in  402.  And  here  had 
St.  Martin  given  him  the  monastic  habit  and  the  clerical  tonsure. 

Some  (doubtful)  accounts  show  him  studying  next  (in  403)  with  the  students 
of  St.  John  of  Lateran  in  Rome.  He  visited  and  sojourned  in  many  holy  places 
and  studied  under  many  holy  men — in  monasteries  and  in  hermitages,  in  Italy  and 
in  Mediterranean  islands.  He  is  said  to  have  spent  many  years  in  a  monastery  on 
the  Isle  of  Lerins,  under  St.  Honoratus  and  St  Maximus.  Afterward,  many  years 
seem  to  have  been  spent  at  Auxerre  under  St,  Germanus,  the  Bishop,  a  man  of 
great  culture  as  well  as  piety. 

In  the  year  430  St.  Patrick  turned  up  at  Auxerre  again,  his  age  being  now 
thirty-eight.  He  had  long  sought  to  be  commissioned  to  Ireland.  At  this  time 
again,  backed  by  the  influence  of  (jermanus,  he  preferred  his  request  to  Rome — 
but  was  refused  because  Palladius  had  then  been  sent  When  finally  came  the 
news  of  the  failure  and  of  the  death  of  Palladius,  Patrick  journeyed  to  Rome, 
to  Pope  Celestine,  carrying  with  him  a  letter  from  Germanus.  Celestine  now  granted 
his  request,  and  consecrated  him  Archbishop  for  the  Irish  mission.  Also  twenty 
priests  and  deacons  were  ordained,  to  be  his  companions  in  the  undertaking.  And 
at  his  consecration,  says  a  tradition,  three  choirs  answered :  to  wit,  the  choir  of 
Heaven's  household,  the  choir  of  the  Romans,  and  the  choir  of  the  children  of  the 
Wood  of  Focluit,  all  singing:  "Hiberniensis  omnes  clamant  ad  te,  tuer." 

Celestine  also  conferred  upon  him  his  new  name,  Patricius — an  ancient  title 
of  the  highest  honour  among  the  Romans. 

It  was  on  his  last  journey  from  Germanus  to  Rome  that,  tradition  says,  he 
got  his  famous  Bachaill  losa,  Staff  of  Jesus — ^his  pastoral  staff,  which  is  still 
preserved.  Sailing  to  Rome,  he  stopped  at  a  house  on  an  island  in  the  Tyrrhenian 
Sea,  says  the  story,  a  new  house  of  a  young  married  couple,  who  had  children  and 
grandchildren,  old  and  decrepit.  The  lanamain,  the  young  couple,  had  been  married 
in  the  time  of  Jesus,  who  passed  that  way  immediately  after  they  were  married, 
and  received  their  hospitalit)" — for  which  He  blessed  them  and  their  house,  and 
said  that  they  and  it  should  remain  new  and  young  till  the  Judgment  Day.  In 
their  care  He  left  His  Staff,  with  injunction  that  it  should  be  kept  for  Patrick 
against  the  day  that  he,  too,  passing  that  way,  should  there  be  entertained.  "And 
God  hath  enjoined  thee,"  said  the  young  man  to  Patrick,  "to  go  and  preach  in  the 
land  of  the  Gael.     And  Jesus  left  with  us  this  stafT  to  be  given  to  thee." 

Then,  the  desire  of  his  life  being  crowned,  he,  at  the  age  of  sixty,  with  buoyant 
soul  and  gladdened  heart,  amid  his  rejoicing  company,  set  forward  from  Rome, 
upon  his  momentous  mission.  On  his  way  he  stopped  with  Germanus,  who  pre- 
sented him  with  vestments,  chalices,  and  books,  and  gave  him  advice  and  blessing. 

*  He  is  said  to  have  first  landed  near  Vartry  in  the  County  Wicklow — at  about 
the  same  place  at  which  Palladius  before  him,  had  arrived.  There  he  preached 
and  baptised,  and  like  Palladius,  was  driven  out.  He  sailed  northward,  and  into 
Srrangford  Loch  in  Down,  where  landing  he  was  again  attacked.  Dichu,  a 
chieftain  of  the  Dal  Fiatach,  taking  Patrick  and  his  company  to  be  a  band  of 
British  pirates,  descended  upon  them.     But  Dichu  was  so  struck  with  respect  and 


ST.  PATRICK  113 

On  the  eve  of  Easter,  Patrick's  party  encamped  at  Slaine,  on 
the  left  bank  of  the  Boync,  opposite  to  and  in  sight  of  Tara;  and 
Patrick  lighted  in  front  of  his  tent  a  fire  which  was  visible  at  the 
king's  court.  Now  a  great  festival  was  beginning  at  Tara,  coinci- 
dent with  the  beginning  of  Patrick's  Easter  festival.  And  it  was  a 
gross  violation  of  royal  and  ancient  order  that  on  this  eve  any  fire 
should  be  lighted  before  the  court  Druids  should  light  their  sacred 
fire  upon  the  royal  Rath.  Accordingly,  when  Laoghaire's 
astounded  court  beheld  in  the  distance  the  blazing  of  Patrick's  fire 
before  the  Druid  fire  had  yet  been  lit,  great  was  their  consternation 
and  high  and  hot  their  wrath. 

"What  audacious  miscreant,"  demanded  the  king,  "has  dared 
to  do  this  outrage?"    The  Druids  answered  him  that  it  was  indeed 

veneration  when  Patrick  faced  him,  that  he  lowered  his  arms,  hearkened  to  the 
words  of  the  apostle,  and  finally,  with  his  family,  was  baptised.  Patrick  afterwards 
built  a  church  on  this  spot,  commemorating  this  first  conversion  of  his,  in  the 
north.     The  place  has  since  been  called  Sabhall  Padraic — or  corruptly,  Saul. 

But  Patrick  craved  to  bring  to  Christ  his  old  master,  Miliuc.  Forth  then  he 
fared  toward  the  country  of  his  captivity  and  the  house  of  his  master.  But  Miliuc 
is  said  to  have  grown  furious  when  intelligence  was  brought  him  that  Succat,  his 
former  slave,  was  journeying  hence,  bent  on  converting  him  to  a  new  faith — 
and  that  he  was  winning  all  to  whom  he  preached  by  the  way ;  for  the  new  faith's 
appeal,  voiced  by  Succat,  no  man  could  resist.  Rather  than  submit  to  the  mortifi- 
cation of  being  converted  by  his  swineherd,  the  determined  old  pagan  set  fire  to 
his  house,  and  immolated  himself  in  the  flames. 

But  a  son  of  the  old  pagan  was  saved,  and  two  daughters.  They  were  con- 
verted, moreover,  and  the  son  lived  to  become  a  bishop,  and  the  two  daughters  nuns. 

When  Patrick  arrived  and  found  what  had  happened,  and  that  his  old  master 
had  removed  himself  from  the  reach  of  Christ,  he  is  said  to  have  shed  floods  of 
tears.  He  wended  his  way  back  to  the  territory  of  Lecale  where  he  had  first  landed, 
and  there  did  successful  missionary  work,  converting  and  baptising  Dichu's  people. 
And  having  ordained  priests  for  them,  he  sailed  again  southward,  and  landed  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Boyne — with  intention  of  proceeding  to  the  court  of  the  High  King, 
Laoghaire,  at  Tara.  He  left  his  nephew,  Luman.  with  some  sailors  in  charge,  in 
the  boat,  while  he  travelled  inland — toward  the  royal  Court. 

On  his  journey  to  Tara  he  won  the  love  and  the  faith  of  a  little  lad  who  was 
destined  to  shine  as  the  brightest  and  greatest  of  his  disciples.  He  had  stopped  to 
rest  and  be  refreshed  at  the  house  of  the  chieftain,  Sesgne,  and  falling  asleep  in 
his  seat  beneath  a  tree,  after  he  had  eaten,  a  little  son  of  Sesgne,  Benin,  whose 
love  had  gone  out  to  him,  now  approached  the  resting  warrior  of  Christ,  and  was 
strewing  wild  flowers  over  him — till  he  was  stopped  and  rebuked.  But  Patrick, 
awaking,  said,  "Molest  him  not,  for  that  youth  shall  yet  heir  my  kingdom."  And 
when,  later,  Patrick  was  entering  his  chariot  to  go  forward,  the  little  Benin,  pressing 
through  the  surrounding  throng,  took  hold  of  his  hand  cr>'ing:  "Let  me  go,  too." 
And  Patrick  added  to  his  company  the  gentle  and  beautiful,  sweet-voiced  little 
Benin  whose  love  he  had  won.  The  goodness  and  loveliness  of  the  gentle-natured 
boy  won  all  hearts  to  him — won  for  him  even  the  love  of  the  beautiful  Ercnat, 
daughter  of  King  Daire,  of  Ulster — which  love  he  could  not  return,  since  he  was 
bent  upon  giving  himself  to  Girist.  The  sweet-voiced  boy  became  Patrick's 
psalmist.  Later,  in  Armagh,  he  became  Patrick's  coadjutor.  And  finally  he  heired 
and  worthily  filled  Patrick's  primatial  chair  in  Armagh,  and  headed  the  school 
of  Armagh,  as  well  as  ruled  the  church.  And  to  the  learned  Benin  (Benignus) 
is  now  attributed,  by  many  scholars,  the  authorship  of  the  great  and  \'aluable  ancient 
Irish  book.  The  Book  of  Rights.  Others  hold  that  Benin  only  re-wrote  and  revised 
this  important  work,  which,  they  say,  was  compiled  by  Cormac  MacArt,  200  years 
earlier. 


114  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

the  Tailcenn  of  the  old  prophecy,  come  to  supersede  his  rule,  and 
their  rule,  in  Eirinn.  "Moreover,"  they  said,  "unless  the  fire  on 
yonder  hill  be  extinguished  this  very  night,  it  shall  never  more  be 
extinguished  in  Eirinn.  It  will  outshine  all  fires  that  we  light,  and 
he  who  lit  it  will  conquer  us  all:  he  will  overthrow  you,  and  his 
kingdom  overthrow  your  kingdom :  he  will  make  your  subjects  his, 
and  rule  over  them  all  forever." 

Then  King  Laoghaire,  a  splendidly  determined  old  pagan,  of 
like  nature  v/ith  Miliuc,  angrily  demanded  that  the  transgressor 
should  be  dragged  before  him,  with  all  the  other  foreign  intruders 
who  were  supporting  him. 

Then  Patrick's  camp  was  raided  by  Laoghaire's  soldiers,  and 
he  and  his  companions  ordered  to  march  to  Tara. 

An  old  tradition  has  it  that,  as,  on  Easter  morning,  the  mission- 
aries proceeded  in  processional  order,  toward  the  king's  court,  they 
chanted  the  sacred  Lorica,  called  the  Faed  Fiada,  or  Deer's  Cry, 
specially  composed  by  Patrick  for  their  protection.  It  is  said  that 
as  the  minions  of  the  Druids  lay  in  ambush  to  intercept  and  kill 
them  as  they  came  to  court,  these  evil  ones  now  saw  not  Patrick 
and  his  companions  pass,  only  saw  pass  a  harmless  herd  of  gentle 
deer,  a  doe  followed  by  her  twenty  fawns.  Hence  the  hymn's  title, 
the  Faed  Fiada — Deer's  Cry.  And  through  all  the  centuries  since, 
the  Faed  Fiada — which  many  old  authorities  pronounce  to  be  Pat- 
rick's own  work,  and  the  first  hymn  written  in  Gaelic — has  been 
used  by  the  Irish  Race  as  a  lorica  for  protection.' 

5  I  Christ  here, 

I  bind  me  to-day,  Ch'^^'J  l^  "^'S  "'^' 

God's  might  to  direct  me,  3^^*  beneath  me. 

God's  power  to  protect  me,  S"^I  ^I-a  "'^' 

God's  wisdom  for  learning,  gn^J  J«hind    me, 

God's  eye  for  discerning,  Christ  be  o  er  me, 

God's  ear  for  my  hearing.  Ch"st  before  me. 
God's  word   for  my  clearing.  IV 

II  Christ  in  the  left  and  the  right, 

God's  hand  for  my  cover.  Christ  hither  and  thither, 

God's  path  to  pass  over,  Christ  m  the  sight 
God's  buckler  to  guard  me,  Oi  each  eye  that  shall  seek 

God's  army  to  ward   me,  _       "^7'  ,         ,    ,,  , 

Against  snares  of  the  devil,  |"  each  ear  tiiat  shall  hear. 

Against  vice's  temptation.  In  each  mouth  that  shall  speak 

Against  wrong  inclination.  .        "''^ 

Against  men  who  plot  evil,  r"'''^^"?^  the  less 
Anear  or  afar,  with  many  or           ,   ^.I"  each  heart  I  address 

fg^  I   bind  me  to-day  on  the  Triune — I 

TTT  C^'^' 

'^^  With    faith   in  the  Trinity— Unity- 

Christ  near,  God  over  all. 

Tliis,  Dr.  Sigcrson's  rendering  of  the  hymn  is  in  the  same  measure,  metre, 
and  rhythm  of  the  original. 


ST.  PATRICK  115 

And  having  been  carried  safe  by  the  Lord  through  the  am- 
bushes prepared  for  them,  Patrick  led  his  host  into  the  king's  pres- 
ence, chanting:  "Let  them  that  will,  trust  in  chariots  and  horses, 
but  we  walk  in  the  name  of  the  Lord." 

To  impress  and  awe  these  foreigners.  King  Laoghaire  with  his 
queen  and  court,  sat  aloft  in  state,  while  his  warriors,  in  silence,  sat 
around  in  a  great  circle,  with  the  rims  of  their  shields  against  their 
chins.  Laoghaire,  evidently  apprehensive  of  the  secret  power  of 
the  Tailcenn,  had  warned  his  court  that  none  of  the  marks  of  re- 
spect which  were  the  due  of  a  stranger,  should  be  shown  to  this 
bold  aggressor.  But  so  impressive  was  Patrick's  appearance  that 
immediately  he  came  into  their  presence,  Dubthach,  the  King's 
OUam  poet,  arose,  in  respect  for  him;  as  also  a  young  noble.  Ere — 
who  afterwards  became  Bishop  Ere.  And  these  two  were  Patrick's 
first  converts  at  Tara. 

In  the  presence  of  King  and  court  Patrick  was  first  confronted 
with  the  Druids,  who,  it  was  hoped,  would  quickly  confound  him. 
But  matching  his  miracles  against  their  magic  he  showed  to  all  that 
his  powers  far  transcended  theirs.  He  dispelled  a  darkness,  which 
they,  by  their  magical  powers  had  produced,  but  were  powerless  to 
dissipate — "They  can  bring  darkness,"  he  significantly  said,  "but 
cannot  bring  light."  He  preached  Christ  to  the  assembly,  and 
won  to  his  Master  the  queen  and  several  prominent  members  of 
the  court.  And,  though  Laoghalre's  pagan  faith  was  unshaken, 
he  was  so  far  won  by  the  man  Patrick  that  he  gave  him  the  freedom 
of  his  realm  to  preach  the  new  faith  where  and  to  whom  he  would. ^ 

Patrick's  next  great  preaching  was  to  the  vast  assembly  of  the 
men  of  Eirinn,  who  had  gathered  at  the  Fair  of  Taillte.     Though 

6  Laoghaire,  we  may  here  mention,  died  a  pagan — killed  by  lightning.  The 
Leinstermen  had  defeated  him  in  the  battle  of  Athgara,  and  taken  him  prisoner, 
at  a  time  when  he  had  gone  to  demand  from  them  the  Boru  Tribute.  They  com- 
pelled him  to  take  oath,  by  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars,  that  he  would  never  again  de- 
mand the  tribute.  But  he  broke  his  oath  and  went  against  them  once  more. 
Then  Heaven's  lightning,  it  is  said,  visited  vengeance  on  him,  for  the  breaking  of 
the  oath.  He  was  buried  in  one  of  the  old  pagan  fashions — in  standing  attitude, 
fully  accoutred,  and  facing  Leinster  and  his  enemies. 

Among  the  many  distinguished  converts  whom  Patrick  made  at  Tara  on  that 
occasion  was  a  young  noble,  Fingar,  who,  because  he  had  accepted  and  would  not 
recant  the  new  faith,  v/as,  by  his  father,  Clito,  driven  into  exile.  With  several 
other  nobles  who  had  become  Christians  he  sailed  to  Brittany.  When  his  father 
died,  he  returned  to  Ireland,  and  after  renouncing  his  heritage,  he  took  with  him 
his  sister,  Fiala.  and  seven  hundred  men,  including  seven  bishops,  all  of  whom 
sailed  away  to  devote  themselves  to  religion,  to  enjoy  Christ  themselves,  and  give 
Christ  to  those  other  lands  that  had  Him  not.  But  the  whole  party  was  massacred 
in  Cornwall  by  the  Cornish  King,  Theodoric. 

The  life  of  Fingar,  written  by  St.  Anselm,  .A.rchbishop  of  Canterbury,  and 
preserved  in  Paris  through  long  years,  was  finally  published  there,  in  the  seven- 
teenth century. 


ii6  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

at  these  national  fairs  the  multitude  always  anticipated  hearing  and 
seeing  many  wonderful  things — scholars,  historians  and  poets  of 
their  own  nation  addressing  them,  sometimes  scholars  and  travel- 
lers from  far  countries,  as  well  as,  always,  foreign  merchants  bring- 
ing rare  merchandise — the  Fair  of  Taillte  at  the  Lammas  of  432 
furnished  to  the  expectant  multitude  a  rare  sensation.  When  they 
beheld  the  procession  of  foreign  clerics,  all  clad  in  strange  gar- 
ments, and  headed  by  a  beautiful  and  venerable  man,  arrive  chant- 
ing strange  new  chants,  there  surely  was  startling  commotion — 
even  at  that  Fair  where  sensations  and  commotions  were  many. 
Astonishing  must  have  been  the  crush,  and  vast  the  crowd,  of  the 
tens  and  hundreds  of  thousands  of  fair-goers  who  now  pushed  and 
pressed  to  get  nearer  sight  of  this  wonderful  procession  of  chant- 
ing strangers — to  learn  who  they  were  and  whence,  and  what  was 
their  object  in  Eirinn.  And  when  the  venerable  one  who  headed 
the  procession  addressed  the  seething  crowds  telling  them  that  he 
was  the  ambassador  of  the  King  of  the  world's  kings,  describing 
to  them  his  King's  kingdom,  telling  them  of  the  infinite  love  of  his 
King  for  all  of  them,  of  His  yearning  desire  to  have  them  know 
Him,  and  to  enter  into  and  enjoy  the  kingdom  whose  beauties  and 
whose  pleasures,  and  whose  riches  and  whose  bliss,  infinitely  ex- 
ceeded all  that  the  mind  of  man  had  ever  before  conceived  or  man's 
imagination  in  its  powerfulest  flight  ever  pictured,  of  His  sending 
His  own  Son  as  His  messenger  to  mankind,  of  the  beauty  and  good- 
ness, meekness  and  lovableness  of  that  Son,  and  then  of  His  suf- 
ferings. His  torture  and  death,  at  the  hands  of  those  whom  He 
came  to  invite  to  the  enjoyment  of  His  Father's  kingdom — how 
the  bearded  warrior  throngs,  and  even  the  eager  youths  there  must 
have  been  impressed,  inspired,  fired  and  melted;  how  the  wild  ones 
must  have  felt  themselves  tamed;  and  the  haughty  humbled;  and 
the  scornful  sweetened;  and  the  strenuous  soothed;  as  eventually 
the  mightily  moved  multitude — including  a  Prince,  Conal,  son  of 
Niall,  whose  heart  was  there  reached  by  the  grace  of  God — bowed 
for  the  Tailcenn's  blessing. 

He  spent  the  next  year  preaching  throughout  Meath  and  Lein- 
ster.  He  went  into  the  province  of  Connaught  in  434.  On  his 
way  there  he  visited  the  Plain  of  Magh  Slecht,  where  stood  the 
great  idol  Crom  Cruach,  before  which,  in  the  ancient  time,  Ti- 
ghernmas  and  his  worshipping  thousands  had  been  slain  by  Heaven 
— and  threw  down  this  idol,  along  with  the  twelve  others  that  stood 
around  it. 

He  met  and  converted  King  Laoghaire's  two  beautiful  daugh- 
ters, Ethni  the  Fair,  and  Fedelm  the  Ruddy,  who  were  at  the  Con- 


ST.  PATRICK  117 

naught  Palace  of  Cruachan,  under  the  tuition  of  the  two  Druids, 
Mai  and  Coplait/ 

On  top  of  the  mountain  of  Croagh  Patrick  in  Coiinaught,  he 
spent  the  forty  days  of  Lent,  watching,  and  fasting,  and  praying. 
And  the  tradition  goes,  as  recorded  by  the  Monk  Jocelin  that  it 
was  from  this  mountaintop  he  commanded  all  the  serpents  and 
venomous  things  in  Ireland,  driving  them  into  the  ocean,  and  rid- 
ding Ireland  of  all  viperous  things  forever.^ 

The  Saint  at  length  reached  the  Wood  of  Focluit  dear  to  his 
memory — reached  it  at  the  time  of  a  great  assemblage  of  people 
and  there  preaching  to  those  children  of  Focluit  Wood,  whose  cries 
he  had  heard  in  his  dream,  he  converted,  it  is  told,  the  seven  sons 
of  the  chieftain.  Prince  Amalgaid,  and  twelve  thousand  people. 

In  441  after  seven  years  in  Connaught,  he  proceeded  by  the 
narrow  way  between  Benbulbin  and  the  sea,  into  Ulster,  where  he 
spent  four  years  travelling,  preaching,  baptising  and  church-build- 
ing. 

After  that  he  preaclied  through  Leinster — on  the  way  to  which, 
the  Dubliners,  it  is  said,  came  out  in  crowds  to  meet  him.  And 
then  on  through  Munster.  At  royal  Cashel  in  Munster,  he  con- 
verted the  king,  Aongus.® 

'  He  had  to  measure  his  power  with  these  Druids,  as  with  the  Druids  at  Tara. 
To  prevent  his  finding  the  palace  of  Cruachan,  they,  by  their  Druidic  art,  brought 
down  upon  the  plain,  for  many  miles  around,  a  thick  darkness  which  enveloped 
Patrick,  his  companions,  the  castle  and  all  within  the  plain  of  Magh  Air — a 
darkness  which  held  that  region  for  the  space  of  three  days  and  three  nights. 
Then  Patrick,  in  the  name  of  Christ,  blessed  the  plain,  so  that  the  Druids  alone 
remained  in  darkness,  while  the  blessed  light  was  restored  to  all  others  there. 
Finally  Mai  and  Coplait  were  convinced  and  converted — along  with  their  charge, 
the  beautiful  princesses. 

*  Some  centuries  before,  Solinus,  the  Roman  writer,  recorded  that  there  were 
no  snakes  in  Ireland — which  belies  the  honoured  tradition.  The  tradition,  how- 
ever, persists,  and  will  always  persist  in  the  popular  belief.  There  is  a  second 
legend  in  some  parts  of  Ireland  which  says  that  one  serpent,  either  through  a 
fortunate  slothfulness  or  some  other  cause,  was  not  cast  out  with  the  others.  Pat- 
rick, being  later  informed  of  this,  induced  the  dilatory  fellow  to  go  down  into  the 
deep  waters  of  Loch  Neagh,  on  the  promise,  more  ingenious  than  ingenuous,  that 
he  should  be  released  therefrom  "on  the  morrow."  Since  that  time  children  liv- 
ing in  the  neighbourhood  of  Loch  Neagh  can  hear  the  prisoned  fellow  raising  his 
head  above  the  waters,  at  the  dawning  of  each  new  day,  to  inquire,  "Is  this  day 
the  morrow?  Is  this  day  the  morrow?"  But  alas  for  him — for  him.  and  for  all 
unfortunates  who  wait  for  the  morrow  which  never  comes ! 

^  When  about  to  baptise  the  king,  Patrick  thrust  his  pastoral  staff,  by  its  sharp 
iron  point,  into  the  earth — as  he  thought.  But  it  was  through  the  foot  of  Aongus 
he  thrust  it  He  discovered  his  grave  mistake  only  when  the  ceremony  was  finished 
"Why  did  you  not  tell  me  this?"  he  cried  to  the  king.  And  Aongus  answered 
simply.    "Because  I  thought  it  part  of  the  ceremony." 

Twelve  sons  and  twelve  daughters  of  the  heroic  Aongus  were  consecrated  to 
God.  Aongus  ordered  that  henceforth  a  capitation  tax  from  his  people  should 
be  paid  to  St.  Patrick  and  to  his  successors  m  Armagh.  It  was  paid  every  third 
year,  by  the  kings  of  Munster,  down  to  the  time  of  Cormac  MacCullanan  in  the 
tenth  century. 


ii8  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

Patrick  convened  a  Synod  at  Cashel,  where  he  met  his  southern 
rivals,  Saints  Ailbe,  Declan,  Ciaran  and  Ibar,  and  after  much  argu- 
ment got  their  obedience.  Ibar  was  the  most  obstinate  and  last 
to  yield.  For  he  was  unwiUing,  says  an  account,  that  any  one  but 
a  native  of  Ireland  should  be  acknowledged  the  ecclesiastical  patron 
of  the  country. 

After  completing  his  work  in  Munster  the  Saint  returned  north 
again  through  Leinster  into  Ulster,  where  he  was  to  spend  six  years 
more,  visiting  the  churches,  organising  congregations  and  ordain- 
ing priests. 

He  then  founded  Armagh — where  was  to  be  his  See  " — ^built  his 
church,  his  monastery,  and  school.  He  made  it  the  primatial 
city  of  the  island.  But,  through  the  work  and  the  fame  of  the  great 
schools  which  were  to  develop  there,  it  was  to  become,  within  a 
few  centuries — to  quote  words  of  a  great  Continental  scholar 
(Darmesteter) — "not  only  the  ecclesiastical  capital  of  Ireland  but 
the  capital  of  civilisation." 

His  favourite  disciple,  Benignus  (Benin),  the  herdboy,  he  put 
into  his  See  of  Armagh,  to  administer  it  for  him,  while  he  spent 
these  years  of  his  old  age  for  the  most  part  In  tranquIHIty,  some- 
times in  Armagh  and  sometimes  in  his  first  church  of  Saball. 

In  all  likelihood  it  was  during  these  tranquil  years,  when  now 
his  hardest  work  was  over,  that  Patrick  directed  the  compilation 
of  the  laws,  known  as  the  Senchus  Mor.     He  got  the  law-givers  to 

10  The  Hill  of  Armagh  on  which  he  founded  his  Archiepiscopal  city  was  given 
him  by  Daire,  the  chief  of  that  district.  Tradition  says  that  Patrick  saved  the 
life  of  Daire;  and  as  a  token  of  his  thanks,  Daire  sent  to  Patrick,  by  messenger, 
a  brazen  cauldron.  When  the  messenger  returned,  the  chieftain,  desiring  to  have 
pictured  to  him  the  overwhelming  gratitude  which  he  had  anticipated  Patrick 
would  display,  asked  what  Patrick  had  said.  And  the  messenger  replied  that  the 
good  man  had  said,  "Gratias  agam."  "Gratchacam !"  exclaimed  Daire,  "that's  a 
poor  reward  for  a  good  cauldron.  Go  take  it  from  him  again  1"  When  the 
messenger  returned  with  the  cauldron,  Daire  once  more  asked  what  Patrick  had 
said  when  the  cauldron  was  taken.  The  messenger  answered  that  he  had  said, 
"Deo  gratias !"  "Gratchacam  again !"  exclaimed  Daire.  "Gratchacam  is  the  first 
word  with  him,  and  gratchacam  the  last.  Gratchacam  when  giving  it  to  him, 
and  gratchacam  when  taking  it  away.  The  word  must  be  good !"  With  his  wife 
he  then  went  to  Patrick,  and  bestowed  on  him  not  only  the  cauldron  but  also  the 
Hill  of  Armagh,  for  the  building  of  his  primatial  city.  Says  the  Four  Masters, 
under  the  year  457:  "Ard  Macha  was  founded  by  St.  Patrick,  it  having  been  granted 
to  him  by  Dari,  son  of  Finneadh,  son  of  Eogan,  son  of  Niallan.  Twelve  men 
were  appointed  by  him  for  building  the  town.  He  ordered  them  in  the  first  place 
to  build  an  archbishop's  city  there,  and  a  church  for  monks,  for  nuns,  and  for  the 
other  orders  in  general ;  for  he  perceived  that  it  would  be  the  head  and  chief  of 
all  the  churches  in  Ireland."  It  is  related  that  when  he  went  with  his  men  to 
mark  out  the  city  lines  upon  the  hill,  he  came  upon  a  doe  that  had  just  given  birth 
to  a  fawn  which  the  men  would  kill  or  roughly  drive  away.  _  But  Patrick  lifted  the 
helpless  fawn  tenderly  in  his  arms,  and  bore  it  off  where  it  could  remain  undis- 
turbed— while  its  mother  meekly  and  trustingly  followed,  like  a  pet  sheep. 


ST.  PATRICK  119 

lay  before  him  all  the  old  laws,  and,  to  codify  and  purge  them, 
called  into  council  upon  them  three  kings,  three  bishops,  three 
ollams,  and  they  got  a  poet  "to  throw  a  thread  of  poetry  around 
them." 

Now  also  it  probably  was  that  he  wrote  his  famous  Confession ; 
and  possibly  also  during  this  period  his  second  most  famous  work, 
his  Epistle  to  Coroticus — works  which  after  fourteen  hundred 
years,  still  live — and  will  live.'^  They  were  written  in  the  rather 
poor  Latin  of  which  Patrick  was  master,  the  provincial  Latin  of 
the  Roman  provinces.  For,  as  he  humbly  stated  again  and  again, 
he  was  not  of  the  very  learned;  and  he  was  profusely  apologetic 
for  his  temerity  in  writing  what  would  be  read  and  criticised  by 
the  really  learned  ones,  his  contemporaries. 

"I,  Patrick  the  sinner,  unlearned,  no  doubt,"  he  humbly  begins 
his  Epistle  to  Coroticus,  a  British  prince,  who  making  a  raid  into 
Ireland,  slaughtered  many  there,  and  carried  off  with  him  many 
captives — among  them  some  of  Patrick's  newly  baptised  children 
of  the  Church.  "With  mine  own  hand,"  he  says,  "have  I  written 
and  composed  these  words,  to  be  given  and  handed  to,  and  sent  to, 
the  soldiers  of  Coroticus."  "On  the  day  following  that  on  which 
the  newly  baptised  in  white  array  were  anointed  with  the  chrism, 
it  was  still  gleaming  on  their  foreheads,  while  they  were  cruelly 
butchered  and  slaughtered  with  the  sword." 

In  this  intense  document  Patrick  first  gives  utterance  to  that 
cry  against  British  oppression  which  the  agonising  heart  of  Ireland 
has  echoed  every  year  of  the  past  seven  hundred  and  fifty  years. 
"Is  it  a  crime,"  he  cries  out,  "to  be  born  In  Ireland?  Have  not  we 
the  same  God  as  ye  have?"  He  boldly  demands  return  of  the 
captives,  and  mercilessly  castigates  the  tyrant  who  sacrilegiously 
carried  them  off. 

But  of  course  Patrick's  magnum  opus,  which  will  live  forever, 
Is  his  Confession.  To  others,  Fathers  of  the  faith,  he  had  been 
calumniated.  One  whom  he  had  held  to  be  a  dear  friend  turned 
disloyal  to  him  and  endeavoured  to  injure  him  In  the  eyes  of  these, 
his  brethren.  Amongst  other  things  he  informed  them  of  a  false 
step  Patrick  had  taken  in  his  youth.  And  he  evidently  had  accused 
him  of  presumption  and  egotistical  ambition,  In  assuming  to  him- 
self the  task  of  converting  Ireland.  The  Confession  was  written 
for  the  purpose  of  defending  himself  against  the  false  charges. 

11  These,  his  works,  were  preserved  in  the  ancient  Book  of  Armagh,  into  which 
they  were  copied  by  the  scribe  Firdomnach,  about  the  year  810— there,  too,  copied, 
as  Firdomnach  states  from  the  manuscript  in  Patrick's  own  handwriting. 


I20  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

Timidly,  and  with  characteristic  humility,  but  still  with  a  great 
calm,  he  opens  this  famous  document: 

"I,  Patrick,  a  sinner,  the  most  rustic  and  the  least  of  all  the 
faithful,  and  in  the  estimation  of  very  many  deemed  contemptible, 
had  for  my  father  Calpornius,  a  deacon,  the  son  of  Potitus,  a  pres- 
byter, who  belonged  to  the  village  of  Bannaven  Taberniae;  for 
close  thereto  he  had  a  small  villa,  where  I  was  made  a  captive. 

"At  the  time  I  was  barely  sixteen  years  of  age,  I  knew  not  the 
true  God ;  and  I  was  led  to  Ireland  in  captivity  with  many  thousand 
persons  according  to  our  deserts,  for  we  turned  away  from  God  and 
kept  not  His  commandments,  and  we  were  not  obedient  to  our  priests 
who  used  to  admonish  us  about  our  salvation.  And  the  Lord 
brought  us  the  indignation  of  His  wrath,  and  scattered  us  amongst 
many  nations  even  to  the  utmost  part  of  the  earth,  where  now  my 
littleness  may  be  seen  amongst  strangers. 

'And  there  the  Lord  opened  the  understanding  of  my  unbelief 
so  that  at  length  I  might  recall  to  mind  my  sins  and  be  converted 
with  all  my  heart  to  the  Lord,  my  God,  who  hath  regarded  my 
humility  and  taken  pity  on  my  youth  and  my  ignorance,  and  kept 
watch  over  me  before  I  knew  Him,  and  before  I  had  discretion,  and 
could  distinguish  between  good  and  evil;  and  He  protected  me  and 
consoled  me  as  a  father  does  his  son." 

The  part  of  the  Confession  which  many  authorities  adduce  as 
testimony  that  Patrick,  with  his  moderate  learning,  found  himself 
in  Ireland  in  the  midst  of  very  learned  ones  and  great  critics,  is 
this: 

"For  this  reason  I  have  long  been  thinking  of  writing,  but  up  to 
the  present  I  hesitated ;  for  I  feared  lest  I  should  transgress  against 
the  tongue  of  men,  seeing  that  I  am  not  learned  like  others,  who  in 
the  best  style  therefore  have  drunk  in  both  laws  and  sacred  letters 
in  equal  perfection;  and  who  from  their  infancy  never  changed  their 
mother  tongue;  but  were  rather  making  it  always  more  perfect. 

"My  speech,  however,  and  my  style  were  changed  into  the  tongue 
of  the  stranger,  as  can  easily  be  perceived  in  the  flavour  of  my  writings 
how  I  am  trained  and  instructed  in  languages,  for  as  the  wise  man 
saith:  'By  the  tongue  wisdom  will  be  discerned,  and  understanding, 
and  knowledge,  and  learning  of  the  truth.' " 

Both  his  humility  and  his  testimony  to  the  scholars — a  scornful 
one  this  time — are  read  out  of  the  following  passage  of  the  Con- 
fession : 

"Whence  I,  at  first  a  rustic  and  an  exile,  unlearned  and  surely 
as  one  who  knows  not  how  to  provide  for  the  future — yet  this  I 


ST.  PATRICK  121 

do  most  certainly  know,  that  before,  I  was  humble,  I  was  like  a 
stone  which  lies  in  the  deep  mire,  and  He  that  is  mighty  came  and 
in  His  mercy  lifted  me  up,  and  placed  me  on  the  top  of  the  wall. 
And  therefore  I  ought  to  cry  out  and  render  something  to  the  Lord 
for  these  benefits  so  great  both  here  and  for  eternity,  that  the  mind 
of  man  can  not  estimate  them. 

"Wherefor,  be  ye  filled  with  wonder  both  small  and  great,  who 
fear  God,  and  ye  too,  lordly  rhetoricians,  hear  and  search  out  Who 
was  it  that  exalted  me,  fool  though  I  be,  from  the  midst  of  those 
who  seemed  to  be  wise  and  skilled  in  the  law,  and  powerful  in  word 
and  in  everytliing  else?  And  me  truly  despicable  in  this  world  He 
inspired  beyond  others,  though  being  such,  that  with  fear  and  rever- 
ence, and  without  blame  I  should  faithfully  serve  the  nation  to  whom 
the  love  of  Christ  transferred  me  and  bestowed  me  for  my  life,  if  I 
should  be  worthy — that  in  humility  and  truth  I  should  serve  them."  " 

Out  of  some  later  sentence  in  the  Confession  is  taken  apparent 
substantiation  of  Britain's  claim  on  his  nativity  where  he  says: 

"Wherefore,  however,  I  might  have  been  willing  to  leave  them, 
and  go  into  the  Brittaniae,  as  to  my  country  and  relatives,  and  not 
only  so  but  also  to  the  Gallias,  to  visit  my  brethren." 

"Again  after  a  few  years  I  was  in  the  Brittaniae  with  my  parents." 

This  evidence,  while  colourable,  Is  far  from  being  positive,  in 
favour  of  his  British  birth.  For  one  thing,  Brittany  may  well  have 
been  called  one  of  the  Brittaniae — which  It  was;  and  In  the  next 
place,  even  If  he  referred  to  Britain  proper,  It  does  not  follow  that 
because  his  family,  of  which  the  father  was  a  Roman  official,  was 
then  in  that  particular  province  of  the  Roman  Empire,  he  and  his 
had  been  there  at  the  time  of  Patrick's  birth. 

The  Confession  testifies  to  Idol  worship  in  Ireland  where  it 
says : 

"Whence  Ireland,  which  never  had  the  knowledge  of  God,  but 
up  to  the  present  always  adored  idols  and  things  unclean — how  are 
they  now  made  a  people  of  the  Lord,  and  are  called  the  children  of 
God?  The  sons  of  the  Scots  and  the  daughters  of  their  chieftains 
are  seen  to  become  monks  and  virgins  of  Christ." 

And  again  his  humility — and  also  a  hint  of  the  accusations  made 
against  him — In  the  following  extracts : 

"And  behind  my  back  they  were  talking  among  themselves  and 

12  In  neither  of  the  foregoing  instances,  however,  can  we  feel  sure  that  he 
refers  to  Irish  "rhetoricians,"  or  learned  ones. 


122  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

kept  saying:  'Why  does  he  expose  himself  to  danger,  amongst  en- 
emies who  know  not  God?'  Not  for  malice  sake,  but  because  they 
did  not  approve  it,  as  I  myself  can  testify,  and  understand,  on  ac- 
count of  my  rusticity.  .  .  .  But  though  I  be  rude  in  all  things,  still 
I  have  tried  to  some  extent  to  keep  watch  over  myself.  ...  Or 
when  the  Lord  ordained  clergy  everywhere  by  my  mediocrity,  and 
I  gave  them  my  ministrations  gratis,  did  I  ask  from  any  of  them  so 
much  as  the  price  of  a  sandal  ?  Tell  it  against  me  and  I  shall  restore 
you  more. 

"Sufficient  is  the  honour  that  is  not  seen  but  is  believed  in  the 
heart.  And  He  that  promised  the  faithful,  He  never  lies.  But  I 
see  that  in  this  present  world  I  am  exalted  above  measure  by  the 
Lord.  And  I  was  not  worthy,  nor  am  I  such  that  He  should  grant 
this  to  me,  since  I  know  for  certain  that  poverty  and  affliction  be- 
come me  better  than  riches  and  luxury.  Nay,  Christ  the  Lord  was 
poor  for  our  sake.  But  I,  poor  and  wretched,  even  should  I  wish  for 
wealth  I  have  it  not,  nor  do  I  judge  myself,  for  daily  I  expect  either 
a  violent  death  or  slavery,  or  the  occurrence  of  some  such  calamity. 
But  I  fear  none  of  these  things  on  account  of  the  promises  of  Heaven ! 
I  have  cast  myself  into  the  hands  of  the  Almighty  God,  for  He  rules 
everything.  As  the  prophet  saith:  'Cast  thy  cares  upon  the  Lord, 
and  He  Himself  will  sustain  them.'  .  .  .  Lo,  again  and  again,  I 
shall  in  brief  set  out  the  words  of  my  Confession.  I  testify  in  truth 
and  in  the  joy  of  my  heart  before  God  and  His  holy  angels  that  I 
never  had  any  motive  except  the  Gospel  and  its  promises  in  ever  re- 
turning to  that  nation  from  which  I  had  previously  with  difficulty 
made  my  escape.'* 

And  the  final  paragraph — of  the  great  Confession  from  which 
these  few  excerpts  are  taken : 

"But  I  pray  those  who  believe  and  fear  God,  whosoever  will 
have  deigned  to  look  on  this  writing  which  Patrick,  the  sinner  and 
unlearned  no  doubt,  wrote  in  Ireland,  that  no  one  shall  ever  say  it 
was  my  ignorance  (did  it),  that  I  have  done  God's  will;  but  think 
ye,  and  let  it  be  most  firmly  believed  that  it  was  the  gift  of  God. 
And  this  is  my  Confession  before  I  die." 

This  powerfully  appealing  and  magnificently  simple  document 
breathes  in  its  every  line  the  rare  fragrance  of  a  great  and  sincere, 
meek  and  beautiful  heart,  reverently  bowed  down  in  the  palpable 
presence  of  God.  The  faultiness  of  the  language  in  which  it  was 
originally  written  fails  to  mar  this  precious  piece  of  the  old  world's 
literature.  Patrick's  Confession  is  a  great  picture  of  a  great  soul, 
painted  by  one  who,  scorning  to  give  art  one  thought,  was  a  great 
natural  artist.     He  swept  art  aside — and  despising  it,  triumphed 


ST.  PAIRICK  123 

over  it,  and  by  that  very  means  triumphantly  attained  art's  goal.^' 
After  a  full  life,  rich  with  great  labours  greatly  done,  and  by 
Christ  crowfied  with  success,  thrice  blessed  by  seeing  the  fruit  ripen 
from  the  seed  he  sowed,  Patrick  passed  away,  at  Down,  in  about 
the  year  460 — leaving  behind  him  a  grief-stricken  people  who  had 
made  this  man  one  of  their  own,  and  learnt  to  love  him  almost  to 
the  point  of  worship.  The  twelve  days  of  his  wake  are  known  as 
Laithi  na  Caointe,  the  Days  of  Lamentation,  when  a  whole  nation 
whom  he  had  brought  to  Christ,  bewailed  the  most  mournful  loss 
a  nation  had  ever  known. 

"And  for  the  space  of  twelve  nights  to  wit  the  time  during  which 
the  elders  of  Ireland  were  watching  him  with  hymns  and  psalms  and 
canticles,  there  was  no  night  in  Magh  Inis,  but  an  angelic  radiance 
therein.  And  some  say  that  angelic  radiance  abode  in  Magh  Inis 
till  the  end  of  a  year  after  Patrick's  death.  And  so  night  was  not 
seen  in  the  whole  of  that  region  during  the  days  of  lamentation  for 
Patrick.  The  odour  of  the  divine  grace  which  came  from  the  body, 
and  the  music  of  the  angels,  brought  sleep  and  joy  to  the  elders  of 
the  men  of  Ireland  who  were  watching  the  body." 

"Patrick,  son  of  Calphronn,  son  of  Potaide,  Archbishop,  first 
Primate,  and  Chief  Apostle,  of  Ireland,"  say  the  Four  Masters, 
"whom  Pope  Celestine  the  First  had  sent  to  preach  the  Gospel,  and 
disseminate  religion  and  piety  among  the  Irish,  was  the  person  who 
separated  them  from  the  worship  of  idols  and  spectres,  who  con- 
quered and  destroyed  the  idols  which  they  had  for  worshipping,  who 
expelled  demons  and  evil  spirits  from  among  them,  and  brought  them 
from  the  darkness  of  sin  and  vice  to  the  light  of  faith  and  good  works, 
and  who  guided  and  conducted  their  souls  from  the  gates  of  hell  to 
which  they  were  going,  to  the  gates  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven.     It 

1^  Another  work  of  Patrick's  which  is  lost,  is  referred  to,  by  his  biographer 
Tirechan,  under  the  title  of  Commemmoratio  Laborum. 

In  the  noted  work,  The  Book  of  Rights,  ascribed  to  his  disciple  Benignus,  is 
found  the  Blessing  of  St.  Patrick,  which  some  think  is  one  of  Patrick's  poems: 

"The  Blessing  of  God  upon  you  all, 
Men  of  Erin,  sons,  women, 
And  daughters ;  prince-blessing, 
Meal-blessing,  blessing  of  long  life. 
Health-blessing,  blessing  of  excellence, 
Eternal  blessing,  heaven-blessing, 
Qoud-blessing,  sea-blessing, 
Fruit-blessing,  land-blessing, 
Crop-blessing,  dew-blessing. 
Blessing  of  elements,  blessing  of  valour, 
Blessing  of  dexterity,  blessing  of  glory, 
Blessing  of  deeds,  blessing  of  honour. 
Blessing  of  happiness  be  upon  you  all, 
Laics,  clerics,  while  I  command 
The  blessing  of  the  men  of  Heaven ; 
It  is  my  bequest,  as  it  is  a  Perpetual  Blessing." 


124  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

was  he  that  baptised  and  blessed  the  men,  women,  sons  and  daughters 
of  Ireland,  with  their  territories  and  tribes,  both  fresh  waters  and 
sea  inlets.  It  was  by  him  that  many  cells,  monasteries  and  churches 
were  founded  throughout  Ireland,  seven  hundred  churches  was  their 
number.  It  was  by  him  that  bishops,  priests,  and  persons  of  every 
dignity  were  ordained,  seven  hundred  bishops  and  three  thousand 
priests  was  their  number.  He  worked  so  many  miracles  and  won- 
ders, that  the  human  mind  is  incapable  of  remembering  or  record- 
ing the  amount  of  good  which  he  did  upon  the  eartli.  The  body  of 
Patrick  was  afterwards  buried  at  Dunda-leth-glas,  with  great  honour 
and  veneration.  And  during  the  twelve  nights  that  the  religious 
seniors  were  watching  the  body,  with  psalms  and  hymns,  it  was  not 
night  in  Magh-Inis,  or  the  neighbourhoods,  as  they  thought,  but  as 
if  it  were  the  full  undarkened  light  of  day." 

And  says  the  ancient  Tripartite  Life  of  Patrick: 

"Now  after  founding  churches  in  plenty;  after  consecrating  mon- 
asteries; after  baptising  the  men  of  Ireland;  after  great  patience  and 
after  great  labour;  after  destroying  idols  and  images  and  after  re- 
buking many  kings  who  did  not  his  will,  and  after  raising  up  those 
who  did  his  will ;  after  ordaining  three  hundred  and  three  score  and 
ten  bishops,  and  after  ordaining  three  thousand  priests  and  folk  of 
every  grade  in  the  church  besides;  after  fasting  and  prayer;  after 
mercy  and  clemency;  after  gentleness  and  mildness  to  the  sons  of 
Life ;  after  love  of  God  and  his  neighbours,  he  received  Christ's  body 
from  the  bishop,  from  Tassach,  and  then  he  sent  his  spirit  to  Heaven. 
His  body,  however,  is  here  still  on  earth,  with  honour  and  venera- 
tion. And  though  great  be  the  honour  to  it  here,  greater  will  be 
the  honour  to  it  on  Doomsday,  for  it  will  shine  like  a  sun  in  Heaven, 
and  then  it  will  give  judgment  on  the  fruit  of  his  preaching,  even 
as  Peter  and  Paul.  It  will  abide  thereafter  in  the  union  of  patriarchs 
and  prophets,  in  the  union  of  the  saints  and  holy  virgins  of  the  world, 
in  the  union  of  the  apostles  and  disciples  of  Jesus  Christ,  in  the  union 
of  the  church  both  of  Heaven  and  earth ;  in  the  union  of  the  nine 
ranks  of  Heaven  that  transgress  not,  in  the  union  of  the  Godhead  and 
manhood  of  God's  son,  in  the  union  that  is  nobler  than  any  union, 
the  union  of  the  Trinity,  Father  and  Son  and  Holy  Ghost." 

Thus  passed  away  one  of  the  greatest,  perhaps  the  greatest, 
that  Ireland  ever  knew,  or  ever  will  know — still  more,  one  of  the 
dominant  personalities  of  world  history,  whose  influence  will  end 
only  with  the  final  running  out  of  the  sands  of  Time.  What  Con- 
fucius was  to  the  Oriental,  Moses  to  the  Israelite,  Mohammed  to 
the  Arab,  Patrick  was  to  the  Gaelic  race.     And  the  name  and  the 


ST.  PATRICK  125 

power  of  those  other  great  ones  will  not  outlive  the  name  and  the 

power  of  our  Apostle. 

"A  righteous  man,  verily,  was  this  man.  With  purity  of  nature, 
like  the  patriarchs.  A  true  pilgrim  like  Abraham.  Mild,  forgiving 
from  the  heart,  like  Moses.  A  praiseworthy  psalmist  like  David. 
A  shrine  of  wisdom,  like  Solomon.  A  joyous  vessel  for  proclaiming 
righteousness,  like  Paul  the  Apostle.  A  man  full  of  the  grace  and 
the  favour  of  'the  Holy  Ghost,  like  John  the  child.  A  fair  herb- 
garden  with  plants  of  virtues.  A  vine-branch  with  fruitfulness.  A 
flashing  fire  with  the  fervour  of  the  warming  and  heating  of  the 
sons  of  Life,  for  kindling  and  for  inflaming  charity.  A  lion  for 
strength  and  might.  A  dove  for  gentleness  and  simplicity.  A  ser- 
pent for  prudence  and  cunning  as  to  good.  Gentle,  humble,  merci- 
ful unto  the  sons  of  Life.  Gloomy,  ungentle  to  the  sons  of  Death. 
A  laborious  and  serviceable  slave  to  Christ.  A  king  for  dignity 
and  power  as  to  binding  and  loosing,  as  to  liberating  and  enslaving, 
as  to  killing  and  quickening  life." 

One  of  the  secrets  of  the  wonderful  power  he  has  wielded  over 
the  Irish,  and  one  of  the  secrets  of  his  world-popularity,  was  the 
rare  combination  In  him  of  the  spiritual  with  the  human.  Among 
saints,  Patrick  is  eminently  saintly,  and  very,  very  human  among 
human  beings.  His  shining  virtues  make  him  kin  of  the  angels, 
while  his  human  frailties — Celtic  frailties — his  passionateness,  his 
Impetuosity,  his  torrential  anger  against  tyrants,  his  teeming  fierce- 
ness against  sinners  In  high  place,  his  biting  scathe  and  burning 
scorn,  made  men  feel  that  he  was  a  brother  to  all  men — especially 
to  all  Irishmen.  More  surely  did  these  qualities  win  the  Irish  Celt 
when  they  found  in  him  combined  the  terror  of  a  warrior  with  the 
tenderness  of  a  woman;  the  ferocity  of  a  tiger,  with  the  gentleness 
of  a  lamb.  The  same  Patrick  who  had  tenderly  lifted  on  his  shoul- 
ders and  carried  to  safety  the  fawn  of  Armagh  Hill  later  thun- 
dered denunciations  at  the  plundering,  murdering  Corotlcus  and 
his  men — "fellow-citizens  of  demons,"  "slaves  of  hell,"  "dead 
while  they  live,"  "patricides,  fratricides,  ravening  wolves,  eating 
up  the  people  of  the  Lord  like  breadstuffs !"  It  was  only  a  man 
of  such  terrible  passion  and  such  ineffable  tenderness  who  could 
have  gained,  as  quickly  as  Patrick  did,  complete  moral  ascendancy 
over  the  Irish  nation — so  amazingly  compelling  their  allegiance, 
obedience,  faith,  belief  and  trust  as  in  one  generation  to  work  that 
wondrous  change  which  called  forth  the  testimony  by  the  old  poet 
(put  Into  the  mouth  of  the  returned  Caollte)  :  "There  was  a 
demon  at  the  butt  of  every  grass-blade  in  Eirinn  before  thy  ad- 


126  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

vent;  but  at  the  butt  of  every  grass-blade  in  Eirinn  to-day  there  is 
an  angel." 

And  that  Caoilte's  figure  of  speech  finds  its  justification  in  the 
historical  records  of  those  days  we  shall  admit,  when  we  contrast 
the  two  widely  differing  natures  of  the  Irish  people  who  before 
Patrick  were  carrying  the  ruthless  law  of  the  sword  far  over  sea 
and  land,  and  that  very  different  Irish  people  who,  after  Patrick, 
left  the  conquering  sword  to  be  eaten  by  rust,  while  they  went  far 
and  wide  again  over  sea  and  land,  bearing  now  to  the  nations — 
both  neighbouring  and  far  off — the  healing  balm  of  Christ's  gentle 
words.  All  histories  of  all  countries  probably  could  not  disclose 
to  the  most  conscientious  searcher  another  instance  of  such  radical 
change  in  a  whole  nation's  character  being  wrought  within  the  life- 
span of  one  man. 

An  unquenchable  burning  desire  for  bringing  souls  to  Christ 
was  the  passion  of  Patrick's  life.  And  he  pursued  his  passion  with 
an  unremitting  perseverance,  with  a  greatness  of  mind  and  a  gran- 
deur of  soul  that  has  infrequently  been  paralleled  in  missionary 
annals,  and  seldom  surpassed. 

And  this  singularly  great  man  was,  as  we  have  seen,  steeped  in 
humility:  "I  was  a  stone,  sunk  in  the  mire  till  He  who  is  power- 
ful came,  and  in  His  mercy,  raised  me  up."  He  was  possessed  of 
that  great  humility  and  sublime  simplicity  which  is  attained  never 
except  by  moral  giants." 

It  is  of  interest  to  note  that  the  traditions  of  Patrick  which 
linger  down  the  ages  represent  him  not  merely  as  a  saint,  law-giver, 
statesman,  and  a  brother  of  the  common  people,  but  ever,  also,  as 
an  admirer  of  the  literary  men,  scholars,  and  poets  of  the  nation, 

i*This  singular  humility  of  his  as  well  as  his  characteristic  impetuosity,  are 
both  well  illustrated  in  the  account  given  us  of  the  origin  of  Sechnall's  Hymn — 
made  in  Patrick's  honour  and  published  to  him  with  fear  and  trembling  of  the 
author.  Sechnall  made  the  hymn  by  way  of  amends  for  having  angered  Patrick 
by  an  imprudent  criticism.  For,  Patrick  did  not  please  all  his  fellow-workers,  by 
reason  that  he  asked  not  sufficient  contributions  from  the  faithful  for  the  support 
of  himself  and  his  fellows.  So  Sechnall  once  said:  "Patrick  is  a  good  man,  were 
it  not  for  one  thing,  that  he  preaches  charity  so  very  little."  When  this  came 
to  Patrick's  ears  he,  in  a  holy  rage,  got  into  his  chariot,  and  set  out  for  Sechnall, 
whom  he  drove  his  chariot  against — some  say  drove  it  over — "What  is  that  one 
thing  thou  saidst  I  did  not  fulfil?  For  if  I  fulfil  not  charity,  I  am  guilty  of 
breaking  God's  commandment."  He  added :  "It  is  for  sake  of  charity  that  I 
preach  not  charity :  for  other  good  men  will  come  after  us,  who,  more  than  we, 
will  need  the  support  of  the  faithful." 

Sechnall  made  his  hymn  as  a  peace  offering,  and  brought  it  to  Patrick.  "What 
is  it  that  you  have  there?"  Patrick  asked.  "A  hymn,"  replied  Sechnall,  "that  I 
made  for  a  certain  son  of  Light.  T  desire  you  to  listen  to  it."  Patrick  answered  • 
"I  welcome  the  praise  of  a  man  of  God's  household."  And  Sechnall  held  Patrick's 
ear  and  won  approval  and  praise  from  him  by  artfully  hiding,  till  he  came  to  the 
end,  the   fact  that  Patrick  himself  was  the  subject. 


ST.  PATRICK  127 

and  an  ardent  lover  of  their  profane  literature.  In  the  Ossianic 
tales  are  many  evidences  of  this.  The  Colloquy  of  the  Ancients 
again  and  again  shows  the  old  poets  building  upon  Patrick's  love 
of  the  national  lore.  This  love,  indeed,  is  so  strong  in  him,  that 
he  fears  it  may  be  sinful — until  he  questions  his  guardian  angel, 
and  gets  his  approval  for  the  delightful  indulgence  of  barkening 
to  Caoilte's  fascinating  stories  of  the  Fenians.  And  he  is  so 
charmed  with  them  that  he  orders  them  to  be  written  down,  so  as 
to  preserve  them  for  the  delight  of  future  generations  of  the  noble 
men  of  Eirinn. 

"Palm  of  eloquence  on  thee,  my  son,"  Patrick  says  to  Caoiltc, 
"and  let  every  third  word  uttered  by  men  of  thine  art  seem  melo- 
dious to  every  hearer,  and  let  one  of  them  possessed  of  the  skill 
always  be  a  king's  bedfellow  and  the  torch  of  every  assembly." 

In  recent  times  several  ingenious  people  have  demonstrated  to 
their  own  complete  satisfaction  that  Patrick  was  a  Protestant,  a 
Methodist,  a  Presbyterian,  a  Baptist — a  Jew  even — almost  every- 
thing except  what  he  was — and  that  he  founded  in  Ireland  an  in- 
dependent church  which  they  call  the  Celtic  Church.  These  absurd 
contentions  are  set  at  rest — if  they  needed  setting  at  rest — by  the 
Canon  of  St.  Patrick,  preserved  in  the  old  Book  of  Armagh — 
which  was  finished  by  the  scribe  Firdomnach  in  807 — a  Canon 
which  those  very  learned  Protestant  Irish  scholars,  Usher  and 
Whitley  Stokes,  accept  as  proof  of  his  Roman  authority  and  affilia- 
tion." 

"Moreover,  if  any  case  should  arise  of  extreme  difficulty,  and 
beyond  the  knowledge  of  all  the  judges  of  the  nations  of  the  Scots, 
it  Is  to  be  duly  referred  to  the  chair  of  the  Archbishop  of  the 
Gaedhil,  that  is  to  say,  of  Patrick,  and  the  jurisdiction  of  this  bishop 
(of  Armagh).  But  if  such  a  case  as  aforesaid,  of  a  matter  at  issue, 
cannot  be  easily  disposed  of  (by  him),  with  his  counsellors  in  that 
(investigation),  we  have  decreed  that  it  be  sent  to  the  apostolic  seat, 
that  is  to  say,  to  the  chair  of  the  Apostle  Peter,  having  the  authority 
of  the  city  of  Rome. 

"These  are  the  persons  who  decreed  concerning  this  matter,  viz. : 
Auxilius,  Patrick,  Secundinus,  and  Benignus.  But  after  the  death 
of  St.  Patrick  his  disciples  carefully  wrote  out  his  books." 

^5  Even  if,  by  straining  of  the  imagination,  we  should  suppose  this  document 
to  be  forged  by  Firdomnach — without  any  conceivable  reason  for  forging  it  then — 
it  shows  that,  at  the  time  Firdomnach  wrote  it,  the  See  of  Armagh,  the  centre  of 
the  church  in  Ireland,  was  subordinate  to  the  Pontiff. 

Again  within  the  Century  after  Patrick  we  find  the  great  Columbanus,  when 
submitting  to  Pope  Gregory  the  question  of  his  dispute  with  the  Gaulish  ecclesias- 
tics, saying,  "We  Irish  .  .  .  are  bound  to  the  Chair  of  Peter." 


128  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

Healy,  The  Most  Rev.  Jno.:     St.  PatricL 

Stokes,  Whitley,  D.C.L.,  LL.D.:    The  Tripartite  Life  of  St.  Patrick. 

Lannigan,  Rev.  Jno.,  D.D. :     Ecclesiastical  History  of  Ireland. 

Keating's  History  of  Ireland. 

Bury,  J.  B.,  LL.D.:     Tirechan's  Memoir  of  St  Patrick;  printed  in  Eng. 

Hist.  Rev.  for  1902. 
Todd,  James  Henthorn,  D.D. :     Memoir  of  St.  Patrick. 
Jocelyn:     Life  of  St.  Patrick. 
O'Curry,  Eugene;     Manuscript  Materials  of  Irish  History. 


CHAPTER  XX 

THE    BREHON    LAWS 

We  may  here  take  a  glimpse  at  those  marvellous  institutes,  the 
old  Irish  laws  which  Patrick  is  credited  with  codifying — and  the 
study  of  which,  in  these  later  days,  throws  a  flood  of  light  upon 
both  the  intellectual  and  the  social  condition  of  early  Ireland. 

Marvellous  they  are — and  have  excited  the  wonder  and  ad- 
miration not  of  laymen  only,  but  of  eminent  jurists  deeply  versed 
in  law  codes  both  ancient  and  modern.  It  has  proved  amazing  to 
modern  scholars  in  other  countries  to  find  such  a  great  and  such  a 
just  and  beautiful  judicial  structure  reared  up,  in  dim  centuries  of 
antiquity,  in  one  little  island  seated  on  the  waters  of  a  wide  ocean, 
far  off  on  the  rim  of  the  world. 

Of  the  great  body  of  ancient  Irish  law  literature  still  existing, 
five  large  volumes  have  been  printed — the  principal  part  of  these 
being  the  Senchus  Mor,  supposed  to  be  the  fruits  of  Patrick's  en- 
deavour— and  their  ordinances  appropriately  called  after  him  Cain 
Padraic,  that  is,  the  Statute  Law  of  Patrick.  When  we  reflect 
that  these  five  volumes  are  but  a  portion  of  what  came  down  to 
the  twentieth  century,  and  that  what  came  to  the  twentieth  century 
was  necessarily  but  a  small  fraction  of  the  ancient  Irish  Cana  or 
ordinances,  we  get  some  impression  of  the  vastness  of  the  law 
literature  of  ancient  Ireland.  When  it  is  stated  that  in  the  ancient 
glosses  upon  the  Senchus  Mor  citations  are  made  from  no  less 
than  fourteen  different  books  of  civil  law;  and  that  Cormac  in  his 
later  Glossary  (about  tenth  century)  quotes  from  five  law  books 
only  one  of  which  is  among  the  fourteen  of  the  Senchus  glosses, 
that  also  will  give  the  reader  a  little  idea  of  the  multitude  of  law 
books  that  there  must  have  been  prior  to  the  tenth  century  in 
which  the  scholar  Cormac  wrote. 

And  realising  the  vastness  of  the  body  of  the  old  Irish  laws, 
the  reader  will  not  wonder  to  learn  these  laws  covered  almost  every 
relationship,  and  every  fine  shade  of  relationship,  social,  and  moral, 
between  man  and  man. 

129 


I30  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

The  ancient  Irish  laws  are  now  popularly  termed,  "The  Brehon 
Laws" — from  the  Irish  term  Brehon  which  was  applied  to  the 
official  lawgiver.^  The  Brehon  was  an  important  officer  at  all  royal 
Courts,  from  the  most  remote  times  of  which  we  have  any  shred 
of  record,  historical  or  even  legendary.  The  precepts  and  maxims 
of  famous  law  givers,  men  and  women,  of  legendary  days  are 
quoted  to  us  through  famous  successors  who  just  came  within  the 
horizon  of  history.  Even  a  famous  woman  law-giver  of  pre- 
historic times  is  thus  commemorated  in  Briathra  Brigid,  or  the 
judgments  of  a  very  ancient  wise  Brigid,  cited  by  the  earliest 
writers. 

One  of  the  most  famous  of  ancient  historic  personages  cele- 
brated as  a  law-giver,  was,  as  mentioned  heretofore  Cormac  Mac- 
Art,  in  the  third  century.  Cormac's  chief  judge,  too,  Fithal  the 
Wise,  wrote  his  name  on  fame's  honour-roll.  But  some  centuries 
earlier,  in  the  time  of  Christ,  flourished  Irish  law-givers,  who  are 
still  known  to  fame.  Senchan,  the  son  of  Ailill  was  then  chief 
judge   of  Ulster,    at   Conor   MacNessa's   court.     The   venerated 

1  Instead  of  filling  the  position  of  judge  (as  usually  supposed)  the  Brehon 
was  rather  a  legal  expert  who  devoted  himself  to  arbitration — and  sometimes  to 
advising — and  was  paid  a  fee  from  his  client — a  fee  that  in  case  of  an  award  was 
about  one-twelfth  of  the  amount  awarded.  In  studying  for  the  profession  the 
Brehon  had  not  only  to  make  himself  master  of  the  ancient  legal  records,  and  of 
the  very  complicated  legal  rules,  the  abstruse  technical  terms,  and  all  the  intricate 
forms  in  which  the  law  was  purposely  entangled,  but  he  must  also  be  a  genealogist 
and  historian. 

Though  the  Brehon  was  but  an  arbitrator,  so  scholarly  was  he,  so  skilled 
in  the  laws  and  so  wise  and  weighty  in  his  solemn  judgments,  that,  sitting  at  a 
Dal,  where  two  witnesses  were  needed  to  prove  a  fact,  his  words  were  venerated 
and  his  awards  sacredly  respected — as  though  they  were  the  awards  of  a  judge 
consecrated  to  the  judgment  seat,  and  rare  was  it  to  find  any  person  hardened 
enough  to  evade  or  reject  them. 

But  it  should  be  recorded  that  there  were  lawyers,  or  law  arguers — advocates — 
of  a  very  much  lower  status,  much  less  learned  and  much  less  honoured  than  the 
Brehon — men  who  were  paid  to  argue  cases  before  the  Brehon.  It  is  some  of 
those  lawyers — not  unlike  many  of  our  own  daj'^— -whom  Cormac  raps  in  the 
ancient  "Instructions  of  a  King" — 

"O  Cormac,  grandson  of  Conn,"  said  Carbery,  "what  is  the  worst  pleading  and 
arguing?" 

"Not  hard  to  tell,"   said   Cormac. 

"Contending  against  knowledge. 
Contending  without  proofs. 
Taking  refuge  in  bad  language, 
A  stiff  delivery, 
A  muttering  speech, 
Hair-splitting, 
Uncertain  proofs, 
Despising  books, 
Turning  against  custom, 
Shifting  one's  pleading. 
Inciting  the  mob. 
Blowing  one's   own  trumpet. 
Shouting  at  the  top  of   one's   voice." 


THE  BREHON  LAWS  131 

Morann  the  son  of  Maen  (or  of  Cairbrc),  lived  then.  Athairne, 
the  bitterest  of  ancient  satirists,  was  also  a  lawyer  at  the  court  of 
King  Conor.  Ferceirtne,  Conor's  chief  poet,  was  famed  in  law, 
likewise.  But  up  to  the  era  of  Ferceirtne  the  poet-brotherhood  held 
a  monopoly  of  all  legal  knowledge.  It  has  already  been  described 
how  this  monopoly  was,  by  the  indignant  Conor,  shattered — after 
he  and  his  court  had,  non-understandingly,  barkened  to  the  famous 
dispute,  Agallam  na  da  Suach  (the  Contest  of  the  two  Sages), 
between  Ferceirtne  and  Neide — some  say  between  Aithairne  and 
Neide — contending  for  the  poet's  tiiigin.  For  in  order  to  shut  out  ; 
the  laity  from  the  legal  profession,  and  also  for  purpose  of  duly 
impressing  the  said  laity  with  their  dazzling  erudition,  the  lawyers 
wrapped  the  law  in  a  phraseology  so  obsolete  that  none  but  the 
initiated  could  understand  the  legal  language.  Conor,  in  his  wrath, 
on  this  occasion,  deprived  the  poet  order  of  their  exclusive  right  to 
legal  knowledge  and  practice,  and  opened  the  field  to  everybody. 

Yet,  notwithstanding  this  supposed  great  reform  of  Conor's 
at  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  Era,  the  lawyers  of  a  couple  of 
centuries  later  were  again  indulging  their  vanity  and  their  exclu- 
siveness,  concealing  their  legal  wisdom  under  obsolete  verbiage. 
We  find,  for  instance,  that  though  the  Senchus  Mor  was  profusely 
glossed  by  law  students  some  centuries  later,  and  after  some  fur- 
ther centuries  the  gloss  itself  glossed  to  bring  it  within  the  range 
of  legal  understanding  of  that  day,  O'Curry,  learned  student 
though  he  was  in  ancient  glosses,  still  had  the  most  infinite  difficulty 
in  picking  out  the  meaning  of  the  greater  part  of  the  work,  and 
had  to  be  content  with  giving  the  probable  meaning  of  many  pas- 
sages, and  leaving  in  their  primitive  obscurity,  some  things  that  ut-  1 
terly  baffled  him.^  ^ 

This  Brehon  law  remained  the  law  of  three-quarters  of  Ireland 
for  several  centuries  after  the  coming  of  the  English — was  in  fact 
adopted  by  a  large  portion  of  the  English  settlers  themselves,  to 
the  exclusion  of  the  Anglo-Norman  code — and  it  may  be  said  not 
to  have  gone  out  of  existence  as  living  law  till  the  sixteenth  century. 

The  advancement  of  civilisation  in  early  Ireland  was  such  that 
the  legislative  and  the  judicial  functions  were  separated  at  a  period 
before  the  dawn  of  history.  While  the  Brehon  administered  the 
law,  the  king,  the  nobles,  and  the  professors  of  the  various  branches 
of  learning,  were  responsible  for  originating  it.  Even  for  the 
making  of  a  local  law  called  Nos  Tuaighe — literally  "the  Nine 
knowledge  of  a  territory,"  the  aggregate  wisdom  of  nine  leading 

2  Of  course  part  of  the  difficulty — but  not  all — arose  from  progress  of  language. 


132  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

representatives  was  necessary — all  of  whom  had  to  agree  to  its 
institution,  and  all  of  whom  had  to  sanction  its  abolition.  The 
nine  needed  for  the  making  of  a  local  law  were  the  chief,  poet, 
historian,  bnigaid  (hospitaller),  bishop,  professor  of  literature, 
professor  of  law.  Aire  Forgaill  (a  noble)  and  Archinnech  (lay- 
vicar). 

The  local  traditional,  or  customary,  law  of  particular  terri- 
tories was  called  Urradus,  as  distinct  from  national  law  which  was 
jL^ain  law.  And  be  it  noted  that  when  the  Cain  or  national  law 
conflicted  with  the  Urradus,  or  local  traditional  law,  the  traditional 
territory  law  was  acknowledged  as  annulling  the  national. 

Of  the  many  collections  of  ancient  Irish  laws  the  most  famous 
known  to  scholars,  are  the  Meill  Brethra,  or  Mild  Judgments,  said 
to  have  been  written  at  Tara  in  the  time  of  Conn,  and  which  had 
to  do  with  regulations  for  juvenile  sports  (and  of  which  only  the 
name  now  remains)  :  second,  the  Cain  Fuirthime,  a  body  of  Mun- 
ster  laws  in  twelve  books,  compiled  by  Amergin,  for  King  Finghin 
of  Munster  (who  died  in  694),  which,  like  the  Meill  Brethra, 
have  been  lost  also;  third,  the  Crith  Gablach  (which  O'Curry 
thinks  was  a  part  of  the  Cain  Fuirthime),  which  is  still  preserved: 
fourth,  the  Book  of  Acaill  (third  century)  still  preserved:  and 
fifth,  the  Senchus  Mor,  still  preserved.  The  last  three  named  are 
included  in  the  five  volumes  of  the  Brehon  Laws  which  were  re- 
cently printed  by  the  Brehon  Law  Commission. 

The  Crith  Gablach  defines  the  rights  and  privileges  of  the 
various  ranks  of  society.  O'Curry  says  it  undoubtedly  belongs 
to  the  middle  or  end  of  the  seventh  century,  and  thinks  it  probable 
that  it  was  part  of  the  Cain  Fuirthime. 

The  Book  of  Acaill  is  attributed  to  King  Cormac  MacArt  and 
brought  up  to  a  later  date  by  that  famous  scholar  and  most  re- 
markable man,  Ceannfalad,  who  flourished  in  the  seventh  century. 
As  usual  in  the  ancient  Irish  books,  the  Book  of  Acaill  starts  by 
telling  the  place,  the  time,  and  the  cause  of  its  writing,  and  the 
author.  It  says:  "The  place  of  this  Book  is  Acaill  close  to  Tem- 
hair,  and  its  time  is  the  time  of  Coirpre  Lifechair,  son  of  Cormac, 
and  its  author  is  Cormac,  and  the  cause  of  its  having  been  com- 
posed was  the  blinding  of  the  eye  of  Cormac  by  Aengus  Gabuai- 
dech  after  the  abduction  of  the  daughter  of  Sorar  son  of  Art  Corb, 
by  Cellach  son  of  Cormac.  And  Ceannfalad  did  part  of  it."  The 
Book  of  Acaill  is  chiefly  a  record  of  criminal  law  and  laws  relat- 
ing to  personal  injuries. 

The  Senchus  Mor  is  the  most  monumental  and  remarkable  rec- 
ord of  ancient  Irish  law.     In  contradistinction  to   the   Book  of 


THE  BREHON  LAWS  133 

Acaill,  it  deals  entirely  with  civil  law.  This  is  believed  to  have 
been  the  great  work  of  Patrick.  He  called  together  all  the  pro- 
fessors of  legal  law,  with  their  many  law  records,  and  he  had 
Dubthach  (one  of  his  first  converts),  "a  vessel  full  of  the  grace  of 
the  Holy  Ghost"  and  the  great  scholar  at  Laeghaire's  court,  in- 
terpret them  to  him.  (For  Patrick  had  blessed  Dubthach's  mouth, 
and  the  grace  of  the  Holy  Ghost  alighted  on  his  utterance.)  Then 
he  had  a  board  of  three  kings,  three  bishops  and  three  scholars  (a 
philosopher,  a  historian  and  a  poet)  sit  upon  them  for  three  years, 
codifying  and  correcting  them,  taking  out  of  them  the  pagan  eye- 
for-an-eye  doctrine,  toning  down  their  pagan  severity,  and  weeding 
out  from  them  whatsoever  was  inconsistent  with  the  new  law  of 
Christ,  which  he  had  brought  to  them, 

O'Curry  (in  his  Manuscript  Material  of  Irish  History)  says 
the  recorded  account  of  this  great  revision  of  the  body  of  the  laws 
of  Erin  is  as  fully  entitled  to  confidence  as  any  other  well-authen- 
ticated fact  in  history. 

The  very  ancient  introduction  to  the  Senchus  Mor  finely  de- 
scribes how  the  work  was  produced.^ 

"It  was  then  that  all  the  professors  of  the  sciences  in  Erin  were 
assembled,  and  each  of  them  exhibited  his  art  before  Patrick,  in  the 
presence  of  every  chief  in  Erin. 

"It  was  then  Dubthach  was  ordered  to  exhibit  the  judgments 
and  all  the  poetry  of  Erin,  and  every  law  which  prevailed  among 
the  men  of  Erin,  through  the  law  of  nature,  and  the  law  of  seers, 
and  in  the  judgments  of  the  island  of  Erin,  and  in  the  poets. 

"Now  the  judgments  of  true  nature  which  the  Holy  Ghost  had 
spoken  through  the  mouths  of  the  Brehons  and  just  poets  of  the  men 
of  Erin,  from  their  occupation  of  this  island,  to  the  reception  of  the 
faith,  were  all  exhibited  by  Dubthach  to  Patrick.  What  did  not 
clash  with  the  Word  of  God  in  the  written  law  and  in  the  New 
Testament,  and  with  the  consciences  of  the  believers,  was  confirmed 
in  the  laws  of  the  Brehons  by  Patrick  and  by  the  ecclesiastics  and  the 
chieftains  of  Erin ;  for  the  law  of  nature  had  been  quite  right,  ex- 
cept the  faith,  and  its  obligations.     And  this  is  the  Senchus  Mor." 

The  Senchus  Mor  as  it  has  been  preserved  to  us  to-day  is  com- 
posed of  four  parts — namely,  the  introduction  describing  when 
and  how  it  came  to  be  written;  then  the  original  ttxt^  written  in  a 

'  It  also  tells  us  where  the  work  was  done  t 

"It  was  Tearahair  in  the  summer  and  autumn  on  account  of  its  cleanness  and 
pleasantness  during  these  seasons ;  and  Rathguthaird  was  the  place  during  the 
winter  and  spring,  on  account  of  the  nearness  of  its  firewood  and  \vater,  and  on 
account  of  its  warmth  in  the  time  of  winter's  cold." 


134  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

large  hand,  and  with  very  wide  spaces  between  the  lines;  third, 
commentaries  on  the  text,  written  in  a  much  smaller  hand,  just 
beneath  the  lines  of  the  original;  and  fourth,  glosses  or  explana- 
tions of  the  words  and  phrases  in  the  text,  written  under  the  com- 
mentaries, and  in  a  hand  still  smaller.  The  text  is  more  archaic 
than  the  commentaries,  and  the  commentaries  more  so  than  the 
glosses.  The  sentences  in  the  original  text  are  so  skeleton-like, 
terse  and  suggestive,  that  it  is  considered  they  are  mere  headings 
meant  to  be  expounded  and  extended  in  courses  of  oral  instruction. 

The  laws  in  the  Senchus  Mor,  like  all  the  old  Brehon  Laws, 
were  rarely  legislative  enactments.  Some  few  undoubtedly,  were 
enacted,  but  most  of  them  were  laws  of  user,  which  obtained  their 
force  from  public  opinion.  And  a  vast  body  of  the  laws  were  prec- 
edents and  commentaries  of  venerated  law-givers  of  earlier  times. 

The  whole  superstructure  of  the  ancient  Irish  civil  law  (as 
again  and  again  proclaimed)  rested  upon  the  foundation  of  the 
sanctity  of  verbal  contract.  "For,"  says  the  old  law-giver,  "the 
world  would  be  in  confusion  if  verbal  contracts  were  not  binding." 

O'Curry  pointedly  and  succinctly  tells  us  of  these  contract  pro- 
visions in  the  Senchus  Mor : 

"The  Senchus  Mor  contains  a  sj'stem  of  law  respecting  Contracts, 
in  which  every  species  of  contract,  bargain,  or  engagement  is  defined, 
and  the  competency  or  incompetency,  and  the  rights  and  duties,  of 
the  contracting  parties  made  clear ;  by  which  a  penalty  is  incurred  for 
the  non-performance  of  every  separate  kind  of  contract;  false  and 
fraudulent  contracts  annulled,  and  fraud  punished ;  and  under  which 
judges  and  officers  are  provided  to  decide  all  disputes  concerning 
contracts,  the  decisions  of  such  judges  being  in  all  cases  enforced  by 
the  power  and  authority  of  the  state.  It  is  curious  to  remark  that, 
under  this  ancient  sj^stem,  neither  the  judge  nor  the  advocate — of  the 
latter  of  whom  there  were,  it  appears,  three  grades  or  classes, — was 
held  harmless  in  cases  of  false  or  corrupt  judgments,  or  faulty  or 
incompetent  advocacy."  * 

*  O'Curry  gives  a  highly  interesting  enumeration  of  the  various  kinds  of  law 
that  are  embodied  in  this  marvellous  record — a  list  that  will  surprise  those  who 
hitherto  knew  little  about  the  subject  of  ancient  Irish  law.  He  shows  that  the 
Senchus  Mor  includes : 

The  laws  defining  all  the  different  species  of  Bargains,  Contracts,  and  Engage- 
ments between   man  and  man. 

The  laws  respecting  Property  entrusted  or  given  in  charge  by  one  man  to 
another ;  and  the  Liability  of  the  person  trusted,  in  case  of  loss  or  damage,  whether 
by  accident  or  design. 

The  laws  respecting  Gifts  and  Presents,  and  respecting  Alms  and  Endowments. 

The  laws  as  to  Waifs  and  Strays,  Derelictions,  and  the  Abandonment  and  Re- 
sumption of  Property. 

The    law    of    Loans,    Pledges,    Accommodations,    and    Securities. 


THE  BREHON  LAWS  135 

Although  O'Curry  again  and  again  says  that  there  was  an 
executive  power  attendant  upon  the  judicial — that  the  state  en- 
forced the  Brehon's  decision — there  is  the  best  reason  to  believe 
that  the  executive  power  was,  not  official,  but  that  greatest  of  all 
powers,  especially  in  Ireland,  the  moral  power  of  public  opinion. 
Everybody  considered  it  his  bounden  business  to  see  that  the  pro- 
nouncement of  their  venerated  Brehons  were  observed  to  the  letter, 
and  the  verdict  summarily  executed.     And  despite  the  sean-fhocal 

The  law  of  Prescription,  or  lapse,  and  of  the  Recovery  of  Possession  of 
Property. 

The  laws  concerning  the  relation  of  Father  and  Son,  and  the  legal  and 
illegal   contracts   of   the   son   as   connected   therewith. 

The  laws  respecting  illegitimate  Children ;  as  to  Affiliations,  and  the  Adoption 
of  children. 

Laws  minutely  regulating  the  Fees  of  Doctors,  Judges,  Lawyers,  and  Teachers, 
and  of  all  other  professional  persons. 

A  series  of  laws  concerning  the  varied  species  of  Industry:  such  as  Weaving, 
Spinning,  Sewing,  Building,  Brewing,  etc.;  concerning  Mills  and  Weirs;  concerning 
Fishing ;   concerning   Bees,    Poultry,    etc. 

Laws  with  respect  to  Injuries  to  Cattle;  by  neglect,  by  over-driving,  etc. 

Laws  concerning  Fosterage,  and  the  relative  duties  of  Parents  and  Children. 
Foster-fathers  and  Foster-mothers ;  including  details  of  a  very  curious  kind, 
respecting  the  training,  food,  clothing,  etc.,  of  all  foster-children,  from  the  king 
to  the  peasant. 

A  very  complicated,  yet  clearly  defined  series  of  laws  for  Landlord  and  Tenant, 
and  Master  and  Servant ;  explaining  the  dififerent  species  of  lords  and  masters,  of 
tenants  and  of  servants ;  and  the  origin  and  termination  of  Tenantry  and  Service. 

Laws  concerning  Trespass   and   Damage   to   Land,   whether  by   man   or  beast. 

A  curious  series  of  laws  concerning  Co-Occupancy  of  Land ;  and  concerning 
the  dividing,  hedging,  fencing,  paling,  ditching  and  walling,  and  the  ploughing 
and  stocking  of  land. 

Laws  of  Evidence;  of  Corroborative  Testimony;  and  of  Compurgation. 

The  law  of  Distress  and  Caption ;  including  most  minute  details,  which  appear 
to  embrace  almost  every  possible  point  that  could  be  made  concerning  the  legality 
or   illegality  of  a   Distress   or    Seizure. 

The  laws  of  Tithes  and  First  Fruits;  and  concerning  the  relations  of  the 
Church  with  the  state  or  nation  (a  law,  doubtless  introduced  at  the  direct  sugges- 
tion of  St.  Patrick). 

Laws  concerning  the  regulation  of  Churches  and  the  tenants  of  Church  lands, 
and  the  servitors  of  Churches  and  Ecclesiastical  establishments. 

In  Criminal  Law;  complete  laws  respecting  Manslaughter  and  Murder,  dis- 
tinguishing accurately  between  principals  and  accessories  before  and  after  the  act. 

Laws  concerning  Thefts,  and  the  receiving  and  recovery  of  stolen  property; 
in  the  greatest  possible  detail. 

Laws  concerning  the  infliction  of  Wounds  and  the  shedding  of  Blood ;  and 
with  regard  to  the  commission  of  violence  by  insane  as  well  as  by  sane  persons. 

And  lastly,  laws  concerning  Accidental  Injuries;  as  from  sledges,  hammers, 
flails,  hatchets,  and  other  implements  connected  with  peaceful  labour. 

After  perusing  that  wonderful  list  of  only  one  collected  portion  of  the  laws 
of  Ireland  in  the  early  centuries  of  the  Christian  Era.  the  reader  can,  for  himself, 
hazard  a  guess  at  the  very  advanced  state  of  early  Irish  civilisation  which  evolved 
and  called  forth  such  laws — and  which  evolved,  too,  a  professional  body  of  highly- 
trained  law-givers.  Overtrained  indeed  Brehons  often  came  to  be,  and  so  steeped 
in,  and  saturated  with,  their  science,  that,  passing  beyond  the  love  of  law  for 
justice  sake,  many  of  the  noted  ones,  as  shown  by  their  rulings,  their  commen- 
taries, and  anecdotes  of  them,  came  at  length  to  pursue  law  for  law's  sake,  and 
loved  to  indulge  themselves,  and  dazzle  the  multitude,  by  elaborate  quibbhngs, 
and  the  working  out  of  fantastically  far-fetched  legal  problems. 


136  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

that  everybody's  business  is  nobody's  business,  we  know  that,  so 
far  as  concerned  carrying  out  the  judgments  of  the  Brehons,  every- 
body's business  was  truly  the  business  of  each. 

As  a  sample  of  judicial  procedure  in  civil  law  we  set  down  the 
usual  course  followed  in  recovering  for  a  debt.  A  fasc  (summons) 
was  first  served  upon  the  debtor,  in  which  were  entered  the  details 
of  the  claim,  and  demand  for  payment  made  according  to  law.  A 
certain  number  of  days  of  grace  was  then  allowed  the  debtor,  after 
which,  if  the  debt  was  not  paid,  a  gabail  (distress)^  was  laid  upon 
some  portion  of  his  property — almost  always  on  his  live-stock. 
For  this  purpose  the  creditor  took  with  him  a  law  agent  and  seven 
witnesses,  and  attached,  but  did  not  then  carry  off,  the  seized 
goods.  There  was  an  anad  (stay)  of  a  day  or  days — to  give  the 
debtor  a  second  chance  of  paying.  If  he  did  not  pay  within  the 
anad,  the  distrained  goods  were  lifted — the  cattle,  say,  driven  off, 
and  placed  in  a  pound.  An  apad  (notice)  was  then  served  upon 
the  debtor,  telling  him  that  the  cattle  were  taken,  and  informing 
him  just  where  they  were  impounded.  Then  followed  a  dithim, 
another  stay,  to  give  the  debtor  yet  another  chance  for  redeeming 
his  property.  If,  when  the  dithim  had  expired,  the  debtor  had  not 
redeemed  his  property,  the  next  stage,  the  lohad  (wasting)  be- 
gan; that  is,  instead  of  selling  all  of  the  seized  property  for  the 
immediate  and  complete  satisfying  of  the  debt,  it  was  sold  in  por- 
tions— out  of  still  further  regard  for,  and  mercy  toward,  the  debtor. 

But  if,  when  the  creditor  with  his  agent  and  witnesses  first 
went  to  distrain,  the  debtor  denied  the  claim,  and  demanded  trial 
of  the  case — or  if  he  agreed  to  pay  after  the  expiration  of  a  cer- 
tain time — he  got  a  stay  of  execution  on  giving  pledge  (gell),  or 
giving  bail.  If,  then,  the  debtor  did  not  fulfil  the  conditions  of  the 
stay  of  execution,  the  pledge,  or  the  bail,  was  forfeited,  and  the 
levying  of  the  distress  proceeded.  Sometimes  he  gave  his  own  son 
in  pledge.  In  that  case  the  services  of  the  son  were  forfeit,  if  the 
conditions  were  not  fulfilled — the  son  became  the  bondsman  of  the 
creditor,  till  the  debt  was  worked  out.  If  he  had  been  bailed  the 
athire  (bailsman)  became  the  creditor's  bondsman,  in  the  same 
case,  if  he  could  not  meet  the  liabilities  of  him  whom  he  had  bailed. 
If  the  debtor  was  superior  in  rank  to  the  creditor,  the  latter  had 
to  try  fasting  upon  his  debtor  before  he  could  seize  his  goods.® 

5  Sullivan,  in  his  introduction  to  O'Curiy  derives  the  word  gaol  from  gabail 
(pron.,  gow-ail),  which  originally  meant  a  distress  by  the  body. 

8  This  fasting  upon  a  debtor,  or  upon  a  wronger,  which  is  an  Eastern  custom 
still  or  till  recently  practised  in  some  parts  of  India,  was  a  common  enough  practice 
in  olden  times  in  Ireland.  A  creditor  wanting  payment  of  his  debt  from  a  superior, 
or  a  wronged  person  demanding  justice,  or  any  one  demanding  any  ri^t  to  which 


THE  BREHON  LAWS  137 

The  most  notable  way  In  which  Patrick  deprived  the  ancient 
law  of  its  severity  was  his  substitution  of  eric-law  for  the  Lex 
Tallonis.  Under  the  new  law  a  graduated  system  of  money  fines, 
called  eric,  was  substituted  for  the  eye-for-an-eye  ordinance  of  the 
old.  Only,  when  the  criminal  or  his  family  or  tribe  did  not  pay 
iiis  eric,  the  law  sanctioned  his  personal  punishment — which,  more- 
over, might  even  then,  instead  of  following  the  old  method,  take 
the  form  of  his  being  sold  as  a  bondman.  Or,  again,  he  might 
become  the  bondman  of  any  one,  outside  his  fine  (his  own  rela- 
tives), who  paid  the  eric  for  him. 

The  eric  for  killing  one  of  the  bond-class  was  twenty-one  cows. 
Forty-two  cows  was  the  eric  for  killing  a  freeman.  This,  how- 
ever, was  only  the  standard  when  the  homicide  was  one  of  the 

he  was  entitled,  sat  him  down  by  the  door  of  the  dishonest  or  unjust  one,  and, 
while  the  sympathetic  world  looked  on,  and  its  indignation  daily  grew  greater 
against  the  wronger  who  had  forced  the  wronged  to  take  this  extreme  course,  the 
latter  tasted  of  no  food.  In  short  it  was  a  plain  hunger-strike  for  compelling 
justice   from  the  powerful. 

If  he  who  was  fasted  upon,  felt  that  he  had  not  been  unjust,  that  he  was 
wrongly  accused  and  exposed,  by  the  hunger-striker  at  his  door — or  if,  knowing 
that  he  was  unjust,  he  wished  to  make  the  world  believe  otherwise,  he  in  turn 
adopted  the  fast  against  his  accuser.  Naturally  he  who  could  longest  hold  out  in 
suffering — which  usually  meant  the  man  whose  conscience  supported  and  inspired 
him — won  out 

In  the  ancient  tale  of  the  sons  of  O'GDrra  is  an  account  of  how  Conal  Dearg 
O'Connor  and  his  wife  fasted  against  the  devil,  that  he  might  bless  them  with 
children — and  succeeded.  In  the  Book  of  Lismore  is  the  account  of  three  young 
clerics,  who  had  pledged  themselves  to  say  between  them  a  certain  total  of  prayers, 
daily.  One  of  them  died,  leaving  a  heavier  task  on  the  other  two.  Then  a  sec- 
ond died,  leaving  still  greater  task  to  the  survivor — whereupon  last  of  them — 
upon  which  he  began  fasting  against  God  for  the  injustice  of  taking  away  the 
other  two  and  leaving  their  burdens  to  him.  Also,  one  of  the  Irish  legends  tells 
how  Adam,  in  the  Jordan,  after  he  had  been  expelled  from  Paradise,  and  Eve  in 
the  Tigris,  fast  against  God,  to  compel  forgiveness ;  and  request  the  beasts  and 
the  fishes  to  fast  with  them. 

There  were  a  few  special  laws  bearing  upon  the  subject  of  debtor  and  creditor 
which  are  interesting  to  note  in  passing. 

One  law  justly  provided  that  "no  one  must  be  oppressed  when  in  difficulty." 

To  those  who  had  pledged  personal  ornaments  for  debt  (as  has  been  stated 
in  a  previous  chapter),  the  pledged  object  had  to  be  released  on  the  occasion, 
and  during  the  term,  of  any  of  the  great  Aonachs  (fairs),  which  the  debtor,  like 
the  people  in  general,  was  expected  to  attend.  If  the  creditor  neglected  to  release 
the  ornaments  on  such  occasion  he  was  under  liability  to  pay  to  the  debtor  a  blush 
fine  for  the  embarrassment  incurred  by  the  debtor  in  appearing  before  the  gay  and 
richly-decked  crowds  on  festive  occasions  without  his  personal  ornaments. 

Moreover,  as  general  jubilee  was  proclaimed  during  the  term  of  the  great  fairs, 
it  was  the  law  that  during  such  festive  time  the  creditor  must  rid  bis  mind  of 
debt  memories.  A  debtor  could  not  be  arrested,  or  annoyed,  for  debt  at  the 
Aonach,  or  going  to,  or  coming  from  it. 

Furthermore,  the  laws  against  debtors  were  suspended  during  the  official 
period  of  grief  following  the  death  of  the  Primate  of  Armagh,  or  the  Ard-Righ  of 
Ireland.  Both  these  grave  occasions  were  the  cause  of  proclaiming  a  twelve  months' 
moratorium.  On  the  death  of  the  king  of  one  of  the  provinces  all  debtors  had  a 
three  months'  exemption :  and  one  month  on  the  death  of  a  chieftain  of  a  tuath 
(territory). 


138  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

plain  people.  If  a  noble  were  guilty  of  killing  he  had  to  pay  the 
ordinary  eric  plus  a  log-enach,  or  honour  price,  graduated  in  the 
scale  according  to  his  rank:  the  higher  his  rank  the  higher  was  the 
honour  price  which  he  had  to  add  to  the  ordinary  eric.'' 

The  Senchus  Mor  established  it  that  half  a  noble's  log-enach 
was  lost  to  him  the  first  time  he  was  found  guilty  of  false  judg- 
ment, false  witness,  fraudulent  security,  false  information,  false 
character-giving,  bad  stories,  lying,  criminal  wounding,  betrayal, 
or  refusal  of  food.  On  commission  of  the  third  such  offence  he 
was  deprived  of  his  honour-price  complete. 

In  the  old  Irish  laws  then,  the  sword  of  Justice  had  ever  two 
edges  sharpened  for  punishing  people  of  rank.  From  those  to 
whom  much  was  given,  much  was  to  be  expected.  The  democracy 
of  those  laws  was  shown  in  dozens  of  other  ways.  The  king  carry- 
ing building  material  to  his  castle  had  the  same  and  only  the  same 
claim  for  right  of  way  as  the  miller  carrying  material  to  build  his 
mill.  The  poorest  man  in  the  land  could  compel  payment  of  a 
debt  from  a  noble — could  levy  a  distress  upon  the  king  himself, 
through  the  person  of  the  king's  steward.  The  man  who  stole  the 
needle  ^  of  a  poor  embroidery  woman  was  compelled  to  pay  a  far 
higher  fine  than  the  man  who  stole  the  queen's  needle. 

One  of  the  seven  things  forbidden  by  law  was  for  a  poor  man 
to  give  service  or  rent  to  a  noble  who  demanded  an  excess  of 
either;  while  the  noble  was  mulcted  for  making  the  unjust  demand. 
The  king  himself  was  bound  by  law  to  do  justice  to  his  meanest 
subject:  for  the  law,  while  enumerating  and  acknowledging  his 
rights,  very  distinctly  and  definitely  points  out  to  him  that  he  had 
duties  also.  "The  king  must  not  exact  his  rights,"  says  the  law, 
"by  falsehood,  nor  by  force,  nor  by  despotic  might.  His  fostering 
care  must  be  perfect  to  all,  both  weak  and  strong."  And  this  sacred 
regard  for  rigid  justice  is  well  exemplified  in  the  judgment  given 
(in  the  case  of  the  killing  of  Patrick's  charioteer)  by  Dubtach, 
King  Laoghaire's  011am,  in  the  presence  of  the  King  and  the  court, 

'  The  log-enach  or  honour  price,  not  merely  made  for  the  democratic  justice 
of  the  law,  which  recognised  that  the  fine  laid  upon  a  poor  man  or  an  ignorant, 
did  not  suffice  to  punish  a  noble,  or  a  learned  man — ^but  it  likewise  placed  in  the 
hands  of  the  law  another  unique  and  powerful  instrument  for  the  punishing  of 
men  in  high  place.  This  power  lay  in  the  fact,  which  will  at  first  seem  strange, 
that  if  a  man  of  rank  (social  or  intellectual)  was  found  guilty  of  a  degrading 
act,  his  honour  price — the  extra  fine  he  should  pay  for  his  misdeed — was  thereby 
reduced :  thereafter,  he  paid  for  his  crimes  the  smaller  fine  of  a  man  of  lower 
rank.  The  dramatic  justice  of  this  usage  is  plain  to  us,  when  we  consider  that  the 
reducing  of  his  honour  price  had  the  moral  effect  of  degrading  him  henceforth  to 
lower  rank. 

8  A  needle  then  was  a  prized  possession — value  for  a  year-old  calf. 


THE  BREHON  LAWS  139 

and  of  Patrick,  when,  unlike  the  degenerate  courtiers  of  later  days, 
he  boldly  proclaimed: 

"Let  every  one  die  who  kills  a  human  being; 
Even  the  king  .  .  . 
Who  inflicts  red  wounds  intentionally." 

The  king,  too,  was  threatened  with  degradation  by  these  im- 
partial laws.  Four  dignitaries  who  may  be  degraded  are,  "a  false- 
judging  king,  a  stumbling  bishop,  a  fraudulent  poet,  and  an  un- 
worthy chieftain."  One  special  privilege  accorded  the  king,  how- 
ever, was  that  only  men  of  three  specified  ranks  could  reply  to  him 
at  law;  namely,  a  bishop,  an  ollam,  and  a  pilgrim. 

Running  through  all  the  laws  for  all  the  ranks,  impartiality 
was  the  salient  characteristic.  Always  the  Irish  law  expected  most 
from  those  who  had  most  received  from  God.  The  laws  bearing 
upon  ecclesiastics,  again,  well  exemplify  this.  For  instance,  while 
there  was  a  certain  fine  imposed  upon  laymen  for  neglecting  to 
honour  a  summons  to  court,  an  ecclesiastic  was  fined  double  for 
the  same  offence.  And,  whereas,  for  certain  offences,  lay  people 
of  rank  were  deprived  of  half  their  honour-price  the  first  time,  and 
all  their  honour-price  the  third  time,  clerics  for  the  very  first  offence 
were  condemned  not  only  to  lose  all  their  honour-price,  but  like- 
wise to  be  degraded.  Pursuing  stern  justice  still  farther — while 
ordinary  clerics  could,  by  doing  penance  and  suffering  punishment, 
win  back  their  grade,  he  of  higher  rank,  the  Bishop,  not  only  lost 
his  honour-price  and  was  degraded  for  the  first  offence,  but  could 
never  again  regain  his  position.  He  must  go  out  from  the  abodes 
of  men  and  henceforth  live  a  hermit.^ 

That  the  impartiality  of  the  law  persisted  even  toward  its  own 
professors  is  exemplified  in  the  ordinance  which  discriminated 
against  law  advocates  being  paid  a  blush  fine.  Blush  fines  were 
payable  for  insults  offered  to  all  persons  of  all  ranks,  with  a  few 
notable  exceptions.  The  ne'er-do-well,  the  squanderer,  the  idler, 
and  the  lazy  man,  could  not  claim  blush-fine.  Neither  could  the 
selfish,  earthy  one  who  thought  only  of  his  cows  and  his  fields;  the 
druth  or  the  clown  who  distorted  himself  before  crowds  at  a  fair; 
the  Cainte  or  Satirist  who  himself  made  a  trade  of  insulting  others, 
and,  finally — the  lawyer!  "A  man  who  is  paid  to  abuse  others," 
says  the  law,  "is  not  entitled  to  claim  damages  when  abused  him- 
self." 

^  It  may  here  be  noted  that,  in  the  sight  of  the  law,  in  the  same  rank  with  the 
bishop  was  the  king,  the  chief  poet,  and  the  brugaid  or  public  hospitaller:  a  like 
dire  fine  or  eric  was  payable  for  the  killing  of  either  of  the  four. 


I40  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

For  the  Brehons  who  framed  the  laws  showed  no  lenienqr  to- 
ward their  own  order.  "Every  judge,"  says  the  Book  of  Acaill, 
"is  punishable  for  his  neglect.  He  has  to  pay  eric-fine  for  his  false 
judgment."  Another  law,  too,  ordered  that  for  false  judgment 
he  should  be  degraded. 

And  the  old  law's  fairness  is  again  shown,  and  its  chivalry,  in 
the  stipulation  that  every  alien  who  came  into  the  country  to  pur- 
sue a  suit  at  law  against  a  native,  was  entitled  to  his  choice  of  the 
Brehons  of  Eirinn.  And  paralleling  this  was  the  ordinance  that 
every  outsider  who  came  into  any  territory  for  purpose  of  suing  a 
subject  in  that  territory,  had  his  choice  of  the  Brehons  of  the  ter- 
ritory. 

But,  the  thoughtful  wisdom  of  the  ancient  law-makers  is  every- 
where exemplified.  There  were  laws  prescribed  for  the  care  of  the 
poor,  the  aged  and  the  sick — with  detailed  instructions  In  each  case. 
For  the  sick,  the  doctor  was  bound  to  provide  plentiful  ventilation 
— so  that,  through  open  doors  or  windows,  the  patient  could  be 
seen  from  all  four  sides,  by  one  outside  the  house.  A  running 
stream  of  fresh  water  must  flow  through  his  hospital.  For  neglect, 
or  blunder,  or  mismanagement  of  an  operation,  the  doctor  was 
fined.  If  he  failed,  through  ignorance,  to  effect  a  cure  he  could 
claim  no  fee. 

Knowing  the  exacting  nature  of  those  who  depended  upon  the 
charity  of  others,  this  law  thoughtfully  provided  that  the  official 
who  looked  after  the  poor  should  have  no  recourse  at  law  against 
the  abusiveness  of  those  under  his  charge.  He  or  his  family  could 
not  claim  blush-fine  for  insult  hurled  at  him  by  the  creatures  whom 
he  helped. 

Minute  details  are  given  of  what  must  be  provided  for  the  de- 
pendent aged  person;  details  of  the  house;  the  furnishings  of  the 
house;  the  supplies  necessary;  details  of  the  old  person's  care — as 
for  instance,  how  often  he  must  be  bathed,  how  often  have  his 
head  washed,  and  so  on. 

There  is  found  in  the  Yellow  Book  of  Lecan,  and  also  in  the 
Leabar  Breac  a  curious  Cain  Domnach,  Law  of  Sunday,  which  was 
said  to  have  been  brought  over  from  Rome  by  St.  Conall,  a  sixth- 
century  Donegal  saint.  During  the  Sabbath,  which  in  ancient  Ire- 
land extended  from  sunset  on  Saturday  to  sunrise  on  Monday,  the 
Cain  Domnach  forbids  all  labour  outdoor  or  indoor.  It  forbids 
sweeping  or  cleaning  the  house,  combing,  shaving,  clipping  the  hair 
or  beard;  it  forbids  games  of  all  kinds,  buying,  selling,  washing, 
bathing,  cutting,  sewing,  churning,  fishing,  boating,  grinding  corn, 
cooking,   splitting  firewood,   riding  on   horseback,   journeying  of 


THE  BREHON  LAWS  141 

travellers.  Wherever  the  evening  of  Saturday  descended  on  a 
traveller,  there  should  he  pause  in  his  journey,  and  resume  it  only 
on  Monday  morning. 

In  quitting  the  subject  of  the  old  laws,  after  this  brief  glimpse 
at  a  broad  field,  we  may  agree  with  Patrick  when  he  indicated  that 
even  the  Pagan  law-givers  were  inspired  by  the  Spirit.  He  con- 
sidered that  they  spoke,  as  he  asked  Dubtach,  when  giving  judg- 
ment, to  speak — "What  God  will  give  you  for  utterance,  say  it. 
It  is  not  you  that  speak  but  the  spirit  of  the  Father  which  speaketh 
in  you." 

Ginnell,  Lawrence:     The  Brehon  Laws. 

Joyce,  P.  W. :     Social  History  of  Ancient  Ireland, 

Brehon  Laws:  the  Ancient  Laws  of  Ireland. 

Maine,  Sir  Henry:     Dissertations  on  Ancient  Law. 

Sullivan,  W.  K.,  Ph.D.:     Introduction  to  O'Curry's  Manners  and  Customs 

of  the  Ancient  Irish. 
O'Curry,  Eugene :     Manuscript  Materials  of  Irish  History. 
Manners  and  Customs. 


CHAPTER  XXI 


ST.    BRIDGET 


For  four  centuries  after  the  Bishop  Patrick,  setting  foot  in  the 
country,  began  scattering  far  and  wide  the  seeds  of  the  Gospel,  the 
history  of  the  Irish  race  hangs  upon  the  history  of  the  holy  men 
and  women,  and  the  scholars,  who  continued  Patrick's  work,  at 
home  in  Ireland  and  afar  on  the  Continent  of  Europe. 

And  by  far  the  greatest  woman  in  this  work  was  Bridget. 

When  Patrick  rested  from  his  labours  it  was  on  Bridget  that 
the  seeding  sheet  was  bound.  And  over  the  hills  and  the  dales  of 
Ireland  then  went  she,  sowing  the  fruitful  words  of  the  new  Master 
to  whom  Ireland  had  learnt  to  bow.  And  a  worthy  successor  to 
Patrick  was  she — Bridget  the  beloved,  Bridget  of  Eirinn,  the  Mary 
of  the  Gael!  In  the  centre  of  the  trinity  of  Irish  patron  saints 
Patrick,  Bridget  and  Colm  Cille,  she  stands,  crowned,  the  spiritual 
queen  of  the  race.  And  warmly  and  fondly  as  the  memory  of  the 
other  two  great  ones  is  treasured  in  the  Irish  heart,  it  is  doubtful 
if  their  names  evoke  the  deep,  sweet  and  tender,  overwhelming 
affection  that  is  breathed  with  the  name  of  Bridget.^ 

^  Oh,  she  was  fair  as  a  lily, 

And  holy  as  she  was  fair, 
The  Virgin  Mary  of  Erin — 

Brigid  of  green  Kildare. 
She  came  to  earth  when  the  snow  drops 

Were  starring  the  rain-drenched  sod, 
The  sweetest  blossom  among  them. 

From  the  far-off  gardens  of  God. 

O  Brigid,  so  high  and  holy! 

So  strong  in  womanly  grace, 
Look  down  from  the  sills  of  heaven 

To-day  on  your  olden  race. 
'Tis  over  the  world  we're  scattered, 

And  your  land  is  a  land  of  woe. 
But  we're  holding  you  as  a  lodestar, 

Whatever  the  roads  we  go. 

For  you  are  our  pledge  in  heaven, 

With  Padraig  and  Colm  Cille, 
For  the  Faith  by  our  foes  unbroken, 

And  the  hopes  that  they  could  not  still ; 
142 


ST.  BRIDGET  143 

But  not  in  Ireland  alone  is  it  a  living  thing,  that  intimate  devo- 
tion to  her,  the  woman  patron  saint  of  the  Gael,  but  wherever  they 
go  and  wherever  they  are  they  bear  in  their  breast  a  little  flame 
of  the  perpetual  fire  of  Kildare.  And  devotion  to  her  is  as  sweet 
and  ardent  among  the  simple  islanders  of  Highland  Scotland's 
fjords  as  it  is  in  the  Western  Aran,  or  on  the  Currach  of  Kildare. 
The  bare-footed  maiden  in  Uist  of  Hebrides,  driving  the  cows  to 
pasture,  still  chants — but  in  melodious  Gaelic: 

"The  protection  of  God  and  Columba, 
Encompass  your  going  and  coming, 

And  about  you  be  the  milk-maid  of  the  smooth  white  palm, 
Bridget  of  the  clustering  hair,  golden  brown." 

Bridget  was  born  just  twenty  years  after  the  coming  of  Patrick, 
about  the  year  450,  at  Fochart,  near  Dundalk.  She  met  and  heard 
Patrick  preach.  According  to  an  ancient  tradition  she  slept  a 
mystic  sleep  once,  during  his  preaching  at  Clogher,  and  had  a  sym- 
bolic dream  in  which  was  shown  her  the  future  triumphs,  and  the 
future  trials  of  the  faith  in  Ireland.  Another  tradition  has  it  that 
she  aided  in  making  his  winding-sheet. 

It  is  the  universal  Irish  claim  upon  Bridget  which  has  called 
forth  legends  giving  every  quarter  of  Ireland  a  proprietary  right 
upon  the  national  treasure.  So  some  traditions  would  have  her 
born  in  the  house  of  a  Druid,  at  the  court  of  the  chieftain  of  Tlr- 
Conaill,  of  a  Munster  father  and  Connaught  mother,  while  her 
future  home  was  to  be  Lelnster. 

Bridget's  mother  appears  to  have  been  a  bond-maid  In  the 
house  of  Bridget's  father,^  Dubtach,  who  was  of  royal  descent. 

For  the  surge  of  our  prayers  unceasing, 

For  the  depth  of  our  love  unpriced, 
For  our  agony  in  earth's  garden, 

And  our  crucifixion  with  Christ. 

And  we  cry  to  you,  holy  Brigid, 

'Tis  you  have  the  right  to  pray 
For  us  in  the  land  of  Erin, 

In  the  hour  of  our  need  to-day. 
We  breathe  your  name  as  a  symbol, 

Like  the  lamp  on  your  altar  set, 
That  God  is  an  unforgettinp:  God, 

And  will  stand  for  our  righting  yet 
Yea,  He  who  so  lon^  has  tried  us 

In  the  flame  of  His  purging  fire, 
Will  give  to  tlie  race  of  Brigid 

The  crown  of  their  souls'  desire. 

— Teresa  Brayton. 
2  Concubinage    was,   in   ancient   times,   common    in    Ireland,   as    in    almost    all 
countries. 


144  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

tenth  from  King  Feidlimid  the  Lawgiver.  And  the  tradition  goes 
that  just  before  Bridget's  birth,  her  mother,  like  Hagar,  was, 
through  the  jealousy  of  the  wife  of  Dubtach,  driven  forth  upon 
the  world.  She  was  sold  into  the  service  of  a  Druid — in  whose 
house  Bridget  was  born,  and  in  whose  service  she  is  said  to  have 
lived  to  free  her  mother. 

The  Druid,  when  he  had  acquired  the  bond-maid  and  learnt 
the  cause  of  her  selling  foretold  to  Dubtach:  "The  seed  of  thy 
wife  shall  serve  the  seed  of  the  bond-maid,  for  the  bond-maid  will 
bring  forth  a  daughter  conspicuous,  radiant,  who  will  shine  like  a 
sun  among  the  stars."^ 

3  As  Bridget  grew  up  she  became  both  a  shepherd  and  a  dairy-maid  on  the 
Druid's  farm — a  dairy-maid,  sweet,  gentle  and  beautiful,  with  a  disposition  that 
was  perpetual  sunshine  in  her  clean  white  dairy,  or  in  the  woods  with  her  sheep. 
In  these  days  Bridget's  heart  went  out  to  all  living  things,  to  God's  beasts  and 
birds  as  well  as  His  mankind — on  all  which  she  lavished  her  love.  And  all  in 
return  loved  her.  God,  too,  sent  His  blessing  upon  her  and  her  work.  "Every- 
thing to  which  her  hand  was  set/'  says  the  Book  of  Lismore,  "used  to  increase. 
She  tended  the  sheep ;  she  satisfied  the  birds ;  she  fed  the  poor." 

Bridget  cared  for  the  milk  of  twelve  cows.  And  when  she  took  the  butter  she 
made  it  mto  twelve  equal  parts  and  one  large  part,  in  memory  of  Christ  and  the 
apostles.  And  the  large  portion  she  gave  to  the  poor  and  to  the  stranger — for 
sne  used  to  say,  "Christ  is  in  the  person  of  every  faithful  guest" 

And  one  of  the  legends  of  the  Book  of  Lismore  tells  how,  once,  the  Drxiid 
and  his  wife  learning  that  great  quantities  of  their  butter  were  being  given  away 
by  the  dairy-maid  came  to  the  dairy  to  see  for  themselves,  and  to  demand  from 
Bridget  a  hamper  of  butter  for  their  own  use.  "Of  butter,  what  has  thou?"  the 
Druid  demanded.  Now  it  happened  that  Bridget,  because  of  her  generosity,  had 
only  as  much  left  as  should  come  off  one  and  one-half  churning.  Yet  when  her 
master  and  mistress  demanded  a  full  hamper,  she  cheerfully  went  into  her  dairy- 
kitchen,  singing: 

"Oh,  my  Prince 

Who  canst  do  all  these  things. 
Bless,  O  God, 
My  kitchen  with  Thy  right  hand. 

"My  kitchen 

The  kitchen  of  the  white  God, 
A  kitchen  which  my  King  hath  blessed, 
A  kitchen  that  hath  butter. 

"Mary's  Son,  my  Friend,  cometh 
To  bless  my  kitchen. 
The  Prince  of  the  world  to  the  border, 
May  we  have  abundance  with  Him." 

In  and  out  she  went  chanting,  and  in  and  out  continuously  bearing  with  her 
from  the  kitchen,  each  time,  the  butter  of  half  a  churning  till  a  large  hamper  was 
filled.  And  says  the  tale  in  the  Book  of  Lismore,  "If  the  hampers  which  the  men 
of  Munster  possessed  had  been  given  her,  she  would  fill  them  all." 

Astonished  at  the  miracle  and  the  miracle-worker,  the  Druid  exclaimed :  "Both 
the  butter  and  the  kine  are  thine.  Thou  shouldst  be  serving  not  me  but  the  Lord." 
"Take  the  kine,"  said  Bridget,  "and  give  me  my  mother's  freedom."  The  Druid 
thereupon  gave  her  both  the  kine  and  her  mother's  freedom.  She  grave  the  kine 
to  the  poor.  The  Eh-uid  and  his  wife  were  baptised,  and  were  full  of  faith  hence- 
forward. 


ST.  BRIDGET  145 

When  the  maid,  Bridget,  a  free  woman,  returned  to  her  father'3 
house,  she  was  so  singularly  graceful  and  beautiful,  that  the 
fame  of  her  spread  far  and  near.  Ardent  wooers,  in  the  person 
of  champions,  chieftains,  young  princes  in  numbers,  came  to 
woo  her  for  wife.  But  she  refused  them  all — for  she  had  re- 
solved to  be  the  bride  of  Christ.  This  her  father  did  not  like — 
mucli  less  her  stepmother  who  became  intensely  jealous  of 
her.  But  her  father's  objections  increased,  and  her  step- 
mother's dislike  for  Bridget  multiplied  many  times,  when  they 
discovered  that  the  luxurious  excess  for  which  their  house 
had  been  famed,  was  melting  away,  by  reason  of  Bridget's 
bestowing  their  substance  upon  the  poor  who  crowded  to 
her. 

At  the  instigation  of  his  wife,  Dubtach,  for  peace  sake  had  to 
decide  to  put  Bridget  away,  just  as  he  had  once  put  away  her 
mother.  So  he  took  her  with  him  in  his  chariot  to  the  Palace  of 
Dunlaing  MacEnda,  King  of  Leinster.  "It  is  not  for  honour  or 
reverence  to  thee  thou  art  carried  in  a  chariot,"  he  said  to  her,  as 
they  went,  "but  to  take  thee  to  sell  thee  to  grind  the  quern  for  Dun- 
laing MacEnda." 

When  he  reached  Dunlaing's  residence  he  left  Bridget  in  the 
chariot  while  he  went  to  see  the  King.  But,  so  notorious  had  she 
become  for  her  unstinted  giving  that  he  left  with  her  in  the  chariot 
nothing  which  she  might  in  his  absence  bestow  on  the  poor — noth- 
ing but  his  sword.  As,  however,  a  leper,  coming  down  the  way, 
begged  charity  of  her,  and  that  she  had  nothing  else  to  give  him, 
she  gave  him  her  father's  sword. 

When  her  father  returned  with  Dunlaing  MacEnda,  and  dis- 
covered what  she  had  done,  he  was  mightily  provoked.  He  ap- 
pealed to  the  King  saying:  "Thou  seest  for  thyself  why  I  am 
forced  to  sell  this  daughter  of  mine." 

And  Dunlaing  said  to  her:  "Neither  can  I  take  you  into  my 
house,  for  since  it  is  thine  own  father's  wealth  that  thou  takest  and 
givest  away,  much  more  wilt  thou  take  my  wealth,  and  my  cattle, 
and  give  them  to  the  poor." 

To  which  Bridget  replied:  "The  Son  of  the  Virgin  knoweth 
that  if  I  had  thy  might  with  all  Leinster  and  all  wealth,  I  would 
give  them  to  the  Lord  of  the  elements." 

Then  Dunlaing  said  to  Dubtach:  "It  Is  not  meet  for  us  to 
deal  with  this  maiden.  Her  merit  before  the  Lord  is  higher  than 
ours." 

And  so  was  Bridget  saved  from  a  second  slavery. 


146  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

She  was  veiled  *  with  seven  other  virgins  by  Bishop  Macaille 
whose  church  was  in  that  part  now  called  Kings  County.  And 
the  inevitable  legends  that  grew  up  around  all  of  Ireland's  be- 
loved record  that,  when  she  was  taking  her  vows,  in  the  wooden 
pillar  of  the  altar-rail  on  which  she  rested  her  hand  the  sap  circu- 
lated and  the  pillar  became  green,  and  bloomed  again. 

She  went  into  Connaught — where  her  piety  and  charity,  her 
faith  and  her  work,  were  such  that  she  quickly  became  the  most 
famous  personage  there.  Her  Leinster  people,  learning  of  her 
fame,  sent  to  her,  besought  her  to  come  home  to  them,  and  offered 
a  habitation  at  Kildare  to  her  and  the  great  number  of  followers 
she  had  now  gathered  around  her.  Bridget  accepted — and  there 
then,  she  founded  the  Church  of  the  Oak,  and  founded  the  Mon- 
astery of  Kildare  which  was  to  be  famous  for  all  time.  She 
founded  also  the  little  less  famous  school  of  Kildare.  This  was  in 
the  latter  years  of  the  fifth  century.  Her  home  in  Kildare  became 
a  centre  of  religion  and  of  learning,  of  piety  and  of  lore,  whose 
fame  almost  rivalled  the  fame  of  Patrick's  See  itself,  at  Armagh. 
Great  were  the  crowds  that  resorted  here,  not  only  from  all  Lein- 
ster, but  from  every  corner  of  Ireland.  Crowds  of  poor  came  seek- 
ing material  relief;  crowds  of  the  pious  to  satisfy  their  souls; 
crowds  of  students  who  thirsted  for  knowledge — all  classes  came — 
those  in  wealth  and  those  in  want;  the  humble  and  the  haughty; 
learned  and  illiterate;  chieftain  and  bondman,  layman  and  eccle- 
siastic— all  attracted  by  the  piety  and  wisdom,  the  goodness  and 
greatness,  of  the  foremost  woman  of  the  Gael. 

Yet  the  humility  of  this  noble  woman  remained  such  that  often- 
times when  the  very  greatest  sought  her,  they  found  her  not  in  the 
hall  nor  the  church,  but,  though  it  might  be  blowing  or  snowing, 
off  in  the  fields  herding  the  cattle  that  gave  milk  to  the  monastery, 
or  the  sheep  that  gave  them  wool.'' 

*  The  Tripartite  life  of  St.  Patrick  implies  that  in  his  day  he  consecrated  nuns 
— that  they  even  thronged  to  him  from  abroad.  Nine  daughters  of  the  King  of 
the  Lombards,  it  says,  came  to  Patrick,  over  the  sea,  and  a  daughter  of  the  King 
of  Britain.  It  is  also  said  that  he  veiled  the  daughters  of  Laoghaire,  the  two  prin- 
cesses, Ethni  of  the  Golden  Hair,  and  Fedelm  the  Ruddy.  "Patrick  put  a  white  veil 
upon  their  heads,  and  having  received  the  Body  and  Blood,  they  fell  asleep  in  death. 
Patrick  laid  them  side  by  side  on  the  one  mantle,  and  in  the  same  bed." 

5  It  was  herding  thus  she  was,  when  occurred  the  little  incident  that  is  related 
of  Ninnid  and  herself. 

Ninnid  from  Loch  Erne  whose  name  as  a  saint  was  afterwards  to  be  famed 
was  then  a  little  lad  studying  at  the  school  of  Kildare.  On  a  morning  when  she 
sat  herding  her  sheep  on  the  currach,  enveloped  in  a  cloak  that  hid  her  identity, 
the  little  Ninnid  came  running  past — probably  in  fear  of  being  late  for  his  class. 
The  cloaked  nun  called  out,  asking  him  why  he  ran.  "O  nun,"  the  ready-witted 
boy  replied,  "I  am  going  to  Heaven."  "Well,"  said  the  nun,  "won't  you  pause  and 
make  prayer  with  me  that  it  may  be  easy  for  me  to  go?"     "O  nun,"  replied  the 


ST.  BRIDGET  147 

Once  when  Bishop  Conlaeth  (whom  she  had  selected  for  the 
See  of  Kildare)  preached  to  the  sisterhood  upon  the  Beatitudes 
she  proposed  to  the  nuns  that  each  sister  should  take  one  of  the 
Beatitudes  as  her  special  object  of  devotion,  she  herself  character- 
istically choosing  Mercy. 

In  those  days  many  Bishops  were  skilled  in  trades — which 
were  then  considered  noble  and  ennobling.  Her  bishop  Conlaeth 
was  a  fine  artificer,  skilled  in  doing  beautiful  work  in  metal.  He 
is  supposed  to  have  taught  decorative  metal  art  in  the  school  of 
Kildare,  which  was  a  centre  of  that  art.  Here  they  turned  out 
chalices,  bells,  patens  and  shrines,  beautifully  ornamented.  The 
art  of  working  in  metal  was  particularly  prized  in  Ireland  then: 
many  devoted  themselves  to  it  and  much  tasteful  work  was  pro- 
duced. Of  the  multitude  of  presents  that  were  given  to  Bridget 
and  her  monastery  and  her  church  by  those  who  were  constantly 
thronging  there,  it  is  recorded  that  the  queen  of  Crimthann,  the  son 
of  Enna  Ceannselach,  gave  to  Bridget  a  silver  chain  of  which  the 
Book  of  Lismore  says:  "The  semblance  of  a  human  shape  was 
on  one  of  the  ends  thereof,  and  an  apple  of  silver  at  the  other 
end." 

Bridget  made  many  journeys  through  the  south  and  west  of 
Ireland,  consulting,  counselling  and  directing  the  spiritual  leaders, 
spreading  the  faith  wheresoever  she  went,  and  inspiring  great  num- 
bers to  devote  themselves  to  the  service  of  Christ.  And  where- 
soever she  was,  at  home  or  abroad,  crowds  of  people  were  con- 
stantly thronging  to  this  wonderful  woman.  The  rich  came  with 
gifts,  the  poor  came  for  help;  the  sick  came  for  healing.  She  is 
recorded  to  have  worked  many  miracles  by  the  power  of  her  sur- 
passing faith — a  faith  so  powerful  that  it  is  related  that  a  woman 
consumptive  who  touched  her  shadow  was  instantly  healed.  The 
belief  of  the  people  in  her  power  begot  many  legends — one  of  these 
telling  us  that  she  was  once  seen  to  hang  her  wet  cloak,  for  drying, 
on  a  ray  of  sunshine.^ 

hurrying  boy,  "I  cannot,  for  the  gates  of  Heaven  open  now,  and  if  I  delay  they 
may  be  shut  against  me."  But  she  insisted,  "Pray  to  the  Lord  with  me  that  it  may 
be  easy  for  me  to  go,  and  I'll  pray  to  the  Lord  with  you  that  it  may  be  easy  for 
you  to   go — and   to   bring  thousands." 

Ninnid,  thus  persuaded,  knelt  down  with  Bridget  and  prayed.  And  it  was 
ordained  that  this  lad  would  help  to  smooth  her  way  to  Heaven — he  was  to  give 
her,  at  her  passing  away,  the  last  rites. 

And  it  was  this  praying  of  Bridget's  on  the  currach  with  the  little  scholar, 
Ninnid,  that  constituted  her  the  natron  of  students. 

^  Of  an  old  blind  sister,  Dara,  whose  sight  she  had  restored,  it  is  told  that  she 
begged  to  be  darkened  again — 

Yet  she  said,  my  sister, 
Blind  me  once  again, 


148  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

Cogltosus,  a  monk  of  Kildare,  who  in  the  eighth  century  wrote 
the  life  of  Bridget  says,  "Uncountable  were  the  numbers  who 
flocked  to  her:  the  sick  for  healing;  and  the  rich  with  gifts." 

This  was  not  by  any  means  the  first  life  of  Bridget  written. 
Bishop  Ultan  of  Ardbreccain,  who  is  frequently  styled  a  brother 
of  Bridget's,  collected  the  virtues  and  miracles  of  Bridget,  and 
commanded  his  disciple  Brogan  to  put  them  into  poetry.'' 

A  wonderful  description  of  Bridget's  Church  at  Kildare  is 
given  by  Cogitosus  which  is  evidently  imaginary  of  that  day,  but 
which  Dr.  Petrie  (in  his  "Round  Towers")  affirms  was  real  for 
Cogitosus'  own  day.  Cogitosus  says  that  in  that  church  in  Kildare 
"repose  the  bodies  of  Bishop  Conlaeth  and  his  holy  virgin,  Bridget, 
on  the  right  and  left  of  the  decorated  altar,  deposited  in  monu- 
ments adorned  with  various  embellishments  of  gold  and  silver 
gems  and  precious  stones,  with  crowns  of  gold  and  silver  depend- 
ing from  above,  elevated  to  a  menacing  height  and  adorned  with 
painted  pictures  .  .  .  one  partition  decorated  and  painted  with  fig- 
ures and  covered  with  linen  hangings." 

Bridget,  it  is  said,  took  the  Blessed  Mother,  Mary,  as  her 
model.  "She  was  following  the  manners  and  the  life,"  says  one 
account,  "which  the  Holy  Mother  of  Jesus  had."  "It  was  this 
Bridget,  too,"  says  O'Clery's  Martyrology,  "that  did  not  take  her 
mind  or  her  attention  from  the  Lord  for  the  space  of  one  hour  at 
any  time,  but  was  constantly  mentioning  Him,  and  ever  constantly 
thinking  of  Him.  She  was  hospitable  and  charitable,  and  humble, 
and  attended  to  herding  sheep  and  early  rising." 

Lest  His  presence  in  me 
Groweth  less  plain. 
Stars  and  dawn  and  sunset 
Keep  till  Paradise, 
Here  His  face  sufficeth 
For  my  sightless  eyes. 

Oh,  she  said,  my  sister, 

Night  is  beautiful 

Where  His  face  is  showing 

Who  was  mocked  as  fool. 

More  than  star  or  meteor, 

More  than  moon  or  sun, 

Is  the  thorn-crowned  forehead 

Of  the  Holy  One. 

— Katherine  Tynan  Hinkson. 
7  Ultan,  however,  could  not  have  been  her  kin-brother,  for  his  death  is  recorded 
only  in  the  year  656,  when  he  died  of  the  great  plague — during  which  he  had  been 
father  to  the  flocks  of  orphans  which  that  plague,  the  buidhe-Chonaill,  made  in 
Eirinn.  O'Clery's  Martyrology  says  "Ultan  of  Ardbreccain  used  to  feed  with  his 
own  hands  every  child  who  had  no  support  in  Eirinn — so  that  he  often  had  fifty 
and  thrice  fifty  with  him  together." 


ST.  BRIDGET  149 

Bridget  made  Kildare  truly  great.  The  old  annalists  who  made 
a  point  of  recording  the  names  of  abbots  of  monasteries,  but  not 
abbesses,  always,  however  made  exception  to  their  rule  in  the  case 
of  the  abbesses  of  Kildare.  And  because  of  the  priority  that 
Bridget's  greatness  gave  it,  Kildare's  abbess  came  to  be  looked 
up  to  by  all  the  nuns  of  Ireland,  just  as  the  Primate  of  Armagh 
was  looked  up  to  by  all  the  clerics. 

In  her  day,  because  of  her  power,  she  ruled  the  monks  of  Kil- 
dare as  well  as  the  nuns.  Before  she  died  it  was  said  that  as  many 
as  thirty  religious  houses  were  under  her  obedience.  It  is  recorded 
that  for  nearly  a  thousand  years  her  name  was  honoured,  and  her 
feast  was  celebrated,  in  every  Cathedral  Church  from  Grisons  to 
the  German  Sea.  As  many  as  thirty  Continental  cities  are  quoted 
for  their  devotion,  in  the  middle  ages,  to  Irish  Bridget. 

Four  years  after  the  birth  of  Colm  Cille,  Bridget  died — in  525 
— leaving  Ireland  in  mourning.  And  they  mourned  for  Bridget 
as  they  had  never  mourned  for  any,  high  or  low,  simple  or  gentle 
— with  the  possible  exception  of  Patrick.  And  in  the  one  tomb 
with  Patrick  at  Down,  was  interred  Ireland's  greatest  woman,  Ire- 
land's Bridget,  the  Mary  of  the  Gael. 

"It  was  she  who  never  turned  her  attention  from  the  Lord  for 
one  hour,  but  was  constandy  meditating  and  thinking  of  Him  in  her 
heart  and  mind,  as  is  evident  in  her  own  life  and  in  that  of  St. 
Brendan,  Bishop  of  Cluain-Ferta.  She  spent  her  time  diligendy 
serving  the  Lord,  performing  wonders  and  miracles,  healing  every 
disease  and  malady,  until  she  resigned  her  spirit  to  heaven  on  the 
first  day  of  the  month  of  February,  and  her  body  was  interred  at 
Dun,  in  the  same  tomb  with  St.  Patrick,  with  honour  and  veneration." 

And  the  Book  of  Lismore: 

"For,  everything  Bridget  asked,  the  Lord  granted  at  once.  For 
this  was  her  desire:  to  satisfy  the  poor;  to  expel  every  hardship;  to 
relieve  every  misery'.  Now  never  hath  there  been  any  one  more 
bashful,  modest,  gentle,  humble,  more  sage,  more  harmonious  than 
Bridget.  She  was  abstinent,  innocent,  prayerful,  patient,  glad  in 
God's  commandments,  firm,  humble,  forgiving,  loving.  She  was  a 
consecrated  casket  for  holding  Christ's  Body  and  Blood.  She  was 
a  temple  of  God.  She  was  simple  toward  God ;  compassionate  to- 
ward the  wretched ;  she  was  splendid  in  miracles  and  marvels ;  where- 
fore her  name  among  created  things  is  like  unto  a  dove  among  the 
birds,  a  vine  among  trees,  the  sun  among  stars. 

"She  is  the  prophetess  of  Christ:  She  is  the  Queen  of  the  South. 
She  is  the  Marv  of  the  Gael." 


ISO  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

Stokes,  Whitley,  D.C.L.,  LL.D.:     Lives  of  the  Saints  from  the  Book  of 

Lismore. 
Healy,  The  Most  Rev.  Jno.,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  Archbishop  of  Tuam:     Ireland's 

Ancient  Schools  and  Scholars. 
Lannigan,  Rev.  John,  D.D. :     Ecclesiastical  History  of  Ireland. 
Joyce,  P.  W. :     Social  History  of  Ancient  Ireland. 
Reeves,  The  Rev.  Wm.,  D.D. :     The  IMartyrology  of  Donegal  ("O'Clerj-'s 

Col."),  a  Calendar  of  the  Saints  of  Erin.     (Edited  by  Dr.  Reeves  and 

Dr.  Todd  conjointly.) 
O'Hanlon,  The  Rev.  Jno.,  Canon:     Lives  of  the  Irish  Saints. 


CHAPTER  XXII 

WOMEN   IN   ANCIENT   IRELAND 

The  fact  that  in  such  remote  time  as  the  fifth  century  a  woman 
could  command  the  respect,  the  reverence,  and  moral  obedience 
which  were  so  fully  and  freely  rendered  to  Bridget  will  naturally 
surprise  the  many  who  reflect  that  In  most  countries  it  is  only  a  few 
centuries  since  women  came  out  of  semi-bondage. 

But,  In  Ireland,  from  the  remotest  time  of  which  we  have  any 
record,  historical  or  legendary,  woman  stood  emancipated,  and 
was  oftentimes  eligible  for  the  professions,  and  for  rank,  and  fame. 
In  the  dimmest,  most  ancient  legends,  casual  references  to  druid- 
esses,  poetesses,  women  ph3^slcians  and  women  sages,  prove  that 
in  the  very  remote  days  in  which  these  legends  were  created,  there 
was  nothing  uncommon  or  surprising  in  women  filling  these  posi- 
tions. In  one  of  the  oldest,  If  not  the  oldest,  of  all  Invocations  in 
Irish  legendary  lore,  the  invocation  of  Amergin,  son  of  Mlleslus, 
praying  to  the  gods  for  the  safe  landing  of  their  company  against 
which  the  Tuatha  De  Danann  were  raising  magic  storms,  he  says : 
"Let  the  learned  wives  of  Breas  and  Bualgne  pray  that  we  may 
reach  the  noble  woman,  great  EIrlnn." 

The  ancient  Irish  had  a  goddess,  Bridget,  who  represented 
poetry  and  wisdom — and,  as  before  mentioned,  they  had  a  mortal 
Bridget  who  was  a  famous  lawgiver — whose  laws  and  sayings  were 
Instanced,  and  her  decisions  followed  as  precedents,  by  her  learned 
successors,  well  down  into  historical  times.  She  was  either  wife 
or  daughter  of  Senchan,  the  011am  of  Ulster,  at  Conor  Mac- 
Nessa's  court. 

Woman  was  then  nearly  on  an  equality  with  man.  Particu- 
larly great  women  compelled  the  admission  of  this  equality,  and 
sometimes  of  superiority,  too.  Still,  the  man-made  laws  took  care 
to  throw  the  weight  of  authority  in  the  scale  with  the  so-called 
lord  of  Creation.  Although  the  Crith  Gablach,  in  discussing  the 
privileges  of  a  man  of  the  noble  classes,  lays  down  the  dictum,  "To 
his  wife  belongs  the  right  to  be  consulted  on  every  subject,"  and 
although  before  a  Brehon's  court  the  husband  and  wife  stood  on 

151 


152  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

equal  terms,  still  the  law  held  that  the  man  had  headship  in  the 
marriage  union.  Then,  however,  it  proceeds  to  safeguard  the 
rights  of  the  wife.  For  it  says  that  though  he  had  headship  of 
the  tR^o,  he  did  not  own  her.  *'It  is  only  contract  that  is  between 
them,"  says  the  law. 

Again,  insisting  on  the  man's  superior  privileges  the  old  com- 
mentator on  the  Senchus  Mor,  while  admitting  that  the  laws  therein 
were  equally  for  the  women  as  well  as  for  the  men,  goes  on  to  ex- 
plain why  it  is  entitled  the  Senchus  of  the  Men  of  Eirinn.  "It  is 
proper,  indeed,"  he  says,  "that  it  should  be  so  called,  so  as  to  give 
superiority  to  the  noble  sex,  that  is  to  the  male,  for  the  man  is  the 
head  of  the  woman.     Man  is  more  noble  than  the  woman." 

This  is  the  hard,  dry  lawyer  of  it.  The  poet  of  that  day  was 
very  far  from  agreeing  with  the  lawyer  on  this  point,  though  it 
must  be  admitted  that  while  the  poet  proved  the  fair  sex  nobler 
than  the  other,  he  generously  did  so  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  in 
common  with  the  less  visionary  part  of  mankind,  he  still  believed 
her  to  be  the  sole  cause  of  man's  downfall — as  witnesseth  this  an- 
cient Irish  poem.  Eve's  Lament.^ 

That  it  was  not  considered  unwise  to  open  the  schools  to  women 
is  shown  by  a  hundred  references  in  the  old  records.  It  will  be  re- 
membered that  Patrick,  when  he  came  to  the  palace  of  Cruachan 
found  there  the  two  princesses,  Fedelm  and  Eithne,   King  Lao- 

1  From  Kuno  Meyer's  "Ancient  Irish  Poetry." 

"I  am  Eve,  great  Adam's  wife, 
'Tis  I  that  outraged  Jesus  of  old ; 
'Tis  I  that  robbed  my  children  of  Heaven, 
By  right  'tis  I  that  should  have  gone  upon  the  cross. 

"I  had  a  kingly  house  to  please. 
Grievous  the  evil  choice  that  disgraced  me, 
Grievous  the  wicked  advice  that  withered  me ! 
Alas!  my  hand  is  not  pure. 

"  'Tis  I  that  plucked  the  apple, 
Which  went  across  my  gullet: 
So  long  as  they  endure  in  the  light  of  day, 
So  long  women  will  not  cease  from  folly. 

"There  would  be  no  ice  in  any  place, 
There  would  be  no  glistening  windy  winter, 
There  would  be  no  hell,  there  would  be  no  sorrow. 
There  would  be  no  fear,  if  it  were  not  for  me." 


WOiMEN  IN  ANCIENT  IRELAND  153 

ghaire's  daughters,  under  the  tuition  of  Mai  and  Coplait.  We 
hear  of  the  delg-graif,  the  writing  style,  of  the  mother  of  King 
Brandubh,  in  the  sixth  century.  When,  in  the  sixth  century  also, 
St.  Brendan  the  Navigator,  after  he  had  mastered  the  canons  of 
the  old  law  and  the  New  Testament  was  about  to  set  out  to  the 
school  of  Jarlath  at  Tuam  to  add  to  his  store  of  lore  that  of  the 
rules  of  the  saints  of  Ireland,  his  foster-mother  Ita,  the  Book  of 
Lismore  tells  us,  warned  him:  "Study  not  with  women,  nor  with 
virgins,  lest  some  one  revile  thee."  And  St.  Ita  herself  was  a 
teacher  of  girls.  When  St.  Mugint  went  over  and  founded  a 
school  in  Scotland  in  the  seventh  century,  we  are  given  to  under- 
stand that  girls  studied  there  as  well  as  boys.  At  the  school  of  St. 
Finian  at  Clonard,  in  the  sixth  century,  women  attended.  For  we 
learn  incidentally  that  when  the  daughter  of  the  King  of  Cualann 
came  to  it,  to  learn  to  read  her  psalms,  Finian  put  the  girl  in  the 
companionship  of  his  favourite  pupil,  Ciaran,  with  whom  she  read 
them.  As  it  was  in  the  Latin  that  the  Bible  was  read  at  those 
schools  it  follows  that  some  women  even  studied  the  classics  then. 

Under  date  A.  D.  932,  the  Annals  of  the  Four  Masters  chron- 
icle the  death  of  Uallach,  the  daughter  of  Muinnechan,  the  chief 
poetess  of  Ireland — one  of  many  Irish  poetesses.  Famous  female 
rulers  and  famous  mothers  and  wives  of  male  rulers,  such  as  Taillte 
and  Tea  and  Macha — and  fine  warriors,  too,  like  Medb — are  en- 
shrined in  the  accounts  of  the  ancient  seanachies. 

Of  course  it  is  not  for  a  moment  to  be  understood  that  in  early 
Ireland  the  education  of  woman  was  of  the  same  importance  as 
that  of  man — very  far  from  it.  The  instances  are  given  only  for 
purpose  of  showing  that  women  were  not  excluded  from  the  privi- 
leges of  education,  nor  was  there  any  prejudice  against  their  ac- 
quiring the  learning  of  the  schools.  In  the  various  centuries  and 
in  the  various  generations  some  of  the  more  ambitious  of  them 
sought  and  obtained  such  an  education,  at  least  from  the  days  of 
Patrick  downward.  And  through  all  the  centuries  some  of  them 
acquired  fame  in  this,  just  as  they  did  in  other  lines  of  what  is  con- 
sidered man's  endeavour.  There  is,  in  the  old  Book  of  Ballymote 
a  sort  of  history  in  prose  and  verse  of  Eirinn's  famous  women 
down  to  the  time  of  the  English  Invasion. 

By  reason  of  their  equality  or  near  equality  with  man  in  other 
realms,  women  warriors  frequently  felt  it  their  duty  to  take  up 
arms  and  march  into  battle  with  their  brothers  or  husbands.  It 
was  only  in  697  that  they  were  exempted  from  v/arfare — by  the 
influence  of  St.  Adamnan  at  the  Synod  of  Tara  in  that  year.  The 
law  that  exempted  them  is  known  as  the  Cain  Adamnan.     The 


154  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

Feilire  of  Aongus  describes  how  Adamnan  was  moved  by  his 
mother  to  fight  for  this  exemption,  "It  came  to  pass  that  Adamnan 
once  travelling  in  Magh  Breagh  with  his  mother  on  his  back  saw 
two  battalions  smiting  each  other.  It  happened,  moreover,  that 
Ronait  (his  mother)  saw  a  woman  with  an  iron  sickle,"  so  bar- 
barously tearing  to  pieces  one  of  her  own  sex  that  she,  Ronait,  laid 
it  on  Adamnan  to  rest  not  until  he  had  obtained  the  passing  of  a 
law  that  would  prevent  such  savagery  among  women  forever  after. 

In  Ireland,  after  marriage,  the  woman  did  not  become  a  chattel 
— thus  radically  differing  from  the  usual  custom  in  the  other  coun- 
tries of  Europe.  Before  marriage  she  was  wooed  and  courted 
like  the  superior  being  which,  later,  she  was  acknowledged  to  be 
in  all  countries.  In  the  exercise  of  the  acknowledged  privileges  of 
a  superior  being  she  could  scorn  and  frown  down  the  attentions  of 
chieftains  and  kings — and  scholars,  too — send  them  home  with 
hanging  heads,  and  choose  whomsoever  her  heart  went  out  to. 
And  after  marriage  she  was  not — as  unfortunately  was  too  gener- 
ally the  case  elsewhere — the  property  of  her  husband.  "It  was 
contract  that  was  between  them."  In  the  eyes  of  the  law,  they 
were  partners  in  a  matrimonial  venture — with  the  husband,  how- 
ever, the  leading  partner.  And  so  very  far  in  the  lead  was  the 
Irish  law  that  under  it  the  wife  could  remain  sole  owner  of  prop- 
erty that  had  been  her  own  before  marriage.  Also,  such  property 
as  was  jointly  owned  by  them  could  not  be  sold  or  signed  away  by 
the  husband.  Their  rights  in  the  joint  property  were  equal;  and 
the  voluntary  consent  of  both  was  necessary  for  its  disposal.  This 
is  a  remarkable  acknowledgment  of  the  equality  of  the  women  of 
Ireland  with  the  men  in  the  remotest  days — above  all,  an  equality 
persisting  after  marriage,  when,  down  to  very  recent  days,  even  in 
highly  advanced  countries,  all  such  rights  were  insured  to  the  hus- 
band. 

A  married  woman  retained  the  right,  too,  In  her  own  person 
to  pursue  a  case  at  law,  and  in  her  own  person  to  recover  for  debt. 
In  this  connection  it  may  be  mentioned  that  when  a  woman  levied 
upon  the  goods  of  a  debtor,  she  distrained  such  things  as  were  ap- 
propriate for  women;  such  animals,  for  instance,  as  lap-dogs  or 
sheep;  such  articles  as  spindles,  mirrors,  or  comb-bags. 

Because  of  the  primary  importance  of  military  duty,  and  the 
necessity  of  having  men  liable  therefor — In  ancient  Ireland,  as  In 
all  ancient  countries,  the  man  had  the  preference  over  the  woman 
in  the  inheriting  of  land.  If  there  was  a  son  he  Inherited  the  land 
In  preference  to  a  daughter — who,  however,  got  coibche,  marriage 
portion,  out  of  the  general  estate.     The  daughter,  however,  in- 


VVOMExN  IN  ANCIENT  IRELAND  155 

herited  the  land  if  there  was  no  son.  But  by  virtue  of  her  getting 
the  land  she  had  to  provide  and  pay  a  warrior  when  a  military 
levy  was  made.  It  is  said  that  it  was  the  famous  law-wise  Brigid 
Brethra,  Brigid  of  the  Judgments,  who,  about  the  time  of  Christ, 
gave  the  legal  decision  which  granted  this  right  to  women. 

A  woman's  coibche,  tinnscra,  or  tochra,-  as  the  marriage  por- 
tion was  variously  called,  took  the  form  of  gold  or  silver,  animals, 
clothes  or  household  articles.  But  the  term  coibche,  although  often- 
times used  for  dowry,  was  more  properly  the  price  which  the  bride- 
groom paid  to  the  father  of  the  bride,  or  to  the  bride  herself — 
after  the  marriage  had  been  consummated.  The  very  old  laws 
laid  it  down  that  the  coibche  should  be  paid  in  yearly  instalments, 
the  whole  of  the  first  year's  instalment  going  to  the  bride's  father, 
two-thirds  of  the  second  year's  to  him,  one-half  of  the  third  year's, 
and  on  decreasingly.     To  the  wife  went  the  remainder. 

There  was  another  payment  at  marriage,  called  tinol,  a  collec- 
tive gift  made  by  the  friends  to  the  lanamaiti  (young  couple).  In 
this  tinol  the  man  had  two-thirds  right  and  the  woman  one-third. 

Whether  she  did  or  did  not  bring  anything  else,  however,  the 
wife  practically  always  brought  into  the  marriage  contract  her  own 
articles  of  industry,  her  distaff,  spinning  wheel,  spindle,  loom,  etc. 
In  the  few  cases  in  which  she  did  not  bring  these,  she  had  a  con- 
siderably lower  legal  standing  in  the  partnership. 

There  were  certain  cases  of  legal  separation — for  legal  separa- 
tion for  good  cause  then  existed — in  which  it  was  adjudged  the 
right  of  the  wife  to  take  with  her  all  of  the  marriage  portion  and 
the  marriage  gifts,  and  an  amount  over  and  above  that  for  dam- 
ages. 

The  old  laws  as  well  as  the  old  stones  everywhere  testify  that 
Irish  women  of  ancient  days  devoted  much  attention  to  dress, 
toilet  and  the  general  care  and  adornment  of  the  person.  The 
finger-nails  received  much  attention;  and  well-kept  finger-nails  sig- 
nified that  their  possessor  was  a  person  of  taste.  The  nails  of  the 
women  of  leisure  were  dyed  crimson.  The  eye-brows  also  were 
dyed,  usually  black — with  berry  juice.  A  vegetable  dye  was  some- 
times used  to  tint  the  face.  But  the  care  of  the  hair  was  the  most 
elaborate  of  all — and  this  applied  to  men  (who  then  wore  their 
hair  long)  as  well  as  to  women.  Much  time  and  attention  were 
bestowed  upon  the  hair's  combing  and  dressing.  The  oldest  illu- 
minated manuscripts  reflect  this.  It  was  beautifully  curled  in  spiral 
curls,  both  in  front  and  hanging  down  to  either  side.      It  was 

2  Hence  the  Scottish  "tocher." 


156  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

braided  down  the  back,  and  confined  at  the  end  with  golden  rings, 
or  with  light,  hollow,  golden  balls.  Women's  hair  was  sometimes, 
however,  bound  up,  and  held  in  position  by  golden  rings.  There 
were  beautiful  combs  of  bone  or  horn,  which  were  carried  in  cior- 
bolgs  (comb-bags).  The  bath  was  regularly  indulged  in — by  the 
men  as  well  as  the  women.  The  Fenians  bathed  every  evening  be- 
fore they  took  their  great  meal.  It  was  considered  a  shameful 
breach  of  hospitality  If  a  bath  was  not  at  once  prepared  for  the 
traveller  and  the  stranger  in  the  house  that  he  honoured  by  his 
presence. 

Gloves  and  veils  were  worn  by  the  fine  ladles.  Maidens  went 
with  their  heads  uncovered;  but  married  women  wore  on  their  heads 
either  a  hood,  or  a  roll  of  linen,  folded  around  several  times. 
Their  dress  of  woollen,  linen,  silk  or  satin,  was  oftentimes  a  single 
garment  falling  to  the  ankles,  and  consisting  sometimes  of  as  much 
as  thirty  yards  of  stuff,  tastefully  gathefi-ed  in  many  and  deep  folds. 
And  over  this  dress  was  worn  out  of  doors  a  long  cloak. 

Many  of  their  ancient  ornaments  and  their  beautiful  toilet  ar- 
ticles are  still  preserved.  Very  beautifully  wrought  brooches  of 
silver,  and  gold,  and  bronze;  great  pins  for  the  hair  and  pins  for 
the  cloak;  leathern  handbags,  with  embossed  patterns  for  carrying 
their  personal  ornaments;  veils  and  gloves;  beautiful  combs;  mir- 
rors, too,  called  scadarcs;  may  be  seen  in  the  museum  of  the  Royal 
Irish  Academy  and  In  the  National  Museum.  They  had  scented 
oils  for  toilet  use.  They  had  furs  also — skins  of  the  otter,  seal 
and  badger. 

Chivalrous  respect  for  women,  both  the  married  and  the  un- 
married, was  a  characteristic  feature  of  Irish  life  In  all  ages.  And 
the  natural  chivalry  of  true  men  it  was  that  was  shown  to  them,  not 
at  all  the  artificial  thing  which  in  later  days  and  in  other  countries 
was  the  base  counterfeit  substituted  for  the  real  thing.  True 
courtesy,  respect  and  honour  were  accorded  the  women,  every  time 
and  everywhere.  Most  ancient  accounts  of  the  most  ancient  revels 
show  that  the  women  were  seldom  permitted  to  be  present.  They 
had  their  own  part  of  the  house,  where  they  talked  and  worked, 
played  and  sang,  while  the  men  revelled.  The  account  of  the  Fair 
of  Carmen  shows  that  the  women  there  had  a  place  apart,  where 
they  could  meet  and  commingle,  and  which  the  law  of  the  Fair  for- 
bade men  to  enter.  In  the  chief  residences  and  palaces,  always,  the 
women  had  their  own  special  wing  of  the  house  exclusively  re- 
served for  them.  It  was  known  as  the  Grianan,  signifying  the 
sunny  part. 

An  apparent  exception  to  the  rule  that  women  were  excused 


WOMEN  IN  ANCIENT  IRELAND  157 

from  the  revel,  occurs  in  the  well-known  very  ancient  account  of 
the  feast  of  Bricriu,  where  the  women  are  made  to  play  a  part 
which  is  popularly  supposed  to  be  characteristic  of  woman's  nature 
— and  which  shows  that  womanly  rivalry  in  those  far-away  days 
was  the  same  human  quality  that  it  is  in  the  world  to-day. 

Bricriu's  feast  was  not  a  common  revel.  It  was  a  great  feast 
of  almost  national  importance,  the  preparations  for  which  occu- 
pied a  whole  year  and  which  was  attended  by  all  the  great  ones  of 
Ulster.  The  satirist  and  cynic,  Bricriu  of  the  Poison  Tongue,  who 
was  the  host  of  this  wonderful  feast,  seeking  to  indulge  his  malev- 
olence by  creating  dissension  among  the  bright  heroes  of  the  prov- 
ince, attained  his  end  by  artfully  playing  upon  the  natural  vanity 
of  their  beautiful  wives.  Cuchullain's  wife,  Emer  the  Discreet, 
Conal  Cearnach's  wife,  Lendabair  the  Fair,  and  Laoghaire  Bua- 
dach's  wife,  Fedelm  the  Ever-blooming,  he  made  his  unwitting  tools. 

For  this  feast  there  was  specially  built  by  Bricriu  a  magnificent 
house  which  "excelled  in  material  and  art,  beauty  and  gracefulness, 
in  pillars  and  walls,  and  variety,  and  in  porticoes  and  doors,  all  the 
houses  of  the  time." 

Fergus  MacRiogh,  knowing  well  the  evil  Bricriu,  wisely  tried 
to  dissuade  the  Ulster  champions  from  going  to  this  feast — "Be- 
cause," he  said,  "if  we  should  go,  our  dead  would  be  more  numer- 
ous than  our  living." 

But  they  went — to  their  black  sorrow.  When  they  were  assem- 
bled Bricriu  took  well-planned  opportunity  to  speak  privately  in 
the  ear  of  each  of  these  beautiful  ladies,  impressing  on  her  with  all 
the  insinuating  power  of  a  poet,  that  she  was  by  far  the  most  beau- 
tiful, lustrous,  the  greatest  and  first,  of  the  women  of  Ulster,  just 
as  her  husband  was  the  greatest  and  noblest  man  and  champion. 

"Well  done  this  night,  thou  wife  of  Laoghaire  Buadach.  It  is 
no  nick-name  to  call  thee  Fedelm  the  Ever'blooming,  because  of  the 
excellence  of  thy  shape,  and  because  of  thy  intelligence,  and  because 
of  thy  family.  Conchobar,  the  king  of  the  chief  province  of  Eirinn, 
is  thy  father,  and  Laoghaire  Buadach  thy  husband.  Now  I  would 
not  think  it  too  much  for  thee  that  none  of  the  women  of  Ulster 
should  come  before  thee  into  the  banqueting  house;  but  that  it 
should  be  after  thy  heels  that  the  whole  band  of  the  women  of 
Ulster  should  come  (and  I  say  to  thee  that)  if  it  be  thou  that  shalt 
be  the  first  to  enter  the  house  this  night,  thou  shalt  be  queen  over 
all  the  other  women  of  Ulster." 

In  like  manner  did  he  whisper  to  each  of  them.  When  the  ser- 
pent, Bricriu,  whispered  in  the  pleased  ear  of  these   fair  ladies, 


158  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

each  of  them,  accompanied  by  her  fifty  attendants,  was  strolling  out 
to  take  the  air,  upon  the  lawn  of  Bricriu's  magnificent  house.  And 
as  he  had  told  each  of  them  that  when  they  were  returning  the 
first  woman  to  enter  the  hall  of  the  festivities  should  be  queen  of 
the  whole  province,  we  can  easily  conjecture  that  the  return  was 
exciting — 

"The  three  women  moved  on  then  till  they  reached  the  same 
place,  that  is,  three  ridges  from  the  house;  and  none  of  them  knew 
that  the  other  had  been  spoken  to  by  Bricrind.  They  returned  to 
the  house  then.  They  passed  over  the  first  ridge  with  a  quiet,  grace- 
ful, dignified  carriage ;  hardly  did  any  one  of  them  put  one  foot  be- 
yond another.  In  the  second  ridge  their  steps  were  closer  and 
quicker.  On  the  ridge  nearest  to  the  house  each  woman  sought  to 
forcibly  take  the  lead  of  her  companions;  and  they  even  took  up  their 
dresses  to  the  calves  of  their  legs,  vieing  with  each  other  who  should 
enter  the  house  first;  because  what  Bricrind  said  to  each,  unknown, 
to  the  others,  was  that  she  who  should  first  enter  the  house  should  be 
queen  of  the  whole  province.  And  such  was  the  noise  they  made 
in  their  contest  to  enter  the  kingly  house,  that  it  was  like  the  rush 
of  fifty  chariots  arriving  there ;  so  that  they  shook  the  whole  kingly 
house,  and  the  champions  started  up  for  their  arms,  each  striking  nis 
face  against  the  other  throughout  tlie  house." 

The  fine  virtues  and  accomplishments  which  went  to  the  mak- 
ing of  a  perfect  woman  in  ancient  Ireland,  were  well  exemplified 
in  this  Emer,  wife  of  Cuchullain,  one  of  the  most  famed  women  in 
ancient  Irish  story.  "The  six  maidenly  gifts  of  Emer"  faithfully 
reflect  for  us  what  was  the  popular  conception  then  of  a  desirable 
maiden.  They  were:  "Beauty  of  person,  beauty  of  voice,  the  gift 
of  music,  knowledge  of  embroidery,  knowledge  of  needle-work,  and 
the  gift  of  wisdom  and  virtuous  chastity." 

And  when  we  are  first  introduced  to  Emer,  we  find  her  at 
needlework  in  the  midst  of  a  group  of  maidens  likewise  engaged, 
outside  the  Dun  of  her  father  Forgaill.  It  is  when  Cuchullain 
arrives  to  pay  her  court.  She  is  shown  shy,  demure,  and  self-deny- 
ing, hesitant  about  permitting  herself  to  be  wooed,  and  endeavour- 
ing to  pass  the  coveted  honour  to  her  elder  sister.  Such  is  the  poet's 
reflection  of  the  popular  conception  of  maidenly  modesty,  and 
maidenly  excellence,  in  the  far-away  time. 

Yet  for  all  their  maidenly  modesty  and  true  womanliness,  the 
v/omen  of  ancient  Ireland  were  sensible  of  the  fact  that  they  were 
man's  equal,  and  where  necessary  could  insist  upon  equal  treatment. 
A  very  fine  instance  of  this  is  the  case  related  in  the  Book  of  Lis- 


WOMEN  IN  ANCIENT  IRELAND  159 

more  of  Canair  the  Pious.  She  was  a  holy  maiden  of  the  Benn- 
traighe  who  lived  the  life  of  a  holy  hermit  there,  in  the  days  when 
Saint  Senan,  having  his  monastery  and  school  on  Inis-Cathaig,  for- 
bade any  woman  to  come  upon  the  island.  The  Book  says  that 
Canair,  praying  after  nocturne  one  night,  saw  as  in  a  vision  all 
the  churches  of  Ireland  sending  up  towers  of  fire  to  Heaven.  But 
the  greatest  of  the  great  fire  towers  went  up  from  Inis-Cathaig. 
**Fair  is  yon  cell!"  exclaimed  Canair.  "Thither  will  I  go  that  my 
resurrection  may  be  near  it."  But  Senan,  meeting  her  on  her  ar- 
rival on  his  shore,  commanded  her:  "Go  to  thy  sister  on  yon 
island  east,  for  guesting.  No  woman  shall  enter  here."  To  which 
the  indignant  Canair,  fired  for  her  sex  and  their  rights,  answered: 
"How  canst  thou  say  that?  Christ  is  no  worse  than  thou.  Christ 
came  to  redeem  women,  no  less  than  men.  No  less  did  He  suffer 
for  sake  of  women.  Women  have  given  service  and  tendance  unto 
Christ  and  His  apostles.  No  less  than  men  do  women  enter  the 
heavenly  kingdom.  Why  then  shouldst  thou  not  take  women  to 
thee  in  thine  island?" 

And  this  able  pleader  won  over  the  Saint,  and  for  once  shat- 
tered his  rigid  rule. 

It  was  this  respect  for  women,  permeating  society  In  every  age 
in  Ireland,  that  gave  such  moral  fibre  to  the  Irish  race  as  enabled 
it  not  only  to  persist  through  later  long  and  fearful  centuries  of 
oppression  unparalleled,  under  which  other  races  would  have  dis- 
appeared— not  only  to  persist  through  these  terrors,  but  to  come 
out  of  them  still  morally  stronger  than  almost  any  other  of  the  most 
favoured  peoples  of  Europe.  God  and  Bridget  blessed  the  race 
that  blessed  the  name  of  Woman. 

Sullivan,  W.  K.,  Ph.D.:     Introduction  to  O'Curry's  Manners  and  Customs. 
Joyce,  P.  W. :     Social  History  of  Ancient  Ireland. 
Henderson,  Geo.,  M.A.,  Ph.D. :  Fled  Bricrend,  the  Feast  of  Bricriu. 
O'Curry,  Eugene:     Manners  and  Customs  of  the  Ancient  Irish. 

Manuscript  Materials  of  Irish  History. 

Brehon  Laws:  the  Ancient  Laws  of  Ireland. 


CHAPTER  XXIII 


COLM    CILLE 


Among  native  Irish  saints  Colm  Cille  (Columba)  divides  the  hon- 
ours with  Bridget  in  the  affections  of  the  Irish  people — divides  the 
honours  for  greatness  also,  some  say.  But  when  we  consider  the 
works  he  performed,  the  monasteries  he  founded,  the  power  he 
wielded  over  princes  and  provinces,  the  veneration  he  compelled 
from  three  countries,  and  the  Christian  reclamation  of  which  he 
was  the  direct  cause,  added  to  the  powerful  personality  of  the  man, 
which  holds  him  as  a  living  presence  in  Ireland  and  Scotland  more 
than  thirteen  centuries  after  the  green  sod  of  Hy  was  drawn  over 
him,  we  recognise  that  he  was  without  a  peer  among  native  Irish 
saints — and  had  only  one  peer — which  is  to  say,  Patrick — among 
all  the  saints  of  Western  Europe.  And  In  Northern  Ireland  and 
Western  Scotland  he  has  outranked  Patrick  himself  in  the  power 
he  has  wielded  over  the  imagination  of  the  people.  With  Patrick 
and  Bridget,  Colm  Cille  also  Is  one  of  the  great  personages  of  the 
universal  Church. 

Colm  Cille  was  of  Irish  royal  stock,  very  close  in  the  line  of 
succession  to  the  kingship  of  Tir-Conaill,  and  the  high-kingship  of 
Ireland.  Indeed  one  of  his  historians  says:  "He  had  the  natural 
right  to  the  kingship  of  Ireland,  and  it  would  have  been  offered 
him  had  he  not  put  It  from  him  for  God's  sake."  He  was  a  de- 
scendant in  the  third  degree  from  Conal  Gulban,  the  founder  of 
the  principality  of  Tir-Conaill,  and  consequently  in  the  fourth  de- 
gree from  Niall  of  the  Nine  Hostages.  He  was  born  a  nephew  of 
the  then  reigning  High-king,  Muircertach  MacErca.  And  a  High- 
king  who  reigned  later  in  Colm's  career,  AInmire,  was  his  cousin. 
His  father,  Feidlimid,  was  chieftain  of  the  particular  territory  of 
Tir-Conaill,  in  which  he  was  born.  And  his  mother,  Elthne,  was 
daughter  of  a  Munster  chief,  of  the  line  of  Cathair  Mor.  It  was 
only  In  a  time  when,  as  then,  the  fires  of  Christianity  glowed  at 
white  heat,  that  a  man  of  such,  and  so  many,  royal  entanglements 
could  turn  his  back  upon  wealth,  rank  and  power,  and  give  himself 
to  God. 

160 


COLM  CILLE  i6i 

Colm  is  said  to  have  been  baptised  Crimthann,  when  he  was 
born  at  Gartan  (Donegal)  in  the  year  521.  Some  think  it  was  in 
his  days  of  study  under  St.  Finian  of  Moville  (in  Down)  that, 
from  this  gentle  boy's  haunting  the  church  in  the  hours  between 
study-times  his  fellow-pupils  gave  him  the  name  of  Colm  Cille, 
Dove  of  the  Church. 

He  was  fostered  and  tutored  in  his  earlier  days  by  a  priest 
named  Cruithnechan,  at  the  place  which  is  now  called  Temple 
Douglas — only  a  few  miles  from  his  birthplace.  He  went  to  three 
or  four  other  schools  later,  for  his  higher  education — to  the  school 
of  St.  Finian  of  Moville,  as  mentioned,  where  he  is  said  to  have 
been  made  deacon;  later  to  the  other  and  greater  St.  Finian,  of 
Clonard,  to  study  divine  wisdom.  There  he  was  a  fellow-pupil  to 
a  band  of  youths  who  were  to  be,  with  him,  among  Ireland's  great- 
est. He  was  one  of  that  band  of  Finian's  pupils  who  came  to  be 
known  as  the  Twelve  Apostles  of  Eirinn. 

For  Colm,  Finian  had  a  great  liking — took  that  liking  the  first 
day  that  the  youth  from  Tir-Conaill  appeared  at  his  school.  For 
he  asked  the  lad  to  erect  his  hut  at  the  door  of  the  church.  Finian 
had  a  mystic  dream  later  regarding  Colm  and  his  other  favourite, 
Ciaran  of  Clonmacnois.  It  appeared  to  him  that  there  arose  in 
the  sky  a  moon  of  gold  from  the  horizon  in  the  northeast,  and  a 
moon  of  silver  over  the  midlands.  The  latter  lighted  the  whole 
centre  of  Ireland;  but  the  former,  the  golden  moon,  lit  up  all  Erin 
and  Alba,  and  the  whole  western  world,  with  its  brilliance  and 
radiance.* 

Colm  returned  home  to  Tir-Conaill  in  544  because  of  the 
Buidhe  Chonaill,  the  dreadful  pestilence  that  swept  Ireland  several 
times  in  those  centuries — and  which  at  this  particular  time,  broke 
up  and  scattered  the  great  schools,  sending  the  pupils  in  drifts  to 
homes  oversea,  as  well  as  to  homes  in  Eirinn — and  which  now  car- 
ried off  several  of  the  leading  teachers,  and  some  of  the  leading 
saints  of  Ireland,  including  the  famous  saint  and  scholar,  Ciaran, 
the  founder  of  Clonmacnois. 

It  is  generally  agreed  -  that  Colm  was  ordained  to  the  priest- 

1  Either  before  or  after  his  career  at  Gonard  he  attended  in  Leinster  the 
bardic  school  of  one  Garman,  where  he  is  supposed  to  have  had  his  well-kriowTi 
poetic  talents  developed,  and  his  poetic  training  perfected.  Finally,  he  is  believed 
by  some  to  have  been  studying  at  St  Mobi's  school  at  Glasnevin  with  Comgall 
and  Cainnech  as  his  companions.  Lanigan,  however,  denies  that  he  was  at  St. 
Mobi's  school.  And  indeed  the  only  proof  on  which  it  rests  is  the  tradition  of 
himself  and  his  fellow-pupils,  on  the  night  of  a  storm,  on  which  the  River  Tolka 
was  swollen,  swimming  the  river  rather  than  miss  vespers  at  the  church  on  the 
opposite  bank. 

-  Lannigan  denies  this  also. 


1 62  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

hood  while  at  Clonard.  It  throws  an  interesting  light  on  the  char- 
acter of  the  ecclesiastics  in  early  Christian  Ireland,  several  of 
whom  we  know,  by  authentic  record,  to  have  been  artisans,  to  learn 
that  when  the  boy  sought  out  Bishop  Etchen  for  his  ordination, 
he  found  him  ploughing  his  field. 

He  was  about  twenty-four  or  twenty-five  years  of  age  when  he 
returned  home  from  school.  His  close  kinsman,  the  Prince  of  Tir- 
Conaill,  gave  him  a  grant  of  land,  a  hill  of  oaks  near  where  the 
river  Foyle  debouches  into  the  Loch  of  the  same  name — where  he 
founded  his  famous  monastery  of  Derry.  As  a  love  for  aU  of 
God's  living  things  was  a  marked  characteristic  of  almost  all  the 
early  Irish  saints,  we  find  Colm,  when  erecting  his  monastery  here, 
breaking  a  precedent,  that  was  not  only  honoured  but  blest,  by  re- 
fusing to  build  his  church  with  its  chancel  towards  the  east — ^be- 
cause he  was  thereby  able  to  spare  the  life  of  many  oak-trees.^ 

His  next  foundation,  after  Derry,  was  the  monastery  of  Dur- 
row  (in  the  present  Kings  County) — founded  seven  or  eight  years 
later.  His  missionary  activity  now  became  extraordinary.  He 
was  travelling  east  and  west,  preaching,  exhorting,  organising  com- 
munities, founding  monasteries.  He  founded  Kells,  Swords,  Drum- 
colum,  Drumcliff,  Screen,  Kilglass  and  Drumhome,  and  many,  many 
more.  In  all  he  is  said  to  have  founded  thirty  monasteries  in 
Northern  Ireland — before  yet  he  was  exiled,  which  event  occurred 
in  562,  when  he  was  forty-two  years  of  age. 

His  exile,  the  greatest,  saddest  event  of  his  life,  for  which 
calamity  through  all  his  years  after  he  never  ceased  to  grieve,  was 
yet  fraught  with  seeds  of  happy  blessing  for  the  neighbouring  coun- 
tries to  which  he  and  his  disciples  were  to  bear  the  tidings  of  Christ. 
The  reason  of  Colm's  exile,  the  terriblest  sentence  that  could  be 

3  After  he  left  Derry  and  left  Ireland  we  find  hira  in  his  beautifully  pathetic 
lament  for  exile  telling  how  the  angels  crowded  every  leaf  of  the  oaks  of 
Derry,  listening  to  the  monks  chanting  the  psalms,  both  at  midnight  and 
at  morn.  For,  through  the  beautiful  years  that  he  spent  there  building  up  the 
community,  and  making  the  monastery  a  temple  of  the  living  God,  the  holy  man's 
heart  sent  down  its  roots  deep  into  Derry  hill.  His  soul  was  sorely  pained  at 
parting  from  his  many  monasteries,  but  it  got  a  most  woful  wrench  when  he  had 
to  tear  his  heart's  roots  from  among  the  roots  of  the  oak  wherewith  they  had 
mingled  on  his  beloved  Derry  hill. 

"The  reason  that  I  love  Derry  is, 
For  its  peace,  for  its  purity. 
And  for  its  crowds  of  white  angels, 
*  From  one  end  to  the  other. 

"O  Derry,  my  own  little  grove, 
My  dwelling,  my  dear  little  cell! 
O  Eternal  God  in  Heaven  above, 
Woe  be  to  him  who  violates  it !" 


COLM  CILLE  163 

pronounced  against  one  of  the  most  passionate  patriots  that  Eirinn 
ever  produced,  is  alleged  to  have  been  a  penance  for  causing  the 
great  battle  of  Cuildremne  (in  Sligo)  where  a  host  of  lives  were 
lost.  And  the  causes  of  his  instigating  this  battle  are  popularly 
supposed  to  be  two:  because  the  Ard-Righ,  Diarmuid  O'Carroll, 
in  the  first  place  adjudged  a  case  against  him — unfairly,  as  Colm 
believed;  and  because,  furthermore,  Diarmuid  violated  monastic 
sanctuary  and  carried  away  and  punished  with  death  a  homicide 
who  had  taken  sanctuary  with  the  saint. 

The  case  adjudged  against  him  affected  a  copy  of  the  Psalms 
which  he,  Colm,  had  made  surreptitiously  from  the  book  of  his  mas- 
ter, Finian  of  Moville.  When  Finian  discovered  that  his  pupil  had 
made  and  carried  off  a  copy  he  claimed  its  return  as  stolen  prop- 
erty. The  case  was  laid  before  the  High  King,  Diarmuid,  who, 
after  hearing  argument  on  both  sides,  delivered  the  sententious 
judgment  which  was  popularised  ever  after  in  Ireland,  "Le  gach 
boin  a  boinin" — to  every  cow  her  calf — a  verdict  which,  as  it  would 
make  the  copy  Finian's,  Colm  hotly  resented  and  rejected.* 

After  this  Cuildremne  slaughter  (in  561)  the  impetuous  Colm 
gave  way  to  remorse  that  bit  into  his  soul.  His  biographer,  Adam- 
nan,  says  there  was  a  synod  held  at  Taillte  shortly  after,  where  a 
motion  was  made  to  excommunicate  Colm,  for  his  crime — which 
would  have  been  carried  but  that  his  bosom  friend,  Brendan  of 
Birr,  held  out  against  the  other  members  and  saved  Colm.  But 
his  own  soul  was  punishing  him.  He  finally  went  to  St.  Molaise — 
of  Devenish,  as  some  say,  or  St.  Molaise  of  Inishmurry,  others 
say — humbly  confessed  his  crime  and  asked  to  be  penanced. 

For  such  a  great  crime  the  penance  must  be  great.  Knowing 
the  intense  love  that  possessed  Colm  for  his  native  land,  Molaise 
ordered  that  he  should  go  forth  from  his  country  and  behold  it 
never  more.    Also  he  should  bring  to  Christ  as  many  souls  as  there 

*  The  violation  of  sanctuary  occurred  when  Curan,  son  of  King  Aed  of  Con- 
naught,  a  hostage  at  Tara,  had.  at  a  game  of  caman,  struck  and  killed  the  son  of 
the  High-King's  steward,  and  had  then  taken  refuge  with  Colm.  King  Diarmuid 
commanded  that  the  young  prince  should  be  taken  forcibly  from  Colm  and  put  to 
death — which  was  done.  For  this  unforgiveable  outrage  against  traditional  sanc- 
tuary, Colm,  eluding  a  guard  that  had  been  put  over  him,  quitted  Diarmuid's 
domain,  and  made  his  way  over  tlie  mountains  to  his  home  in  Tir-Conaill.  His 
kinsmen,  the  princes  of  Tir-Conaill  and  Tir-Eogain,  took  up  his  quarrel,  and 
joining  their  army  to  that  of  Aed,  King  of  Connaught,  father  of  the  prince  who 
had  been  put  to  death,  met  Diarmuid  and  his  forces  at  Cuildremne,  fought  and 
defeated  him,  with  terrible  slaughter — three  thousand  dead,  some  say,  being  left 
on  the  field. 

The  battle  of  Cuildremne  was  not  the  only  one  for  which  the  impetuous  Colm 
was  responsible.  Other  contentions  of  his  had  caused  the  battles  of  Coleraine 
wherein  his  people  fought  the  Dal  Araide,  and  the  battle  of  Culfeda  in  which  they 
fought  Coleman,  the  son  of  Diarmuid. 


1 64  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

had  been  lives  lost  at  Cuildremne.  Sad-hearted  for  the  sore  sen- 
tence that  had  been  meted  out  to  him — but  resolute— Colm,  taking 
with  him  twelve  companions,  among  whom  were  his  uncle,  Ernaan, 
and  his  cousin,  Baoithin,  sailed  away  from  the  land  which  his  heart 
loved  so  fondly,  and  which  now  must  nevermore  be  his. 

"Alas  for  the  voyage,  O  High  King  of  Heaven, 
Enjoined  upon  me, 
For  that  I  on  the  red  plain  of  bloody  Cooldrevin 
Have  sinned  against  Thee. 


"Three  things  I  am  leaving  behind  me,  the  very 
Most  dear  that  I  know, 
Tir-Leidach  I'm  leaving,  and  Durrow  and  Derry. 
Alas,  I  must  go ! 

*'Yet  my  visit  and  feasting  with  Comgall  have  eased  mc 
At  Cainnech's  right  hand: 
And  all  but  thy  government,  Eire,  had  pleased  me, 
Thou  waterfall  land !"  ^ 

Into  a  bay  on  the  island  of  Oronsay  in  the  southern  Hebrides 
they  ran  their  boat,  on  an  evening.    Next  morning  Colm,  climbing 

"  It  was  a  grievously  sorrowful  leave-taking  of  Ireland  was  Colm's,  as,  looking 
back  from  his  boat,  his  moistened  sight  embraced  the  beloved  hills  that,  afar, 
were  sinking  forever  from  view.  In  his  Lament  for  Erin,  one  of  the  several  beau- 
tiful poems  credited  to  the  poet  Colm,  he  says : 

"There  is  a  grey  eye  "Melodious  are  Erin's  clerics,  melo- 

That  will  look  back  upon  Erin:  dious  her  birds, 

Which  shall  never  see  again  Gentle  her  youths,  wise  her  elders, 

The  men  of  Erin  nor  her  women.  Illustrious  her  men,  famous  to  be- 

hold, 
Illustrious    her    women    for    fond 

"I  stretch  my  glance  across  the  brine  ^^^ 

From  the  firm  oaken  planks ;  u^  blessing  with  thee  to  the 

Many  are  the  tears  of  my  bright  soft  West 

grey  eye  ^  -^    heart  is  broken  in  my  breast : 

As  I  look  back  upon  Erin.  gj^^^,^  5^^^^^  ^^^^^  overtake  me. 

It  is  for  my  great  love  of  the  Gael. 

"My  mind  is  upon  Erin,     _  "Were  all  Alba  mine^ 

Upon  Loch  Lene,  upon  Unny,  From  its  centre  to  its  border, 

Upon  the  land  where  Ulstermen  are,  I   would  rather  have  the  site  of  a 
Upon    gentle    Munster    and    upon  house 

Meath.  In  the  middle  of  fair  Derry. 

"Beloved  are  Durrow  and  Derry 
Beloved  is  Raphoe  with  purity, 
Beloved  Drumhome  with  its  sweet  acorns, 
Beloved  are   Swords   and   Kells !" 


COLM  CILLE  165 

a  high  hill  to  look  toward  the  land  where  he  had  left  his  heart, 
beheld,  on  the  horizon's  verge,  low  and  dim,  that  land  for  which 
his  soul  so  sorely  grieved.     Here  he  must  not  stay! 

"To  oars  again,  we  can  not  stay, 
For  ah,  on  ocean's  rim,  I  see 
Where  sunbeams  pierce  the  cloudy  day. 
From  these  rude  hills  of  Oronsay, 
The  Isle  so  dear  to  me!" 

The  sad  company  had  to  take  to  their  boat  again,  and  spread 
their  sail  to  catch  a  wind  that  would  drive  them  farther  from 
Eirinn. 

Their  next  landing  was  their  final  one.  It  was  on  lona.®  And 
on  that  quiet  evening  on  which  the  keel  of  their  boat  grated  on  the 
pebbled  shore  of  this  quiet  isle,  to  the  world  unknown  till  now, 
Fame  with  its  thousand  wings  encircled  it  and  marked  it  for  its 
own. 

lona  was  part  of  the  Scotic  Dal  Riada,  colonised  and  ruled  by 
the  Scots  (Irish).  King  Conal,  who  now  reigned  there,  was  of  the 
Tir-Chonaill  family,  Colm's  own  kinsman.  And  to  the  exile  he 
made  a  grant  of  land  whereon  the  holy  man  founded  a  home  for 
his  monks,  where  he  was  to  found  his  monastery,  and  where  he 
was  to  build  his  school,  and  from  whence  he  and  his  disciples  were 
to  carry  Christ,  first  to  the  untutored  Picts,  and  later  to  the  Britons 
and  the  Saxons  of  the  south. 

Starting  here  with  a  small  number  of  brothers,  and  small  and 
poor  shelter,  they  drew  to  them  from  Ireland  recruits  in  great  num- 
bers, whom,  the  fame  of  Colm,  his  power  and  his  piety,  perennially 
attracted.  Their  buildings  grew,  their  farms  spread,  their  flocks 
increased.  They  bore  the  Gospel  tidings  to  King  Brude  and  to 
his  Pictish  hordes  in  the  uttermost  corners  of  Scotland.  Their 
school,  too,  attained  great  fame,  and  attracted  students  from  all 
these  island  countries.^ 


^  Called  also  Hy,  and  I-Colmcille. 

"^  From  time  to  time  also  to  lona  came  to  visit  Colm  his  brother-saints  from 
Ireland,  famous  men  of  that  day — the  two  Brendans,  the  two  Fmans,  Flannan, 
Ronan,  Comgall,  Finbar,  all  are  said  to  have  visited  the  exile,  bringing  dearlj' 
loved  Eirinn  to  him  who  to  Eirinn  could  not  return.  Many  others,  too,  abbots  of 
various  Irish  monasteries  came  there,  like  these,  to  seek  the  counsel  and  advice 
of  one  whose  counsel  was  prized  beyond  that  of  any  other  Irishman  of  that  day. 
Among  them,  the  wandering  abbot  Cormac  Ua  Liathain,  who,  forced  from  Colm's 
monastery  of  Durrow,  because  he  was  a  Munsterman  presiding  over  Northerns 
who  nagged  him,  was  seeking  a  deserted  isle  where  he  might  end  his  days  alone 
with  God.  And  for  leaving  that  land  which  of  all  earths  lands  was  the  most 
delightful,  most  joyous,  from  which  no  man  in  his  sanity  could  voluntarily  exile 


i66  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

Yet,  despite  the  penance  which  seemed  to  forbid  It,  was  he 
destined  to  tread  Eirinn's  hallowed  soil  again.  The  romantic,  dra- 
matic return  to  his  land  of  him  who  had  been  solemnly  forbidden 
ever  to  see  that  land  again,  is  one  of  the  outstanding  incidents  of 
a  life  filled  with  big  incidents.  He  was  to  return  to  Eirinn  to  the 
famous  Convention  of  Drimceatt — return,  too,  without  literally 
transgressing  against  the  penitential  ordinance.  And  this  was  the 
reason  of  his  return. 

The  poets  of  Eirinn — of  which  brotherhood  Colm  was  a  proud 
member — had  now  not  only  multiplied  so  largely,  but  also  had 
become  so  satirical,  so  overbearing,  and  so  exacting,  that  the  no- 
bles of  the  land  loudly  murmured,  because  of  the  burden  these 
people  had  become.  Wandering  over  the  island  as  they  did,  sur- 
rounded by  their  hungry  bands  of  attendants,  seating  themselves 
down  in  what  court  they  pleased,  commanding  whatever  their 
erratic  minds  fancied,  remaining  as  long  as  they  pleased,  exacting 
what  they  wished,  and  leaving  when  they  would,  it  was  little  won- 
der that  people  began  to  groan  under  the  intolerable  burden.  But 
this  state  of  evil  came  to  a  head  when  at  length  one  of  them 
went  so  far  as  to  demand,  in  tribute  to  his  poetic  powers,  the  royal 
brooch,  a  rarely  beautiful  heirloom,  of  the  Ard-Righ — who  was 
now  Aedh,  the  son  of  Aimmire.  The  restraint  which  even  a  High 
King  had  imposed  upon  himself  in  deference  to  poetic  genius  and 
sacred  tradition,  was  burst  by  such  brazenness.  He  swore  that  the 
island  should  be  cleared  of  the  poet  tribe.  To  pass  a  decree  for 
this  purpose  which  should  be  legal,  he  called  a  convention  of  the 
princes  and  nobles,  scholars  and  ecclesiastics  of  the  land,  to  meet 


f,   the   home-sick   Colm,   with    affectionate   upbraidingj   upbraids   the   errant 
c.     "For,"  Colm  tells  him,  "I  pledge  thee  my  uneermg  word,   which   may 


himself, 

Cormac. 

not  be  impugned,  that  better  is  death  in  reproachless  Eirinn  than  life  forever  in 

Alba." 

And  his  pining  heart  which  dwells  forever  upon  happy  memories  of  his 
native  land,  paints  for  the  hapless  wanderer  such  alluring  picture  of  that  pleasant 
Durrow  which  he  madly  quitted  as  should  swiftly  bring  him  back  to  reason,  and 
draw  him  there  again:  "How  happy  the  son  of  Dimma  (i.e.,  Cormac)  of  the 
devout  church,  when  he  hears  in  Durrow  the  desire  of  his  mind — the  fingers  of  the 
wind  playing  upon  the  elm-trees,  the  black-birds*  joyous  note  when  he  claps  his 
wings ;  the  lowing  of  the  cattle  at  early  dawn  in  Ros  Grencha ;  the  cooing  of  the 
cuckoo  from  the  tree,  on  the  brink  of  summer." 

Even  to  a  sea-gull  visitor  which  comes  flying  toward  lona  from  Eirinn,  in 
the  west,  he  addresses  a  poetic  appeal  full  of  affectionate  envy  for  that  it  saw 
Ireland  so  recently,  and  can  see  it  when  it  will  again.  For,  this  passionate  love 
and  longing  for  the  country  of  his  nativity,  the  intense  love  and  longing  which 
endowed  the  cold  flag  of  Gartan,  that  had  been  his  bed,  with  the  virtue  of  averting 
home-sickness,  persisted  in  the  saint's  soul  through  all  his  days  in  Hebridean  exile. 

On  Colm's  flag  (his  stone  bed)  at  Gartan,  down  to  most  recent  days,  poor 
Donegal  boys  on  the  eve  of  their  starting  for  America,  Australia,  or  other  far 
exile,  would  pass  a  night — to  obtain  the  great  Exile's  blessing,  which  should  avert 
from  them  the  home-sickness  which  had  racked  his  heart 


COLM  CILLE  167 

at   Drimceatt — near   the   present   town    of   Limavada    in    Dcrry. 

When  the  sad  news  reached  him  on  lona,  Colm,  alarmed  for 
his  soul-brethren,  the  poets,  knew  that  some  extraordinary  meas- 
ure was  immediately  necessary  to  save  Ireland  from  a  shame  which 
in  the  eyes  of  all  noble  ones,  should  stain  its  honour  down  the 
ages.  His  heart  was  alarmed  and  his  soul  was  fired  for  the  in- 
justice about  to  be  done  his  brethren,  the  poets.  Well  he  knew  that 
they  had  grown  arrogant  and  unjust:  but  no  crime  whatsoever  on 
the  part  of  a  class  so  justly  privileged  should  draw  upon  Ireland 
the  sacrilege  of  their  driving  out.  Despite  his  penance,  he  re- 
solved that  he  should  appear  in  person  at  Drimceatt  to  avert  from 
Ireland  a  dire  disaster. 

As  the  words  of  his  penance  had  been  that  he  should  never 
again  see  Ireland,  he,  blind-folded,  sailed  for  Ireland,  attended  by 
several  bishops,  fifty  priests,  fifty  deacons  and  thirty  clerics. 

"O  Son  of  my  God,  what  a  pride,  what  a  pleasure 

To  plough  the  blue  sea! 
The  waves  of  the  fountain  of  deluge  to  measure, 
Dear  Erin,  to  thee. 

"We  are  rounding  Moy-n-Olurg,  we  sweep  by  its  head,  and 
We  plunge  through  Lough  Foyle, 
Whose  swans  could  enchant  with  their  music  the  dead,  and 
Make  pleasure  of  toil." 

What  a  dramatic  sensation  must  there  have  been  when  in 
among  the  assembled  nobles  and  scholars  and  kings  of  the  nation, 
was  led  at  the  head  of  his  company,  this  blinded  man  whose  name 
was  a  name  of  wonder  in  every  household  in  Eirinn,  extraor- 
dinarily cherished  in  most,  extraordinarily  feared  in  some.  What 
commotion  must  have  been  there;  what  craning  of  necks;  what 
straining  of  eyes;  what  stamping  of  feet;  what  rattling  of  spears! 
What  a  fierce  hurrah  must  have  torn  from  the  throat  of  the  Conal- 
lach  and  the  Eoganach,  and  from  the  men  of  many  a  sympathetic 
clan !  And  what  troubled  thought  must  have  shown  in  the  curled 
brow,  what  burning  resentment  looked  out  of  the  eye,  what  dour 
silence  sat  upon  the  lips,  and  what  burning  memories  consumed  the 
breasts  of  a  hostile  minority  there  !^ 

8  For  there  were  some  who  as  fiercely  resented  Colm's  presence  at  Drimceatt 
as  others  ardently  rejoiced  in  it.  The  wife  of  Ard-Righ  Aed,  a  bitter  opponent 
of  this  strong  man,  had  commanded  her  two  sons,  Conal  the  elder,  and  Donal  the 
younger,  on  no  account  to  take  part  in  the  welcome  which  the  Ccmvention  would 
surely  extend  to  Colm,  and  to  refrain  from  showing  him  any  respect  whatsoever. 
Conal  not  only  obeyed  his  mother,  but  some  say  went  so  far  as  to  insult,  if  not 


1 68  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

And  when  this  blinded  man  began  to  speak,  beseeching  the  men 
of  Eirinn  to  save  their  famed  and  loved  land  from  the  indelible 
stain  of  sacrilegiously  violating  the  most:  sacred,  most  ancient  tradi- 
tion, the  sanctity  of  the  poet's  person,  to  save  it  from  banishing 
forever  from  Eirinn  those  great  and  noble,  learned  and  gifted 
ones,  whose  tongues,  touched  with  divine  fire,  had  In  their  slightest 
word  the  fearful  power  of  making  the  name  of  Eirinn  famous  or 
infamous — how  he  must  have  swayed  and  shook  his  audience  as 
the  hurricane  from  the  north  shakes  the  fir-trees  of  the  forest — 
made  them  tower  with  pride,  and  cower  with  shame,  lashed  them 
and  soothed  them,  roused  them  and  melted  them,  elevated  and 
prostrated  them,  now  to  the  highest  heavens,  and  now  to  earth's 
dust — how  he  must  have  lifted  them  beyond  themselves,  and  how 
made  them  the  abject  creatures  of  his  will  and  slightest  word — 
till  he  had  only  to  say  go  and  they  would  go;  do  this  and  it  was 
done!  Colm  completely  routed  all  hostility,  carried  the  Conven- 
tion, and  saved  the  great  order  of  his  brother-bards  from  extinction 
in  Eirinn.^ 

assault,  Colm  and  his  companions.  The  younger  lad,  Donal,  however,  moved  by 
instinctive  respect  and  love  for  such  a  great  and  holy  man,  arose  up  on  Colm's 
entrance,  went  forward  and  embraced  him,  and  kissed  him  on  either  cheek — in 
reward  for  which  generous  impulse  he  was  blessed  by,  as  his  elder  brother  was 
deprived  of,  the  succession  to  the  throne. 

^  The  Convention  decided  that  they  should  not  expel  the  bards,  but  it  was  at 
the  same  time  agreed  that  the  order  should  be  completely  reformed.  A  new 
set  of  laws  and  rules  for  the  order  was  then  drawn  up.  The  High  King  of  Eirinn 
was  to  maintain  his  own  special  OUam  of  poetry;  and  each  petty  king  and  each 
chieftain  to  maintain  a  file  also ;  but  the  numbers  of  their  pupils  and  of  their 
attendants  were  reduced  so  that  they  would  be  less  of  an  imposition  to  those  who 
extended  to  them  hospitality.  Fees  for  their  compositions  were  fixed,  beyond  which 
they  could  not  exact  in  future.  A  tract  of  land  was  to  be  set  apart  for  each 
011am,  free  of  all  payments.  Every  member  of  the  order  was  entitled  to  universal 
freedom  and  sanctuary  from  the  men  of  Ireland,  in  their  land,  person,  and  worldly 
goods.  To  make  them  useful  to  the  state  and  to  give  employrnent  and  the  means 
of  living  to  that  large  portion  of  them  which  would  otherwise  go  idle,  it  was 
arranged  that  public  schools  should  be  opened  wherein  they  would  become  instruc- 
tors and  where,  in  the  words  of  Keating,  "any  of  the  men  of  Ireland  could  get 
free  instruction  in  the  sciences." 

"The  educational  establishments  now  endowed,"  says  O'Curry,  "were  national, 
literary  colleges,  quite  distinct  from  the  great  literary  and  ecclesiastical  schools 
and  colleges,  that  had  formed  themselves  around  individual  celebrities,  and  were 
then   in   operation." 

The  carrying  out  of  the  new  order  of  things  was  put  in  the  hands  of  the 
celebrated  blind  poet,  Eochaid  Righ  Eigeas,  better  known  as  Dalian  Forgaill,  the 
Ard-Ollam  and  King-Poet  of  Ireland — whose  dust  now  mingles  with  the  earth 
of  the  Island  of  Inis  Caoil,  in  the  west  of  Donegal.  This  was  the  poet  who  com- 
posed the  poem  (still  extant),  the  Arma  Colm  Cille,  by  way  of  reward  to  the 
Saint  for  saving  the  bards. 

In  a  eulogy  written  upon  this  Dalian,  after  his  death,  by  his  great  successor 
Senchan  Torpei.st,  is  said : 

"The  ocean's  caverns,  which  armies  dare  not, — 
The  mighty  cataract  of  the  great  Eas  Ruadh ; — 


COLM  CILLK  169 

Another  most  important  matter  with  which  the  Convention  of 
Drimceatt  concerned  itself  was  the  dispute  between  Aidan,  the 
King  of  the  Irish  colony  in  Alba,  that  is  the  Scottish  Dal  Riada, 
and  Ireland's  Ard-Righ,  as  to  where  the  allegiance  of  the  Irish  Dal 
Riada  (the  northeast  of  Antrim)  was  due.  As  the  people  of  the 
two  Dal  Riadas  were  of  the  same  clan,  Aidan  claimed  kingship 
over  both.  But  Aed,  High  King  of  Ireland,  held  that  the  tribute 
and  the  military  support  of  the  Irish  Dal  Riada  were  due  to  Tara.*" 

The  convention  agreed  to  leave  the  decision  of  this  case  to 
Colm,  who  was  equally  concerned  on  both  sides.  Colm,  however, 
declined  to  be  judge  in  the  matter,  and  referred  it  to  St.  Colman, 
the  son  of  Comgallen,  who  decided  that  the  Irish  Dal  Riada  should 
be  directly  and  entirely  subject  to  the  Ard-Righ  of  Ireland,  paying 
him  tribute  and  supplying  him  with  military  levies,  but  they  should 
be  allies  of  their  brethren  over  the  Channel,  the  Scottish  Dal  Riada, 
and  in  case  of  a  war  of  theirs  against  the  Picts,  or  the  Britons, 
should  supply  them  with  a  fleet. 

The  Convention  of  Drimceatt  is  said  to  have  remained  in  ses- 
sion for  a  year,  making  laws,  redressing  grievances,  adjusting  dis- 
putes. Colm,  however,  quitted  it  when  that  in  which  he  was  in- 
terested was  finished  with.  He  spent  some  months  in  Ireland, 
however,  visiting  several  of  his  foundations,  sojourning  for  some 
time  Vv'ith  one  and  another  of  them,  settling  their  affairs,  counselling 
and  directing,  and  leaving  them  treading  the  path  that  he  wished 
them  to  go.  After  which  he  returned  to  his  beloved  charge  in  the 
Western  Islands  again,  and  resumed  his  arduous  duties,  working, 
teaching,  preaching,  writing,  travelling  and  baptising  the  heathen 
into  the  faith.  He  wrote  much,  chiefly  copying  the  Scriptures. 
And  on  occasion  he  set  down  a  poem  or  a  hymn  of  his  own  com- 
posing.    Several  such,  still  existing,  are  attributed  to  Colm.^^ 

The  rolling  wave  of  a  spring-tide's  flow, — 
Were  the  meet  images  of  Dalian's  intellect. 

Until  the  shining  sun  is  surmounted, 

Which  God  has  created  above  all  creation, 
No  poet  from  north  to  south  shall  surpass 
Eochaidh,  the  serene  royal  poet. 

He  was  sage,  O  God  of  Heaven! 
He  was  a  noble  and  a  chief  poet ; 
Until  the  wave  of  death  swept  placidly  over  him, 
Uch !  he  was  beautiful,  he  was  beloved." 

^0  There  are  different  versions  of  this  dispute,  but  this  is  Lanig^n's  view  of  it. 

^1  In  the  Liber  Hymnorum,  an  ancient  Irish  Book  of  Hymns  saved  from 
oblivion,  there  are  three  Latin  poems  which  the  general  body  of  authorities  believe 
to  be  truly  Colm's.  The  most  noted  of  them  is  the  Altus  Prosator,  a  Latin  poem 
of  the   Abecedaria  class;   that  is   the  twenty-two   first  letters   of   the   twenty-two 


170  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

As  one  of  Colm's  characteristic  qualities  was  his  indomitable, 
never-tiring  energy,  he  believed  in  all  around  him  being  energetic 
— and  insisted  on  it.     One  of  the  rules  which  he  established  in  his 
monasteries,  and  a  rule  that  became  proverbially  associated  with 
lona  was  that  the  day  should  be  divided  into  three  parts,  one  part 
for  good  works,  one  part  for  prayer,  and  one  part  for  reading — 
the  good  works  to  be  either  for  a  brother's  own  benefit,  for  the 
benefit  of  his  brethren,  or  for  the  benefit  of  his  neighbours.     His 
dictum  was,  "Let  not  a  single  hour  pass  in  which  you  do  not  devote 
yourself  to  prayer,  reading,  writing  or  some  other  useful  work." 
The  copying  of  the  Scriptures  occupied  much  of  the  writing  time 
of  the  brothers;  and  the  copying  of  the  classics  for  the  use  of  their 
schools  occupied  a  marked  portion  of  their  time.     For,  the  classical 
education  of  their  students  was  in  this,  as  in  all  Irish  schools  at 
that  time,  an  important  part  of  the  school's  curriculum.     And  by 
practical  example  Colm  firmly  instilled  his  favourite  precept  about 
work,  just  as  by  practical  example  also  he  instilled  all  other  of 
the  good  monastic  precepts.     He  prayed  and  he  worked  whole- 
heartedly.    He  went  out  in  the  fields  with  the  brothers,  and  in 
storm  or  shine  toiled  as  one  of  themselves.     He  devoted  much  in- 
door time  to  copying  of  the  Scriptures  and  other  writings.     He 
chastened  himself  by  marvellous  fasting.     His  bed  was  on  the  bare 
ground,    with   a   stone   for   his  pillow;   sparing  himself   not,    and 
spending  himself  ever,  as  well  for  his  own  benefit  as  for  his  fol- 
lowers' encouragement. 

The  spiritual  humility  of  this  impetuous,  fierce,  strong,  domi- 
nant man  is  well  shown  in  the  anecdote  recorded  in  O'Clery's  Mar- 
tyrology,  under  the  anniversary  of  Baithen  (Colm's  cousin)  : 

stanzas  form  the  alphabet — following  in  this  case  the  order  of  the  Hebrew  letters. 
Colm  is  said  to  have  written  it  in  Derry.  He  sent  it  to  Pope  Gregory  the  Great 
in  return   for  valuable  presents  brought   to  him  by  messengers   from  that   Pope. 

The  celebrated  Book  of  Kells,  one  of  the  most  beautiful  of  all  ancient  books 
in  the  world,  was  said  by  some  authorities  to  have  been  written  by  him.  An 
entry  in  it  asks  for  "a  remembrance  of  the  scribe,  Columba,  who  wrote  this 
evangel,  in  the  space  of  twelve  days."  And  those  who  say  that  the  Book  of  Kells 
is  our  Colm's  conclude  that  this  evangel  was  the  stolen  copy  from  Finian's  book 
which  changed  the  current  of  Colm's  life.  But  most  authorities  deny  to  Colm 
the  transcription  of  the  Book  of  Kells.  The  fact  that  it  was  written  by  a  Cohnnba 
does  not  advance  the  proof  in  the  great  Colm's  favour,  for  there  were  innumerable 
holy  men  and  saints  of  that  name.  Archbishop  Healy  holding  that  the  Book  of 
Kells  is  a  genuine  work  of  Colm  Cille,  also  says  that  the  Book  of  Durrow  is  his. 
However,  the  proofs  advanced  by  the  upholders  of  Colm's  authorship  of  these 
books  is  far  from  being  conclusive. 

Original  matters  attributed  to  him  include  the  Lament  for  Erin,  his  Farewell 
to  Aran,  the  Dialogue  of  Colm  with  Corniac  in  Hy,  and  the  poem  he  is  alleged 
to  have  written  as  he  took  his  lonely  way  homeward  over  the  mountain,  when 
fleeing  from  the  court  of  Diarmuid  MacCarrolL 


COLM  CILLE  171 

"It  was  this  Baithen  who  was  permitted  to  see  three  grand  chairs 
in  Heaven,  empty,  awaiting  some  of  the  saints  of  Eirinn:  namely,  a 
chair  of  gold,  a  chair  of  silver,  and  a  chair  of  glass.  And  he  told 
Colm  of  the  vision.  And  Colm  answered  him:  'The  gold  chair  is 
prepared  for  Ciaran,  the  son  of  the  carpenter,  in  reward  for  his  sane- 
tit}',  hospitality,  and  charity.  The  silver  chair  is  thine  own,  Baithen, 
for  the  brightness  and  the  fervenc}'  of  thy  piety.  The  glass  chair  is 
mine,  for  I  am  brittle  and  fragile,  in  consequence  of  the  battles  which 
I  have  provoked.'  It  was  after  this  that  he  resolved  on  abstinence 
from  food,  except  nettle  pottage,  without  dripping  or  fat,  so  that 
soon  the  impression  of  his  ribs  through  the  woollen  tunic  that  he 
wore,  was  to  be  seen  on  the  sandy  beach  where  for  penance  he  used 
to  lie  at  night." 

Yet  like  other  great  men  he  had  not  only  clear  vision  of  the 
great  work  which  he  was  accomplishing,  but  also  a  child-like  pride 
and  child-like  frankness  in  telling  of  it — beautifully  expressed  when 
in  the  course  of  another  talk — this  time  upon  the  day  of  General 
Judgment — with  his  cousin  and  soul-friend,  Baithen,  he  said: 
'*Great  also  shall  be  my  following  on  that  day,  Baithen,  for  its 
forefront  shall  be  in  Clonmacnois,  and  its  rear  in  Dun  Cuillinn  in 
Alba."^^ 

Adamnan's  personal  description  of  him  has  preserved  for  us  a 
physical  picture  of  the  man : 

"Colm  was  a  man  of  well-formed  and  powerful  frame,  his  face 
broad  and  fair  and  valiant,  lit  by  large  grey  luminous  eyes;  he  had  a 
large  and  well-shaped  head  crowned  with  close  and  curling  hair — 
except  where  he  wore  his  frontal  tonsure.  His  voice  was  clear  and 
resonant,  so  that  it  could  be  heard  a  distance  of  fifteen  hundred 
paces,  yet  was  sweet  with  more  than  the  sweetness  of  the  bards." 

Colm  was  by  no  means  a  young  man  when  he  appeared  at  the 

^2  The  genial  humour,  which  emphasised  the  Irish  character  of  this  Irishman 
is  well  exemplified  in  a  story  of  him  and  his  friend,  St.  Mochua,  set  down  by 
Keating.  Mochua  lived  a  hermit  in  the  wilderness  devoting  himself  to  the  service 
of  God — his  sole  worldly  wealth  a  cock,  a  mouse  and  a  fly.  The  cock  called  him 
to  prayers  at  a  certain  hour  in  the  night.  The  mouse  was  to  scratch  his  ear  if 
sleep  deafened  him  to  the  call  of  the  cock.  The  fly  made  itself  a  pointer  for  him 
upon  his  psalter.  It  crept  along  the  page  under  each  line  and  each  word  of  the  line 
that  he  chanted.  And  when  he  ceased  chanting,  to  attend  to  other  business,  the 
fly  paused  upon  the  word  on  which  he  had  stopped,  thus  pointing  the  place  for  him 
when  he  returned  again.  The  cock  and  the  mouse  and  the  fly  at  length  died  on 
him.  He  wrote  to  Colm,  in  lona,  lamenting  his  loss.  And  Colm  replied  to  him: 
"Brother,  thou  must  accept  in  the  right  spirit  the  affliction  that  has  been  sent  upon 
thee.  Thou  shouldst  have  known  that  worry  always  follows  in  the  wake  of 
wealth." 


172  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

Convention  of  Drimceatt,  in  575.  But  he  lived  and  worked,  in- 
spired countless  other  workers,  and  was  a  big  power  in  two  coun- 
tries for  almost  quarter  of  a  century  after. 

In  was  in  597  that  death  came  to  him.  In  May  of  that  year 
he  visited  the  farm  where  the  brothers  toiled,  in  the  west  of  the 
Island.  He  went  among  the  brothers,  spoke  affectionately  with 
them  and  consolingly,  told  the  sorely  grieved  ones  that  his  days 
were  now  numbered,  and  he  should  depart  from  them  within  a 
month.    He  blessed  them,  blessed  their  work  and  blessed  the  island. 

When  saying  Mass,  some  time  after,  an  angel  appeared  to  him 
to  warn  him  that  the  days  were  now  few  till  his  passing.  On  Sat- 
urday of  that  week  he  visited  the  great  barn  in  which  was  stored 
the  community's  stock  of  food,  and  rejoiced  in  the  great  store  he 
found  there,  which  would  insure  plenty  for  his  beloved  ones  for 
that  year.  With  exceeding  earnestness  he  blessed  the  barn,  that 
it  should  ever  hold  and  give  in  plenty  to  the  ardent  servants  of  God. 
Then  he  said  to  those  who  stood  around  him:  "This  day  in  the 
Holy  Scriptures  is  called  Sabbath,  which  means  rest.  And  this  day 
is  indeed  Sabbath  to  me,  for  it  is  the  last  day  of  my  laborious  life, 
and  on  it  I  rest.  And  this  night  at  midnight  I  shall  go  the  way  of 
my  fathers." 

As  he  wended  his  way  slowly  back  from  the  barn,  he  talked 
consolingly  to  his  faithful  attendant,  Diarmuid,  who  was  weeping. 
Half  way  to  the  monastery  he  had  to  sit  to  rest  by  the  wayside. 
And  when  he  had  thus  sat  down  an  old  white  horse  which  for  long 
years  had  been  used  to  carry  the  milk  from  the  milking  ground  to 
the  monastery,  approached,  thrust  his  grey  face  into  the  saint's 
bosom,  while  tears,  as  if  from  a  human  being,  rolled  from  his  eyes. 
The  saint  would  not  let  the  horse  be  driven  away.  He  was  deeply 
moved  by  the  affection  of  the  prescient  animal,  which  he  caressed 
and  soothed. 

The  hill  called  Cnoc-na-Carnan,  which  arose  above  the  mon- 
astery, he  then  ascended  and  took  a  last  long  look  over  land  and 
sea — and  we  may  be  sure  a  fond,  fond  look  toward  the  western 
horizon  below  which  lay  the  land  of  his  heart.  From  this  hilltop 
he  blessed  all  that  his  soul  cherished.  And  uplifting  his  hands,  he 
blessed  his  monastery  saying:  "Small  and  mean  though  this  place 
is,  yet  it  shall  be  held  in  great  honour,  not  only  by  Scotic  kings  and 
people,  but  also  by  the  rulers  of  foreign  and  barbarous  nations, 
and  by  their  subjects;  the  saints  also  even  of  other  churches  shall 
regard  it  with  no  common  reverence." 

It  is  characteristic  of  this  man  who  so  firmly  believed  in  work 
and  preached  work,   that  when,  now  within   a   few  hours  of  his 


COLM  CILLE  173 

death,  he  returned  to  the  monastery,  he  sat  him  down  in  his  cell, 
and  continued  the  transcription  of  the  Psalter  which  he  had  been 
copying.  At  the  end  of  the  day,  when  it  came  time  for  the  Sabbath 
vigils,  having  reached  the  end  of  a  page,  he  laid  down  his  pen,  say- 
ing: "Let  Baithen  write  the  rest."  And  his  last  written  words 
were  those  of  the  thirty-third  psalm — "They  that  seek  the  Lord 
shall  want  no  manner  of  thing  that  is  good." 

So  that  the  first  words  which  his  successor  in  the  abbacy,  Bai- 
then, was  to  write  were:  "Come,  ye  children,  and  harken  unto  me. 
I  will  teach  you  the  fear  of  the  Lord." 

Colm's  last  hours  could  not  be  more  finely  described  than  in 
the  words  of  his  biographer  and  kinsman,  his  tenth  successor  in 
rhe  abbacy,  Adamnan ;  *'* 

"Having  written  the  aforementioned  verse  at  the  end  of  the  page, 
the  saint  went  to  the  church,  to  the  nocturnal  vigils  of  the  Lord's 
Day;  and  so  soon  as  this  was  over,  he  returned  to  his  chamber  and 
spent  the  remainder  of  the  night  on  his  bed,  where  he  had  a  bare 
flag  for  his  couch,  and  for  his  pillow  a  stone,  which  stands  to  this 
day  as  a  kind  of  monument  beside  his  grave.  While  then  he  was 
reclining  there,  he  gave  his  last  instructions  to  the  brethren,  saj'ing: 
'These,  O  my  children,  are  the  last  words  I  address  to  you — that  ye 
be  at  peace,  and  have  unfeigned  charity  among  yourselves:  and  if 
you  thus  follow  the  example  of  the  holy  fathers,  God  the  comforter 
of  the  good,  will  be  your  Helper,  and  I,  abiding  with  Him,  shall 
intercede  for  you ;  and  He  will  not  only  give  you  sufficient  to  supply 

^2  Colm's  life  was  also  written  by  a  distinguished  one  of  his  own  clan,  Manus 
O'Donnell,  chieftain  of  Tir-Conaill  in  the  sixteenth  century.  But  his  most  dis- 
tinguished biographer  and  most  successful  was  St.  Adamnan,  who  was  born  in 
Tir-Hugh,  in  Southwestern  Donegal  a  quarter  of  a  century  after  Colm's  death. 
Adamnan  became  abbot  of  lona  in  the  last  quarter  of  the  seventh  century.  His 
"Life  of  Colm,"  one  of  several  works  written  by  this  able  writer,  is  described  by  the 
Scottish  historian,  Pinkerton,  as  "the  most  complete  piece  of  biography  which  all 
Europe  can  boast  of,  not  only  at  so  early  a  period,  but  even  through  the  middle 
ages."  And  Montalembert  says  of  it,  "It  forms  one  of  the  most  living,  authentic 
and  vital  relics  of  Christian  history." 

Of  this  Adamnan,  O'Qery,  in  his  Martyrology,  relates  the  legend  how  once 
when  he  was  three  days  and  three  nights  in  the  church  alone,  praying  to  God,  and 
that  messengers  from  the  monks  were  sent  to  find  what  kept  their  abbot  from 
them,  they,  peering  into  the  church,  saw  "a  little  Boy  with  brilliance  and  bright 
radiance  in  the  bosom  of  Adamnan.  Adamnan  was  thanking  and  caressing  the 
Infant.  And  they  were  not  able  to  look  at  Him  any  longer,  by  reason  of  the  divine 
rays  around  the  Boy." 

Adamnan  was  once  sent  as  an  ambassador  from  lona  to  England  to  request 
the  return  of  Irish  captives  who  had  been  carried  away  in  one  of  many  raids 
which  the  Britons  and  Saxons  made  into  Ireland  in  these  centuries.  Keating  says, 
"The  Northern  Saxons  gave  Adamnan  great  honor,  and  everything  he  wanted." 

"He  was  a  vessel  of  wisdom,"  says  the  Martyrology,  of  Adamnan.  "and  a 
man  full  of  the  grace  of  God,  and  with  the  knowledge  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and 
of  every  other  wisdom;  a  burning  lamp  to  illumine  and  enlighten  the  West  of 
Europe 


174  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

the  wants  of  this  present  life,  but  will  also  bestow  on  you  the  good 
and  eternal  rewards  which  are  laid  up  for  those  that  keep  His  com- 
mandments.' Thus  far  have  the  last  words  of  our  venerable  patron, 
as  he  was  about  to  leave  this  weaiy  pilgrimage  for  his  Heavenly 
country,  been  preserved  for  recital  in  our  brief  narrative.  After 
these  words,  as  the  happy  hour  of  his  departure  gradually  approached, 
the  saint  became  silent.  Then  as  soon  as  the  bell  tolled  at  midnight, 
he  rose  hastily,  and  went  to  the  church;  and  running  more  quickly 
than  the  rest,  he  entered  it  alone,  and  knelt  down  in  prayer  beside 
the  altar.  At  the  same  moment  his  attendant,  Diarmuid,  who  more 
slowly  followed  him,  saw  from  a  distance  that  the  whole  interior  of 
the  church  was  filled  with  a  heavenly  light  in  the  direction  of  the 
saint.  And  as  he  drew  near  to  the  door,  the  same  light  he  had  seen 
and  which  was  also  seen  by  a  few  more  of  the  brethren  standing 
at  a  distance,  quickly  disappeared.  Diarmuid,  therefore,  entering 
the  church,  cried  out  in  a  mournful  voice,  'Where  art  thou,  father?' 
and  feeling  his  way  in  the  darkness,  as  the  brethren  had  not  yet 
brought  in  the  lights,  he  found  the  saint  lying  before  the  altar;  and 
raising  him  up  a  little,  he  sat  down  beside  him,  and  laid  his  holy 
head  on  his  bosom.  Meanwhile  the  rest  of  the  monks  ran  in  hastily 
in  a  body  with  their  lights,  and  beholding  their  dying  father,  burst 
into  lamentations.  And  the  saint,  as  we  have  been  told  by  some 
who  were  present,  even  before  his  soul  departed,  opened  his  eyes  and 
looked  around  him  from  side  to  side,  with  a  countenance  full  of 
wonderful  joy  and  gladness,  no  doubt  seeing  holy  angels  coming  to 
meet  him.  Diarmuid  then  raised  the  holy  right  hand  of  the  saint 
that  he  might  bless  his  assembled  monks.  And  the  venerable  father 
himself  moved  his  hand  at  the  same  time,  as  well  as  he  was  able — 
that  as  he  could  not  in  words,  while  his  soul  was  departing,  he  might 
at  least,  by  the  motion  of  his  hand,  be  seen  to  bless  his  brethren. 
And  having  given  them  his  holy  benediction  in  this  way,  he  immedi- 
ately breathed  his  last.  After  his  soul  had  left  the  tabernacle  of 
the  body,  his  face  still  continued  ruddy,  and  brightened  in  a  won- 
derful way  by  his  vision  of  the  angels,  and  that  to  such  a  degree  that 
he  had  the  appearance  not  so  much  of  one  dead,  as  of  one  alive  and 
sleeping.  Meanwhile  the  whole  church  resounded  with  loud  lamenta- 
tions of  grief." 

After  matins  the  bereft  monks  bore  the  body  of  their  beloved 
father  back  to  the  monastery,  chanting  psalms.  And  mourned  not 
only  by  his  monks  but  by  a  great  multitude  of  sorrowing  Islanders 
and  their  chiefs,  this  singularly  great  man  was  laid  under  the  earth, 
in  the  humble  little  cemetery  of  lona. 

Eittle  wonder  it  is  that  signs  on  the  earth  and  in  the  heavens 
should  accompany  the  passing  of  one  so  great,  whose  greatness  im- 


COLM  CiLLE  175 

pressed  many  lands."  "And  this  unusual  favour  hath  been  conferred 
by  God  on  this  same  man  of  blessed  memory;  that  though  he  lived 
in  this  small  and  remote  island  of  the  British  sea,  his  name  hath 
not  only  become  illustrious  throughout  the  whole  of  our  own  Scotia 
(Ireland),  and  Britain  the  largest  island  of  the  whole  world,  but 
hath  reached  even  unto  triangular  Spain,  and  into  Gaul,  and  to 
Italy  which  lieth  beyond  the  Pennine  Alps;  and  also  to  the  city  of 
Rome  itself,  the  head  of  all  cities.  This  great  and  honourable 
celebrity,  amongst  other  marks  of  divine  favour,  is  known  to  have 
been  conferred  on  this  same  saint  by  God  who  loveth  those  who 
love  Ilim,  and  raiseth  them  to  immense  honour  by  glorifying  more 
and  more  those  that  magnify  and  truly  praise  Him,  who  is  blessed 
forever  more.    Amen." 

Lannigan,  Rev.  John,  D.D. :     Ecclesiastical  History  <5f  Ireland. 

Reeves,  llie  Rev.  Wm.,  D.D.:     Adamnan's  Life  of  St.  Columba. 

Healy,  The  Most  Rev.  Jno.,  D.D.,  LL.D,,  Archbishop  of  Tuain :     Ireland's 

Ancient  Schools  and  Scholars. 
Keating's  History  of  Ireland. 
Montalembert :     Monks  of  the  West. 

O'Hanlon,  The  Rev.  Jno.,  Canon:     Lives  of  the  Irish  Saints. 
Stokes,  The  Rev.  Dr.  Geo.  T. :     Ireland  and  the  Celtic  Church. 

1*  As  might  be  expected,  in  his  own  beloved  Ireland  at  the  time  of  his  passing 
strange  signs  were  seen  in  the  skies.  Various  holy  men  were  witnesses  of  symbolic 
phenomena.  Ernan  of  Drumhome — which  it  will  be  remembered  was  one  of 
Colm's  foundations — fishing  in  the  River  Finn,  beheld  the  white  vault  of  heaven  lit 
up.  He  looked  to  the  east  and  saw  an  immense  clear  fire,  which  seemed  to 
illumine  the  whole  earth,  like  the  sun  at  noon.  A  pillar  of  fire  ascended  from 
eartii  to  heaven  and  then  disappeared.  The  strange  sight  was  also  witnessed  by 
many  other  fishers  who  were  fishing  in  the  Finn  with  Ernan. 

Lug^aid,  the  son  of  Tailchann,  had  a  beautiful  vision  at  Rosnarca  at  the  same 
time. 

"In  the  middle  of  this  last  night,"  says  Lugaid,  "Columba,  the  pillar  of  many 
churches,  passed  to  the  Lord ;  and  at  the  moment  of  his  blessed  departure,  I  saw  in 
the  spirit  the  whole  Ionian  Island,  where  I  never  was  in  the  body,  resplendent  with 
the  brightness  of  the  angels ;  and  the  whole  heavens  above  it,  up  to  the  very  zenith, 
were  illumined  with  the  brilliant  light  of  the  same  heavenly  messengers,  who 
descended  in  countless  numbers  to  bear  away  his  holy  soul.  At  the  same  moment, 
also,  I  heard  the  loud  hymns  and  entrancingly  sweet  canticles  of  the  angel  host, 
as  his  soul  was  borne  aloft  amidst  the  ascending  choirs  of  angels." 


CHAPTER  XXIV 

THE    POETS 

Ireland  was  the  poets'  land  in  earliest  days  as  well  as  in  latest. 

In  very  early  times  Greece  and  Rome,  only,  excelled  Ireland 
as  nurturers  of  poets  and  nursing  grounds  of  poetry. 

From  the  most  remote  antiquity  of  which  we  have  legendary 
record,  the  poet  was  one  of  the  greatest,  most  honoured,  in  the 
land.  In  social  rank  he  held  next  place  to  the  king — and  at  table 
he  was  entitled  to  the  king's  joint,  the  haunch.  But  in  sacredness 
of  person,  the  king  usually  held  next  place  to  the  poet.  The  lives 
of  icings  were  frequently  taken,  but  seldom  occurred  the  sacrilegious 
killing  of  a  poet. 

When  Fachtna  Finn  (who  was  Chief  Poet  of  Ulster  away  be- 
fore the  Christian  Era)  learned  that  the  Ulster  chiefs  plotted  to 
slay  at  a  feast  their  two  kings,  Congal  Clairnach  and  Fergus  Mac- 
Leide,  he  saved  both  their  lives  by  seating  each  between  poets. 
The  assassins  then  had  to  stay  their  murderous  hands  lest  the  poets 
should  be  accidentally  slain  or  injured.  In  the  very  rare  instances 
in  which  such  disaster  befell  the  land,  the  whole  nation  mourned 
the  calamity,  and  the  sacrilegious  scoundrel,  who  had  been  guilty 
of  the  appalling  crime,  was  shunned  by  man,  cursed  by  God  and 
punished,  moreover,  with  immortal  obloquy. 

When  Cuain  O'Lochain,  chief  poet  of  Erin,  was,  in  1024,  put 
to  death  by  the  people  of  Teffia,  the  Annals  of  Clonmacnois  re- 
cords— "after  committing  of  which  there  grew  an  evil  scent  and 
odour  off  the  party  that  killed  him,  that  he  was  easily  known  among 
the  rest  of  the  land."  And  the  Annals  of  Loch  Ce,  continuing  the 
after  history  of  the  sacrilegious  ones  who  had  hand  in  the  poet's 
death,  says :  "God  manifestly  wrought  a  poet's  power  upon  the 
parties  who  killed  him,  for  they  were  put  to  a  cruel  death,  and 
their  bodies  putrefied,  until  worms  and  vultures  had  devoured 
them." 

The  poet's  dire  fine^  was  the  same  as  the  king's — and  his  hon- 

'^  His  honour-price  was  seven  cumals   (twenty-one  cows). 

176 


THE  POETS  177 

our-price  usually  the  same.  And  because  of  the  sacredness  of 
his  position  he  was,  like  the  king,  subject  to  degradation  for  any 
sin  that  besmirched  the  whiteness  of  his  office.  And  for  sins  more 
venial  he  was,  like  king  and  commoner,  amenable  to  the  law — 
which  prescribed,  for  instance,  that  he  should  pay  fine  for  the  un- 
fairness of  satirising  a  man,  in  his  absence;  and  for  satirising  by 
proxy — having  his  satire  recited  by  a  substitute,  while  he  protected 
himself  in  the  cowardly  safety  of  distance.  And  he  had  to  answer 
for  crimes  committed  by  any  paying  foreigners  among  his  pupils.^ 

From  very  ancient  times  in  Ireland  almost  all  things  worth 
recording  were  put  into  verse  for  their  more  easy  remembering, 
pleasanter  reciting  and  more  welcome  hearing.  The  most  ancient 
Lives  of  the  Saints  are  in  verse — or  where  they  have  come  down 
in  mixed  verse  and  prose,  the  prose  is  only  a  later  paraphrasing 
of  verse  whose  language  was  becoming  obsolete.  Ancient  history 
and  genealogy  were  in  verse — and  likewise  the  ancient  laws.  When 
Patrick  had  the  laws  codified  it  will  be  remembered  that  a  file  was 
asked  "to  put  a  thread  of  poetry  round  them."  Such  old  stand- 
ard records  as  the  Book  of  Rights,  and  the  Calendar  of  Aengus, 
are  in  rhyme.  Even  there  have  come  down  to  us  ancient  school 
text-books,  on  various  subjects,  completely  in  verse. 

Some  noted  Continental  scholars  such  as  Zeuss  and  Nigra,  agree 
with  leading  Irish  authorities  that  it  was  the  ancient  Irish  who  in- 
vented rhyme — and  introduced  it,  through  the  Latin,  to  the  coun- 
tries of  Europe. 

Constantine  Nigra  (quoted  by  Hyde)  says: 

"The  idea  that  rhyme  originated  among  the  Arabs  must  be  ab- 
solutely rejected  as  fabulous.  .  .  .  Rhyme,  too,  could  not  in  any 
possible  wa}',  have  evolved  itself  from  the  natural  progress  of  the 
Latin  language.  Amongst  the  Latins,  neither  the  thing  nor  the  name 
existed.  The  first  certain  examples  of  rhyme,  then,  are  found  on 
Celtic  soil  and  among  Celtic  nations  ...  we  conclude  that  final 
assonance  or  rhyme  can  have  been  derived  only  from  laws  of  Celtic 
phonolog}"." 

And  Zeuss : 

"The  form  of  Celtic  poetr)%  to  judge  both  from  the  older  and 

2  A  passage  from  the  Brehon  Laws : 

"The  poet  (or  tutor)  commands  his  pupils.  The  man  from  whom  education 
is  received  is  free  from  the  crimes  of  his  pupils,  though  he  feeds  and  clothes  them, 
and  that  they  pay  him  for  their  learning.  He  is  free,  even  though  it  be  a  stranger 
he  instructs,  feeds,  and  clothes,  provided  it  is  not  for  pay  but  for  God  that  he 
does  it.  If  he  feeds  and  instructs  a  stranger  for  pay,  it  is  then  he  is  accountable 
for  his  crimes." 


178  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

the  more  recent  examples  adduced,  appears  to  be  more  ornate  than 
the  poetic  form  of  any  other  nation,  and  even  more  ornate  in  the 
older  poems  than  in  the  modern  ones;  from  the  fact  of  which  greater 
ornateness  had  undoubtedly  come  to  pass  that  at  the  very  time  the 
Roman  Empire  was  hastening  to  ruin,  the  Celtic  forms — at  first  en' 
tire,  aftenvards  in  part — passed  over  not  only  into  the  songs  of  the 
Latins,  but  also  into  those  of  other  nations  and  remain  in  them." 

Dr.  Atkinson  thinks  it  was  as  far  away  as  two  thousand  years 
ago  that  the  Irish  began  to  grace  their  then  ancient  poetic  art  with 
their  new  invention  of  rhyme.  From  the  Latin  verses  of  Colm 
and  other  earliest  Irish  saints,  we  have  positive  proof  that,  any- 
how, rhyme  was  in  use  in  Ireland  in  the  very  earliest  Christian 
times — both  vowel  rhyme  (assonance)  and  consonantal  rhyme 
called  comharda. 

The  first  English  poet  to  use  rhyme — in  his  Latin  verse — was 
Aldhelm,  in  the  eighth  century,  who,  it  will  be  noted,  was  a  pupil 
of  the  Irish  monk,  Mael-dubh,  whose  school  was  on  the  site  of  the 
present  English  city  of  Malmesbury.  And  a  century  later,  as  Pro- 
fessor Zimmer  points  put,  the  poet  Otfried,  who  first  introduced 
rhyme  to  the  German  people,  received  his  education  at  the  Irish 
monastery  of  St.  Gall  in  Switzerland.  Even  the  first  poets  to  sing 
in  the  Icelandic  language  had  the  Irish  names  Kormack  and  Sigh- 
vat,  and  were  from  an  Irish  ancestress — and  we  are  warranted  in 
concluding  that  their  poetic  education  was  Irish.  Long  centuries 
before  that,  the  immortal  Welsh  poet,  Caedmon,  was  educated  by 
an  Irishman,  surrounded  by  Irish  literary  influences,  and  fed  upon 
Irish  literature. 

Douglas  Hyde  says : 

"Already,  in  the  seventh  century,  the  Irish  not  only  rhymed  but 
made  intricate  rhyming  metres,  when  for  many  centuries  after  this, 
the  Germanic  nations  could  only  alliterate.  .  .  .  And  down  to  the 
first  half  of  the  sixteenth  century  the  English  poets  for  the  most  part 
exhibited  a  disregard  for  the  fineness  of  execution  and  technique  of 
which  not  the  meanest  Irish  bard  attached  to  the  pettiest  chief  could 
have  been  guilty." 

As  is  only  to  be  expected,  the  Irish,  the  inventors  of  rhyme, 
carried  it  to  a  wonderful  perfection,  never  approached  by  any  other 
people — a  fact  acknowledged  even  by  those  who  still  withhold 
from  them  the  credit  of  having  originated  it. 

"After  the  seventli  century,"  says  Dr.  Hyde,  in  his  'T/iterary 
History  of  Ireland,"  "the  Irish  brought  the  rhyming  system  to  a 
perfection  undreamt  of  even  to  this  day,  by  other  nations.     Per- 


THE  POETS  179 

haps  by  no  people  on  the  ^lobc  at  any  period  of  the  world's  his- 
tory was  poetry  so  cultivated,  and  better  still,  so  remunerated,  as 
in  Ireland."  And  Dr.  Atkinson  pronounces  Irish  verse  "the  most 
perfectly  harmonious  combination  of  sounds  that  the  world  has 
ever  known."  Dr.  Joyce  says,  "No  poetry  of  any  I'^uropean  lan- 
guage, ancient  or  modern,  can  compare  with  the  Irish  poetry  for 
richness  of  melody." 

It  was  lavish  in  beautiful  metres,  in  alliteration,  in  assonantal 
rhyme,  in  consonantal  harmony.  The  rhymes  were  usually  not  at 
the  end  of  the  line  only  but  were  often  repeated,  aj^ain  and  again, 
within  the  line,  which  spilled  over  with  richness  of  melody. 

The  technique  of  Irish  poetry  was  far  and  away  more  elabo- 
rate, complex,  intricate  and  subtle  than  that  of  any  other  nation, 
ancient  or  modern.  It  had  an  amazingly  complicated  prosody — 
*'astounding"  is  the  term  that  Dr.  Hyde  applies  to  it. 

It  is  proof  of  the  originality  of  Irish  versification  that  the  many 
technical  terms  used  in  this  intricate  prosody  are  purely  Irish — 
showing  no  trace  of  Latin  or  other  foreign  influence.  And  Latin 
Christian  influence  would  inevitably  have  left  its  impress  on  the 
system  if  that  system  had  not  been  brought  to  complete  perfection 
before  the  coming  of  Patrick,  and  the  introduction  of  the  general 
knowledge  and  use  of  Latin  among  the  scholars  and  the  clergy. 

It  is  difficult  for  us  to  realise  that  in  the  ancient  Irish  Schools 
of  Poets  the  students  were  trained  in  not  less  than  three  hundred 
and  fifty  different  kinds  of  metre.  Twelve  years  was  the  minimum 
period^  of  study  In  the  schools.  There  were  four  grades  of  poet — 
each  requiring  three  years  of  concentrated  study.  Each  grade  was 
sub-divided  again  many  times.  Of  the  lowest  grade,  the  bard, 
there  were  sixteen  divisions  distinguished  by  the  metres  they  had 
mastered.  As  instance  of  the  prosodial  subtilty  and  complexity 
of  the  metres,  let  us  instance  that  of  one  kind  alone,  the  nath  metre 
which  was  mastered  by  the  king-bard,  there  were  six  different  kinds, 
and  these  six  again  divided,  some  of  them  into  as  many  as  six  sub- 
divisions. Therefore,  it  was  an  arduous  task  which  arose  before 
the  Irish  poetic  aspirant — and  wonderful  and  powerful  was  the 
mental  training  through  which  the  Irish  poet  passed. 

The  poet's  course  in  literature  embraced  seven  times  fifty  of 
the  great  bardic  epics — all  of  which  he  must  not  only  have  mem- 
orised, but  have  mastered  in  every  detail — and  with  each  of  which, 
when  called  upon,  must  be  able  to  hold  spellbound  every  gathering. 

3  The  English  Campion  in  his  "History  of  Ireland"  recorded  that  in  his  day 
(16th  century)  the  length  of  the  course  sometimes  extended  to  20  years. 


i8o  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

Furthermore,  when  he  should  go  for  his  final  degree  he  must  be  able 
to  compose  an  impromptu  short  poem  on  any  subject  suggested. 
The  poet-ollam,  the  poet  of  the  highest  rank,  must  be  a  master  of 
Irish  history,  Irish  antiquities  and  genealogies  of  all  the  leading 
Irish  families — and  always  able  and  ready  at  a  moment's  notice, 
to  recite  anything  called  for  in  any  of  these  subjects.  Few  and 
far  between  are  the  twentieth  century  scholars  who  are  as  thor- 
oughly steeped  in  their  subjects  as  were  the  poet-ollams  of  fifteen 
hundred  years  ago. 

Although  poets  were  attached  to  certain  courts  of  king  or  chief, 
where  they  received  regular  stipend  together  with  a  residence,  land 
and  animals  (the  ollam  twenty-one  cows  and  their  grass,  two 
hounds  and  six  horses),  they  frequently  made  circuit  of  their  prov- 
ince or  of  the  country — accompanied  by  their  retinue — ^honouring 
with  their  visits  various  princes  and  notables  whose  praises  they 
chanted  in  such  measure  as  their  merits  demanded.  All  courts  and 
all  residences  were  of  course  thrown  wide  to  the  touring  poet  and 
his  company.  Twenty-four  was  the  number  of  attendants  pre- 
scribed by  law  for  the  ollam  poet  when  he  bestowed  for  only  one 
night,  upon  each  host,  the  honour  of  his  entertaining.  When  he 
intended  a  longer  stay,  or  went  to  a  feast  (to  which  of  course  other 
companies  were  likewise  coming),  the  law  fixed  ten  for  his  follow- 
ing. But  oftentimes  the  very  famous  poets,  considering  themselves 
greater  than  the  law,  travelled  amid  three  or  four  times  the  pre- 
scribed number  of  attendants,  and  imposed  themselves  and  their 
tribe  for  days  and  weeks,  months  even,  upon  courts  that  they  fa- 
voured. The  sixth  century  national  poet,  Senchan  Torpeist  (Dal- 
ian Forgaill's  successor),  visiting  the  court  of  the  Connaught  king, 
Guaire  the  Hospitable,  with  attendant  poets,  students,  servants, 
wives,  dogs  and  horses,  treated  his  overpowered  host  to  a  year 
and  a  day  of  his  party's  joyous  company  1  And,  since  under  no 
conceivable  circumstances  could  any  host,  much  less  a  royal  one, 
ask  a  poet  to  move  on,  this  visitation  might  only  have  ended 
when  Guaire  was  eaten  into  poverty,  had  not  the  king's  brother, 
the  holy  hermit,  Marban,  been  blessed  with  the  inspiration  of  com- 
missioning Senchan  and  his  company  to  go  eastward  upon  a  literary 
mission  (in  search  of  the  lost  Tain  Bo  Cuailgne,  which,  tradition 
said,  had  been  "carried  east  over  the  sea  with  the  Cuilmen")  which 
promised  to  take  years,  if  not  eternity,  for  its  fulfilment. 

Senchan's  parting  ode  to  Guaire  must  have  sounded  In  that 
king's  ears  one  of  the  sweetest  by  poet  ever  spoken — If  we  except 
the  alarming  last  stanza : 


THE  POETS  i8i 

"We  depart  from  thee,  O  stainless  Guaire! 
We  leave  with  thee  our  blessing; 
A  year,  a  quarter,  and  a  month, 
Have  we  sojourned  with  thee,  O  high-king! 

**Three  times  fifty  poets, — good  and  smooth, — 
Three  times  fifty  students  in  the  poetic  art, 
Each  with  his  servant  and  dog; 
They  were  all  fed  in  the  one  great  house. 

"Each  man  had  his  separate  meal ; 
Each  man  had  his  separate  bed  ; 
We  never  arose  at  early  morning. 
With  contentions  without  calming. 

"I  declare  to  thee,  O  God! 

Who  canst  the  promise  verify. 

That  should  we  return  to  our  own  land. 

We  shall  visit  thee  again,  O  Guaire,  though  now  we  depart." 

Since  in  a  land  of  poetry  and  of  hospitality  this  privileged  class 
had  the  strongest  incentive  to  increase  and  multiply,  it  is  no  won- 
der their  numbers  and  presumption  grew  to  such  proportion  that 
they  more  than  once  became  an  unbearable  burden  upon  the  land. 
And  three  times  in  the  early  centuries,  one  of  these  being  a  time 
when  they  and  their  uncountable  followers  are  said  to  have  con- 
stituted a  third  of  the  population  of  the  Island — the  suffering  peo- 
ple, goaded  even  to  the  point  of  outraging  sacred  tradition,  pur- 
posed banishing  from  the  land  the  poets  and  their  bands.  One  of 
the  last  of  these  popular  anti-poet  outbreaks  was  that  which  was 
allayed  by  Colm  at  the  Convention  of  Drimceatt.  Though,  twice 
within  the  half  century  following.  Kings  of  Ulad  (Ulster)  had  to 
harbour  the  bards  and  save  them  from  extinction. 

Of  course  it  was  the  riotous  and  disreputable  ones — from  which 
the  poet-tribe  was  never  free,  in  modern,  any  more  than  in  ancient 
days — who  dragged  the  whole  body  into  these  periodic  spells  of 
disrepute.  The  unworthy  ones  severely  hurt  the  whole  body,  not 
only  by  outrageous  imposition  on  the  people's  hospitality,  but  -like- 
wise by  the  exactions  which  they  drew  from  a  too-willing  people. 
The  law  of  custom  provided  that  a  poet  should  be  paid  for  his 
composition  a  price  that  was  commensurate  with  his  standing  and 
the  worth  of  his  work.  But  sometimes  the  reckless  ones  came  to 
exact  what  they  pleased.    No  one  of  any  character  would  refuse  a 


1 82  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

poet's  demand.  And  indeed  If  any  one  was  either  unworthy  enough 
to  deny  a  worthy  poet  his  price  or  foolhardy  enough  to  refuse  an 
exaction,  he  did  so  at  the  risk  of  being  satirised  with  a  biting  poetic 
satire,  which  would  make  him  the  laughing-stock  of  the  land,  and 
his  children's  children's  children  the  laughing-stock  of  generations 
yet  unborn.  And  so  gifted  in  this  malicious  art  were  some  that 
it  was  legended  their  satires  could  not  only  blight  the  crops  of  the 
satirised,  but  actually  raise  blisters  on  his  face.* 

The  greedy  ones  carried  with  them  a  Coir  Sdinnte,  Pot  of 
Avarice,  for  inviting  donations.  It  was  a  small  pot  made  of  silver 
and  hung  by  nine  chains  of  findruine  (white  bronze)  from  golden 
hooks  on  the  points  of  the  spears  of  nine  men  of  the  poet's  com- 
pany. The  Coir  Sdinnte  preceded  the  greedy  poet  into  a  chief- 
tain's presence  as  he  came  chanting  his  poem  of  praise,  chorused 
by  his  students.  The  chieftain  and  his  friends  were  expected  to 
make  the  pot-bearers  feel  the  weight  of  their  appreciation. 

The  celebrated  Ulster  satirist,  of  the  first  century,  Athairne, 
was  one  of  the  bitterest  and  most  brazen  as  well  as  greediest  of 
his  tribe.  On  a  time  when  he  was  going  on  circuit  through  Leln- 
ster,  one  king,  fearful  of  his  tongue,  met  him  at  the  border  of  his 
territory,  with  great  presents  of  money  and  cattle,  in  hope  to  buy 
off  the  threatened  visitation.  He  went  so  far  as,  when  he  was  visit- 
ing a  king  who  had  but  one  eye,  to  ask — and  accept — that  eye  In 
payment  for  a  poem.  This  account  of  his  request  Is,  we  may  judge, 
figurative — and  a  satire  upon  the  satirist.  That  famous  Leinster 
circuit  of  Athairne's  was  only  ended  by  an  Ulster-Leinster  war, 
which  his  greed  provoked. 

The  time  of  Athairne  was  one  of  the  several  times  In  which 
the  poet  order  got  out  of  hand,  and  produced  and  prided  itself 
upon  such  biting,  bitter,  malevolent  and  grasping  ones  as  were 
he  and  his  Imitators.  One  of  the  latter,  named  Redg,  got  from 
Cuchullain  meet  reward  for  his  impudent  presumption.  He  had 
appeared  before  Cuchullain  and  recited  a  poem  in  his  praise — and 

*  Once,  when  Dallon  Forgaill  stopped  with  Mongan,  King  of  Meath,  "Every 
night  the  poet  would  recite  a  story  to  Mongan.  So  great  was  his  lore  that  they 
were  thus  from  Halloweve  till  May-Day.  He  had  gifts  of  food  from  Mongan. 
One  day  Mongan  asked  his  poet  what  was  the  death  of  Fothad  Airgdech.  Forgaill 
said  he  was  slain  at  Duffry  in  Leinster.  Mongan  said  it  was  false.  The  poet 
(on  hearing  that)  said  that  he  would  satirise  him  with  his  lampoons,  and  he  wouid 
sing  (spells)  upon  their  waters,  so  that  fish  should  not  be  caught  in  their  river 
mouths.  He  would  sing  upon  their  woods  so  that  they  should  not  give  fruit,  upon 
their  plains  so  that  they  should  be  barren  forever  of  any  produce. 

"Mongan  (thereupon)  promised  him  his  fill  of  precious  things,  so  far  as  (the 
value)  of  seven  bondmaids,  or  twice  seven  bondmaids,  or  three  times  seven.  At 
last  he  offers  him  one-third,  or  one-half  of  his  land,  or  his  whole  land;  at  last 
(everything)  save  only  his  own  liberty  with  that  of  his  wife  Breathigrend." 


THE  POETS  183 

then  demanded  for  fee  Cuchullain's  remarkable  spear,  supernatu- 
rally  gifted,  called  the  gae-buaid,  or  spear  of  victory.  It  was  one  of 
Cuchullain's  enemies  who  had  instigated  the  treacherous  demand. 
Tlie  champion  offered  him  instead  many  rich  gifts,  one  after  an- 
other, all  of  which  were  steadily  refused  by  the  poet,  who  at  length 
threatened  to  satirise  Cuchullain,  and  disparage  his  honour.  "Then, 
take  your  gift!"  cried  the  champion,  flinging  the  spear  with  all  his 
force  at  the  miscreant,  whom  he  transfixed  through  the  skull  across. 
And  the  satirist,  exclaiming,  "This  indeed  is  an  overpowering  gift!" 
dropped  dead. 

There  were  some  notable  instances  of  praiseworthy  exactions 
imposed  by  high-minded  poets  on  people  who  deserved  punishment 
— exactions  heartily  approved  of  by  a  delighted  country.  Such 
was  that  of  the  eighth  century  Meath  poet,  Ruman  (who  died  in 
742),  the  "Virgil  of  the  Gael,"  who,  when  he  visited  Dublin,  then  a 
stronghold  of  the  Danish  Galls,  composed  a  poem  to  these  Galls 
and  named  as  his  reward  a  penny  to  be  paid  him  from  every  mean 
Gall  and  two  pennies  from  every  noble  Gall.  It  is  needless  to  add 
that  he  carried  away  from  this  city  of  foreign  marauders  a  very 
weighty  bag  of  money,  indeed — every  piece  of  it  a  two-penny.  He 
bore  his  booty  to  the  noted  School  of  Rathain,  near  Kilbeggan; 
and  there  to  the  crowd  of  foreign  scholars  (who  occupied  seven 
streets)  he  distributed  one-third  of  his  wealth;  he  gave  another 
third  to  the  school  and  kept  a  third  to  himself. 

The  poet  of  repute  in  ancient  time  had  no  need  to  be  exacting; 
for  so  high  was  the  regard  for  him  and  for  his  work  that  the  volun- 
tary fees  were  handsome.  And  they  were  consequently  wealthy. 
The  old  proverb  tells  that  "Three  coffers  whose  depths  are  not 
known  are  those  of  the  chieftain,  the  church  and  a  privileged  poet." 
Fees  fixed  by  law  were  graduated  according  to  a  poet's  rank.  A 
file-poet,  one  of  the  highest  order,  was  to  be  paid  three  milch-cows 
for  a  poem;  and  a  bard  of  the  lowest  order,  to  be  paid  one  calf. 
Naturally  it  was  the  latter  class  who  usually  sinned  by  their  im- 
position, impudence  and  unmerited  satirising. 

The  generous  and  the  pleased  paid  the  lawful  fee  and  as  much 
more  as  generosity  prompted.  A  chieftain  of  the  O'Donnells  of 
Tir-Conaill  who  was  a  worthy  patron  of  literature,  once  paid  to  a 
poet,  who  made  a  poem  in  his  praise,  a  mare  for  every  rami  (four- 
line  stanza).  The  patronage  of  the  people  of  Tir-Conaill  for  the 
poet,  is  well  exemplified  in  a  poem  by  the  great  Flann  MacLonain 
(tenth  century).  It  relates  how  Flann  and  his  suite  arrived  at 
the  court  of  Eignachan,  prince  of  Tir-Conaill,  just  when  the  chief- 
tain had  finished  dividing  among  his  nobles  and  his  churches  great 


i84  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

spoil  of  gold  taken  from  the  Danes.  Eignachan  blushed  for 
shame  at  being  empty-handed  on  a  poet's  advent — and  his  people, 
seeing  their  chief's  confusion,  came  forward  and  put  into  his  hands 
again  the  gold  he  had  given  them;  whereupon,  the  overjoyed  Eig- 
nachan, from  the  restored  store,  bestowed  lavishly  on  the  poet — 
and  divided  the  remainder  among  his  people. 

The  same  MacLonain  in  another  corner  of  Ireland  was  the 
recipient  of  another  remarkable  tribute  to  poetry — as  related  in 
a  poem  of  his  equally  famous  contemporary,  MacLiag,  the  poet- 
oUam  of  Brian  Boru.  MacLiag  tells  how,  one  time  that  Mac- 
Lonain was  travelling  in  Galway,  he  met  a  labouring  man  of  the 
Dal  Cas  of  Clare  returning  to  his  own  country  with  the  wages  of 
twelve  months'  service  in  Galway,  a  cow  and  a  cloak.  When  the 
poor  Dalcassian  learnt  that  it  was  the  noble  poet,  MacLonain 
whom  he  encountered,  he  begged  a  poem  of  him: 

"He  said  to  me  in  prudent  words, 
Sing  to  me  the  history  of  my  country; 
It  is  sweet  to  my  soul  to  hear  it." 

MacLonain  stirred  his  auditor  with  a  poem  in  praise  of  the 
Dalcassians  and  was  immediately  rewarded  with  the  twelve  months' 
wages  of  the  gratified  one.  But,  for  his  pride  of  race,  and  gener- 
osity to  a  poet,  the  man  was  repaid  tenfold  by  his  equally  proud 
and  patriotic  fellow  Dalcassians,  who,  when  they  learnt  what  he 
had  done,  received  him  with  honour  In  their  assembly,  and  bestowed 
on  him  ten  cows  for  every  quarter  of  his  own  cow. 

But,  It  was  the  most  Illustrious  of  all  Dalcassians,  Brian  Boru, 
the  warrior  king  and  patron  munificent  of  poets  and  scholars,  who 
once  gave  to  MacLiag  the  richest  gift  probably  ever  bestowed  upon 
one  of  the  bardic  race.  On  a  day  when  Brian  with  his  court  stood 
upon  the  battlements  of  Kincora,  gratefully  gazing  upon  the  vast 
tribute  of  cows^'  from  Ulster  and  from  Leinster,  that  were  arriv- 
ing at  the  Castle,  the  poet  at  his  side  paid  a  word  of  praise  upon 
the  great  flocks  and  herds  that  came  to  Brian — whereupon  the  mon- 
arch turning  to  the  poet  said:    "They  are  all  thine,  O  noble  poet!" 

To  this  MacLiag  Is  credited  a  classical  piece  of  satire,  one  of 
the  rarest  ever  originated  In  any  language.  Moreover,  he  skilfully 
combined.  In  one  little  off-hand  remark,  the  most  withering  sar- 
casm with  the  dizziest  praise. 

Once  when  he  and  his  attendants  had  returned  from  circuit  and 


'It  was  this  which  gave  to  Brian  his  title  Boru  (of  the  Cow  Tribute). 


THE  POETS  185 

he  was  entertaining  Brian's  court  with  accounts  of  his  travels,  the 
king  inquired  which  of  all  the  visited  chieftains  had  rewarded  him 
most  generously.  To  everybody's  amazement,  the  poet  named  one 
who  was  notorious  for  niggardliness.  "Donal  MacDubh  O'Dav- 
cren,"  he  said,  "was  the  most  generous  of  all."  "What  did  he  give 
you?''  asked  Brian.  "A  leathern  girdle  and  clasp,"  answered  Mac- 
Llag.  "Did  you  visit  Cian,  the  son  of  Malloy,  chief  of  the  Euge- 
nians  of  Cashcl,  and  his  wife,  Sabia,  my  daughter?"  "Yes.  They 
advanced  to  meet  me  when  they  heard  I  was  coming.  They  had 
myself  and  fifty  of  my  train  borne  on  men's  shoulders.  We  were 
brought  to  their  Dun,  and  each  m.an  was  given  handsome  garments, 
a  chain  shirt  and  a  cloak.  To  me  Cian  gave  his  own  habiliments, 
his  horse,  his  armour,  his  chess-tables  and  nine  score  of  his  best 
kine.  He  gave  fifty  steeds  to  my  train — and  lavished  gold  and  fifty 
rings  on  my  bards."  Said  the  astonished  Brian,  "Strange  it  is 
that  you  are  more  grateful  to  Donal  MacDubh  O'Daveren  for  his 
paltry  girdle  and  clasp,  than  to  Cian  and  Sabia."  "Not  strange 
it  is,"  replied  MacLiag,  "for  it  was  more  difficult  to  O'Daveren 
to  part  with  that  girdle  and  clasp  than  to  Cian  and  Sabia  to  bestow 
all  theii  noble  gifts." 

The  tenth-century  poet,  MacCoise,  when  ending  a  visit  to  Mul- 
rooney,  King  of  Connaught  (ancestor  of  the  O'Connors),  was  pre- 
sented by  that  king  with  a  chess-board,  a  valuable  sword,  fifty 
milch  cows  and  thirty  steeds.  And  MacLiag  in  his  eulogy  on  the 
death  of  another  great  Connaught  king,  Tadg  O'Kelly  (whose 
court-poet  he  had  been),  tells  how,  on  the  day  that  Tadg  won  the 
battle  of  Loch  Riach,  he  presented  to  him: 

"An  hundred  cows,  an  hundred  swords,  an  hundred  shields, 
An  hundred  oxen  for  the  ploughing  season, 
And  an  hundred  halter  horses. 

"He  gave  me  on  the  night  of  Glenn-gerg, 
An  hundred  cloaks  and  an  hundred  scarlet  frocks, 
Thirty'  spears  of  blood-stained  points. 
Thirty  tables,  and  thirty  chess-boards." 

In  the  case  of  the  plundering  and  burning  of  the  poet  Mac- 
Coise's  home  by  Donal  O'Neill's  army,  the  noted  scholar  Flann 
of  Clanmacnois  assessed  the  damages  due  a  poet  for  such  insult 
and  loss;  namely,  full  restitution  and  in  addition  fourteen  cumals 
(forty-two  cows),  and  the  breadth  of  the  poet's  face  of  gold.  By 
the  learned  men  present,  O'Neill  himself,  and  his  chiefs,  it  was 


i86  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

then  agreed  that  such  should  be  the  damages  ever  after  payable  in 
all  similar  cases.*" 

No  great  wonder  it  was  that  a  class  of  men  so  favoured,  m- 
dulged,  flattered  and  honoured,  should  sometimes  find  among  them 
many  who  came  to  think  that  no  consideration  should  bar  them 
from  the  gratification  of  their  lightest  whim;  and  that  no  man's 
rights  were  of  any  importance,  if  they  came  in  conflict  with  their 
rights.  This  point  of  view  is  strikingly  exemplified  in  a  quatrain 
from  a  poem  of  Muiredach  O'Daly  who  considered  himself  grossly 
and  wantonly  persecuted  because  The  O'Donnell  pursued  him  from 
tuath  to  tuath,  and  from  kingdom  to  kingdoni  over  Ireland,  after 
he  had  killed  that  prince's  steward  at  Lissadlll : 

"Trifling  our  quarrel  with  the  man  (i.e.,  O'Donnell) 
A  clown  to  be  abusing  me, 
And  me  to  kill  the  churl — 
Dear  God,  is  this  a  cause  for  enmity !" 

But  a  poet's  moral  attainments  were  expected  to  be  on  the  same 
high  level  with  his  intellectual.    There  were  demanded  of  him: 

"Purity  of  hand,  bright  without  wounding, 
Purity  of  mouth  without  poisonous  satire, 
Purity  of  learning  without  reproach. 
Purity  of  husbandship." 

And,  despite  grave  sins  of  the  few  sinners  among  them,  the 
ancient  poets  of  Eirinn  proved  themselves  worthy  of  their  sacred 

trust. 

Much  of  the  work  done  by  the  ofiicial  poet  was  of  a  utilitarian 
nature.  The  chief  duties  of  his  ofiice,  as  king's  file,  were  to  keep 
in  verse  the  historical,  genealogical  and  legal  records;  to  prepare 
for  the  public  special  poetic  accounts  of  particular  actions  in  which 
the  people  were  engaged;  and  to  sing  the  feats  of  the  champions, 
the  hospitality  of  the  princes  and  the  charms  of  the  women.  Such 
were  the  more  important  subjects  from  which  the  poet  was  expected 
to  derive  inspiration.  And  very  many  examples  of  the  ancient 
poet's  work  preserved  down  the  centuries,  are  concerned  with  these 
matters. 

But  the  unofficial  poet  showed  a  wide  range  of  inspiration. 
Amongst  the  old  poetic  pieces,  which  escaped  the  destructive  hand 

« It  was  MacCoise  hini'^elf,  by  means  of  a  very  clever  allegorical  poem,  which 
he  entitled  The  Plunder  nf  the  Castle  of  Maelmilscothach,  who  brought  O'Neill 
to  realize  the  enormity  of  the  insult  done  by  his  men — and  induced  him  to  volun- 
teer full  satisfaction. 


THE  POETS  187 

of  alien  enemies  and  blight  of  time  are  several  which  show  the 
ancient  poet's  marvellously  keen  observation,  and  ardent  love,  of 
Nature,  as  well  as  his  wonderfully  subtle  sense  of  beauty.  Here 
is  a  nature-picture  (attributed  to  Oisin)  as  vivid  as  ancient: 

"A  tale  for  jou:  oxen  lowing:  winter  snowing:  summer  passed 
away :  wnnd  from  the  north,  high  and  cold :  low  the  sun  and  short 
his  course:  wildly  tossing  the  wave  of  the  sea.  The  fern  burns  deep 
red.  IVIcn  wrap  themselves  closely:  the  wild  goose  raises  her 
wonted  cry:  cold  seizes  the  wing  of  the  bird:  'tis  the  season  of  ice: 
sad  my  tale." 

A  poem  attributed  to  Fionn  is  this  description  of  May-day 
(translated  by  O'Donovan)  which  shows  that  the  love  of  nature, 
was,  in  the  far-away  days  of  Ireland  as  truly  cultivated,  and  as  de- 
lightfully expressed,  as  it  has  ever  been  in  modern  countries  of 
modern  days: 

"May  day!  delightful  time!  how  beautiful  the  colour; 
The  blackbirds  sing  their  full  lay.     Would  that  Laegh  were  here' 
The  cuckoos  sing  in  constant  strains.     Now  welcome  is  the  noble 
Brilliance  of  the  seasons  ever!     On  the  margin  of  the  branchy  woods 
The  summer  swallows  skim  the  streams.     The  swift  horses  seek  the 

pool. 
The  heather  spreads  out  her  long  hair.     The  weak  fair  bogidown 

grows. 
Sudden  consternation  attacks  the  signs ;  the  planets 
In  their  courses  running,  exert  an  influence; 
The  sea  is  lulled  to  rest,  flowers  cover  the  earth." 

And  now  that  Erin  had  become  a  land  of  schools,  and  of  scribes, 
we  find  one  of  the  latter,  entranced  with  his  work,  charmingly  im- 
parting to  us  the  beauty  of  his  feeling. 

THE  SCRIBE^ 

A  hedge  of  trees  surrounds  me, 
A  blackbird's  lay  sings  to  me ; 
Above  my  lined  booklet 
The  thrilling  birds  chant  to  me. 

In  a  grey  mantle  from  the  top  of  bushes 
The  cuckoo  sings: 
Verily  may  the  Lord  shield  me: — 
Well  do  I  write  under  the  greenwood. 

^  This  poem  and  the  one  that  follows  are  from  Kuno  Meyer's  "Ancient  Irish 
Poetry." 


1 88  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

A  couple  of  hundred  years  after  Patrick,  a  passionate  desire 
to  live  alone  with  God  and  Nature  swept  Ireland,  and  carried  to 
the  wilderness  and  to  remote  and  lonely  islands  tens  of  thousands 
of  intellectual  and  spiritual  ones.  One  of  the  many  hermit-poets 
puts  his  soothed  soul  into  a  seductive  song  which  in  these  days  of 
unrest  makes  us  realise  that  though  he  is  called  hermit  it  is  we  who 
are  alone. 

HERMIT'S  SONG 

I  wish,  O  Son  of  the  living  God,  O  andent,  eternal  King, 

For  a  hidden  litde  hut  in  the  wilderness  that  it  may  be  my  dwelling. 

An  all-grey  lithe  little  lark  to  be  by  its  side, 

A  clear  pool  to  wash  away  sins  through  the  grace  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

Quite  near,  a  beautiful  wood  around  it  on  every  side, 
To  nurse  many-voiced  birds,  hiding  it  with  its  shelter. 

A  southern  aspect  for  warmth,  a  little  brook  across  its  floor, 
A  choice  land  with  many  gracious  gifts  such  as  be  good  for  every 
plant. 

A  few  men  of  sense — we  will  tell  their  number — 
Humble  and  obedient,  to  pray  to  the  King: — 

Four  times  three,  three  times  four,  fit  for  every  need. 
Twice  this  in  the  church,  both  North  and  South : — 

Six  pairs  besides  myself. 

Praying  forever  to  the  King  who  makes  the  sun  shine, 

A  pleasant  church  and  with  the  linen  altar  cloth,  a  dvi^elling  for  God 

from  Heaven; 
Then,  shining  candles  above  the  pure  white  scriptures. 

One  house  for  all  to  go  to  for  the  care  of  the  body, 
Without  ribaldry,  without  boasting,  vtdthout  thought  of  evil. 

This  is  the  husbandry  I  would  take,  I  would  choose,  and  will  not 

hide  it: 
Fragrant  leek,  hens,  salmon,  trout,  bees ; 

Raiment  and  food  for  me  from  the  King  of  fair  fame, 
And  I  to  be  sitting  for  a  while  praying  God  in  every  place. 

And  when  the  Connaught  King,  Cellach,  from  a  hollow-tree 
where,  cornered  by  his  enemy  Maelcroin  and  armed  band,  he  had 
spent  his  last  night  on  earth — beheld  the  spears  of  that  dawn  which 
ushered  in  his  death,  he  could  not,  still,  withhold  the  expression 
of  his  rapture: 


THE  POETS  189 

""HAIL  to  the  Morning,  that  as  a  flame  falls  on  the  ground! 
hail  to  Him  too,  that  sends  her,  the  Morning  many-virtued,  ever-new! 

"O  Morning  fair,  so  full  of  pride,  O  sister  of  the  brilliant  sun! 
hail  to  the  beauteous  morning  that  lightest  for  me  my  little  book! 

"Thou  seest  the  guest  in  every  dwelling,  and  shinest  on  every 
tribe  and  kin ;  hail,  O  thou  white-necked  beautiful  one,  here  with 
us  now,  golden  fair,  wonderful!" 

"My  little  book  of  chequered  page  tells  me,"  continues  Cel- 
lach,  "that  my  life  has  not  been  right."  For,  Cellach,  even  in 
flight  for  his  life  had  with  him  one  of  the  books  he  dearly  loved. 
A  student  he  had  been,  and  should  have  continued — but,  in  a  fool- 
ish moment  that  he  lived  to  regret  in  bitterness,  he  gave  up  the 
student's  cloister  for  the  court.  And  in  another  poem  this  sixth* 
century  student-king  sighs  his  sharp  regret: 

"Woe  to  him  who  leaveth  lore 

For  the  red  world's  arts  or  ore ; 
Who  the  true  God's  love  would  leave 
With  the  false  world's  Kings  to  cleave ! 

"Woe  who  taketh  arms  in  life 
And  retaineth  hand  of  strife. 
Better  far  books  of  whiteness 
Where  psalms  are  seen  in  brightness!" 

— From  a  translation  by  Dr.  Sigerson". 

The  English  poet  Tennyson  dipped  Into  ancient  Irish  lore  and 
poetry  before  singing  of  Arthur.  Knowing  this,  we  are  led  to  won- 
der If  he  who  wrote  Crossing  the  Bar  did  not  stumble  upon  the 
beautiful  little  piece  of  our  ninth-century  Cormac  MacCuilleanaln : 

"Wilt  Thou  steer  my  frail  black  bark 
O'er  the  dark  broad  ocean's  foam? 
Wilt  Thou  come.  Lord,  to  my  boat 
Where  afloat,  my  will  would  roam? 
Thine  the  mighty,  Thine  the  small. 
Thine  to  make  men  fall  like  rain, 
God,  wilt  Thou  grant  aid  to  me 
As  I  come  o'er  the  upheaving  main  ?"  * 

8  Translated  by  Douglas  Hyde, 

®  There  are  dozens  of  different  kinds  of  the  poems  of  ancient  Ireland  that 
must  be  left  unsampled.  But  here  is  one  on  the  fleetingness  of  life,  translated  by 
O'Donovan,  which  while  far  from  being  as  good  as  a  hundred  others  that  might 
be  quoted,  is  in  a  style  that  will  please  many  readers — 

Like  a  damask  rose  you  see, 
Or  like  a  blossom  on  a  tree, 


I90  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

Hyde,  Douglas,  LL.D. :  A  Literary  History  of  Ireland,  from  the  earliest 
times  to  the  present  day. 

Irish  Poetry:  an  Essay  in  Irish,  with  translation  in  English. 

Sigerson,  Dr.  Geo.:     Bards  of  the  Gael  and  Gall. 

O'Curr}',  Eugene:     Manuscript  Materials  of  Irish  History. 

Manners  and  Customs  of  the  Ancient  Irish. 

Joyce,  P.  W. :     Social  History  of  Ancient  Ireland. 
Meyer,  Kuno:     Ancient  Irish  Poetry. 

Carmichael,  Alexander:  Carmina  Gadelica:  Hymns  and  Incantations  orally 
collected  in  the  Highlands  and  Islands  of  Scotland,  and  translated  into 
English. 

Or  like  a  dainty  flower  in  May, 
Or  like  the  morning  to  the  day, 
Or  like  the  sun,  or  like  the  shade, 
Or  like  the  gourd  which  Jonah  made ; 
Even  such  is  man  whose  thread  is  spun. 
Drawn  out  and  out,  and  so  is  done. 

Tlie  rose  withers,  the  blossom  blasteth, 
The  flower  fades,  the  morning  hasteth, 
The  sun  sets,  the  shadow  flies. 
The  gourd  consumes,  the  man — he  dies. 

Like  the  grass  that's  newly  sprung, 
Or  like  the  tale  that's  new  begun. 
Or  like  the  bird  that's  here  to-day, 
Or  like  the  pearly  dew  in  May, 
Or  like  the  hour,  or  like  the  span. 
Or  like  the  singing  of  the  swan ; 
Even  such  is  man  who  lives  by  breath. 
Is  here,  now  there,  in  life  and  death. 

The  grass  withers,  the  tale  is  ended. 
The  bird  is  flown,  the  dew's  ascended, 
The  hour  is  short,  the  span  not  long. 
The  swan's  near  death,  man's  life  is  done. 

Like  the  bubble  in  the  brook. 
Or  in  a  glass  much  like  a  look, 
Or  like  shuttle  in  weaver's  hand. 
Or  like  the  writing  on  the  sand, 
Or  like  a  thought,  or  like  a  dream, 
Or  like  the  gliding  of  the  stream; 
Even  such  is  man,  who  lives  in  breath, 
Is  here,  now  there,  in  life  and  death. 

The  bubble's  blown,  the  look  forgot. 
The  shuttle's  flung,  the  writing's  not, 
The  thought  is  past,  the  dream  is  gone. 
The  water's  run,  man's  life  is  done. 

Like  an  arrow  from  a  bow. 
Or  like  a  course  of  water  flow. 
Or  like  the  time  'twixt  flood  and  ebb, 
Or  like  the  spider's  tender  web. 
Or  like  a  race,  or  like  a  goal, 
Or  like  the  dealing  of  a  dole; 
Even  such  is  man  whose  battle  state 
Ts  always  subject  unto  fate. 


THE  POETS  191 

The  arrow  shot,  the  flood  soon  spent, 
The  time  no  time,  the  web  soon  rent, 
The  race  soon   run,  the  goal  soon   won, 
The  dole  soon  dealt,  man's  life  soon  done. 

Like  the  lightning  from  the  sky, 

Or  like  a  post  that  quick  doth  hie, 

Or  like  a  quaver  in  a  song. 

Or  like  a  journey  three  days'  long 

Or  like  the  snow  when  summer's  come, 

Or  like  the  pear,  or  like  the  plum  ; 

Even  such  is  man,  who  heaps  up  sorrow, 

Lives  this  day,  and  dies  to-morrow. 

The  lightning's  past,  the  post  must  go, 
The  song  is  short,  the  journey  so, 
The  pear  doth  rot,  the  plum  doth  fall, 
The  snow  dissolves,  and  so  must  all. 


CHAPTER  XXV 

THE    IRISH    KINGDOM    OF    SCOTLAND 

Probably  there  is  nothing  in  Irish  history  which  has  caused  more 
confusion  than  the  terms  Scotia  and  Scot,  which,  at  first  apphed 
to  Ireland  and  Irishmen,  came  to  be  applied  later  to  Ireland's 
northeastern  neighbour,  Alba,  and  its  inhabitants.  A  statement  of 
the  cause  of  this  change  may  aid  to  untangle  a  historical  tangle 
which  troubles  the  minds  of  many  who  are  not  students. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  our  most  ancient  poets  and  seana- 
chies  claimed  that  an  early  name  for  Eirinn,  Scotia,  was  derived 
from  Scota,  queen-mother  of  the  Milesians.  The  derivation  may, 
or  may  not,  be  imaginary.  But,  downward  from  the  days  of  the 
Emperor  Constantine  the  Great,  when  the  poet  Egesippus  tells 
how  "Scotia  which  links  itself  to  no  land,  trembles  at  their  (the 
Roman  legions')  name" — the  term  Scotia  is,  by  Continental  writers, 
applied  to  Ireland  more  often  than  any  other  name.  And  Scot  is 
the  term  by  these  writers  most  constantly  applied  to  a  native  of 
Eirinn.  Orosius,  the  third  century  geographer,  uses  "Hibernia  the 
nation  of  the  Scoti." 

As  late  as  the  end  of  the  seventh  century  we  find  the  Irishman 
Adamnan,  when  residing  and  writing  in  the  country  which  is  now 
Scotland,  using  the  word  Scotia  to  designate  his  own  home  coun- 
try from  which  he  is  an  exile.  And  down  in  the  eleventh  century 
we  have  an  Irish  exile  on  the  Continent,  the  celebrated  Marianus 
Scotus  (Marian  the  Scot)  referring  to  his  countrymen  as  Scots. 
The  foreigner,  Hermann,  in  the  same  century,  is  calling  them  Scots 
likewise.  And  still  farther  on,  in  the  thirteenth  century,  Csesar  of 
Heisterbach,  talking  of  Purgatory,  requests  any  one  who  doubts 
its  existence  to  go  to  Scotia  to  St.  Patrick's  Purgatory  there,  and 
be  convinced.  The  reference  is  to  the  then  world-famous  St.  Pat- 
rick's Purgatory  in  Loch  Dearg  (Donegal)  where  penitents  en- 
closed for  many  diys  in  a  cave,  had  vision  of  Heaven,  Elell  and 
Purgatory. 

Isidore  of  Seville,  writing  In  the  seventh  century,  uses  the 
phrase,   "Scotia  eadem  et  Hibernia."     And   Charlemagne's  biog- 

192 


THE  IRISH  KINGDOM  01    SCOTLAND  193 

rapher,  the  celebrated  Notker  le  Begue  of  the  ninth  century  who 
was  intimate  with  the  Irishmen  of  the  school  of  St.  Gall  in  Switzer- 
land, and  a  pupil  of  the  Irish  teacher  Mongan,  there — uses  the 
phrase  "In  the  Island  Hibernia,  or  Scotia,"  when  talking  of  Colm 
Cille.  And  again  in  talking  of  St.  Kilian,  the  martyred  bishop  of 
Wurzburg,  he  says:  "He  came  from  Hibernia,  the  Island  of  the 
Scots." 

The  modern  name  of  Ireland  seems  to  have  originated  witli 
the  Northmen,  in  about  the  seventh  century — being  probably 
formed  from  Eire,  they  called  it  Ir  or  Ire,  and  after  that  the  Eng- 
lish called  it  Ireland,  and  its  natives  Irish.  For  several  centuries 
longer,  however,  these  terms  were  not  adopted  by  Continental 
writers,  who  still  continued  to  speak  of  Scotia  and  the  Scot,  and 
designated  the  Irish  scholars  on  the  Continent  by  the  term  Scotus. 
The  new  name  Ireland  was  on  the  Continent,  first  used  only  in  the 
eleventh  century  (by  Adam  De  Breme). 

To  Alba  (the  present  Scotland)  was  transferred  the  term 
Scotia,  and  to  its  people  the  term  Scot,  because  the  Scoti  of  Hiber- 
nia, having  again  and  again  colonised  there,  built  in  it  a  strong  king- 
dom, which  gave  the  Scotic  (Irish)  people  dominance  there,  and 
soon  made  the  Scotic  kings  the  kings  of  the  whole  country.  The 
first  account  of  Scotic  colonising  in  Alba  occurs  In  the  very  begin- 
ning of  the  third  century  when  Conaire  the  Great,  a  son-in-law  of 
Conn  of  the  Hundred  Battles,  was  King  of  Munster — to  become 
later  High  King  of  Ireland.  One  of  his  three  sons,  the  Carbris, 
Carbri  Riada,  namely,  led  a  large  body  of  his  people  from  Kerry  to 
the  northeast  of  Antrim,  where  he  settled  some  of  them,  and  cross- 
ing Sruth-na-Moill  to  the  adjacent  coast  of  Scotland,  settled  a  col- 
ony there  also — in  those  peninsulas  and  islands  which  are  now 
part  of  Argyle.^ 

This  first  colony  of  Scots  from  Ireland  to  settle  in  Alba,  from 
time  to  time  received  increase  in  numbers  from  the  mother  coun- 
try— and  military  help  also  whenever  they  needed  it  against  their 
neighbours,  the  Picts. 

A  hundred  years  later,  namely,  in  the  first  part  of  the  fourth 
century,  Lugaid  MacConn,  another  Munsterman  and  a  descendant 
of  Conn  of  the  Hundred  Battles,  who  had  to  flee  from  Ireland, 
brought  some  accessions  of  strength  to  them,  when  he  came  there 

*  It  is  held  by  some  that  Carbri  Riada  settled  his  people  entirely  in  Antrim, 
and  that  it  was  Fergus  who  first  brought  the  people  of  Dal  Riada  over  the  water, 
and  established  the  Scotic  kingdom  of  Alba.  The  former,  however,  is  the  popular 
belief,  and  is  attested  by  the  Venerable  Bede  as  well  as  others.  O'Flaherty  and 
Usher  differ  with  Bede,  though. 


194  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

about  two  centuries  later,  and  made  himself  a  power  in  the  Scotic 
colony.  From  his  son,  Fothaid  Canan,  whom  he  left  in  power 
there  when  he  returned  to  Ireland,  to  wrest  the  High  Kingship 
from  Art  the  Lonely,  sprang  the  ancestors  of  the  lords  of  Arg}'le, 
variously  named  MacAUen,  Campbell  and  MacCallum  Mor. 

About  a  hundred  years  after  Carbri  Riada  had  established  the 
Scotic  Dal  Riada  in  Alba,  as  well  as  the  Dal  Riada  in  Antrim,  there 
also  came  to  the  Scotic  colony  a  considerable  accession  of  strength 
— a  body  of  their  kinsmen  from  Kerry  led  by  one  of  their  chief- 
tains, Fergus. 

The  Picts,  naturally  jealous  of  these  usurpers  on  their  soil, 
continued  exerting  the  utmost  pressure  upon  them,  in  the  hope  of 
crushing  them  out,  till  Niall  of  the  Nine  Hostages,  going  to  their 
assistance  with  an  army,  overcame  and  drove  back  the  Picts,  estab- 
lished the  Scotic  kingdom  In  Alba  on  a  solid  foundation,  and,  it  is 
said,  got  the  submission  of  the  Picts  and  the  tribute  of  all  Alba. 

When  the  colony  had  added  another  hundred  years  to  its  age — 
at  the  beginning  of  the  sixth  century  that  is — it  got  its  greatest 
and  strongest  accession  by  the  coming  of  a  Niallan  host,  headed 
by  the  three  grandsons  of  Ere,  Lome,  Aongus  and  Fergus  Mor 
their  leader — who  gave  new  blood,  strength  and  leadership  to  the 
Dal  Riada  of  Alba,  and  made  it  an  island  power  to  be  reckoned 
with.  For  before  the  century's  end  it  was  strong  and  plucky  enough 
to  demand  its  complete  independence  from  the  mother  country — a 
claim  which,  in  576,  King  Aedh,  accompanying  Colm,  carried  to 
the  Convention  of  Drimceatt — and  which  was  settled  to  the  young 
kingdom's  complete  satisfaction.  While  united  to  Ireland  by  the 
closest  bonds  of  blood,  friendship,  education  and  military  in- 
tercourse, it  was  now  a  separate  and  independent  kingdom'' — with 
the  Antrim  Dal  Riada,  some  hold,  as  an  appanage. 

The  Scots'  kingdom  of  Argyle  and  the  islands  held  its  own  and 
more,  for  a  long  time.  But  at  the  end  of  the  eighth  century,  in 
the  reign  of  Don  Coirce,  the  Northmen  pushed  them  eastward 
from  their  original  seat,  and  they  in  turn  pushed  the  Picts  east  and 
northeast,  and  against  these  Picts  conducted  a  campaign  of  con- 
quest which  lasted  half  a  century,  till,  in  the  year  850,  their  king, 
Cinead  (Kenneth)  MacAlpin,  completely  overthrew  the  Picts  and 
was  the  first  Gaelic  king  of  (the  chief  part  of)  Scotland.  Some 
claim  that  he  got  dominion  over  the  Britons,  who  occupied  the 
southwest  of  the  country  and  the  Anglo-Danish  population  of  the 

2  MacNeill  holds  that  the  Alban  Dal  Riada  had  got  its  independence  from  tlie 
mother-country  before  Drimceatt — and  that  Aedh's  claim  at  Drimceatt  was  for 
sovereignty  over  his  kinsmen  of  the  Antrim  Dal  Riada. 


THE  IRISH  KINGDOM  OF  SCOTLAND  195 

southeast.  Now  that  the  Scotic  people  got  complete  dominion  over 
all  or  the  main  part  of  the  country,  it  began  to  be  called  Scotia — 
at  first  Scotia  Minor,  in  contradistinction  to  Eire,  which  was  Scotia 
Major — but  gradually  the  title  Scotia  fell  away  from  Eire,  and 
solely  came  to  signify  Alba. 

In  the  eleventh  century,  when  all  of  the  present  country  of  Scot- 
land— with  exception  of  the  Western  Islands  and  headlands, 
and  northern  islands,  whicii  were  held  by  the  Danes — had  been 
brought  under  Scotic  sway,  the  dominant  Gaelic  power  began  to 
wane.  A  number  of  leading  English  families  who  Hed  or  were 
driven  from  the  south,  in  consequence  of  the  Norman  invasion, 
flocked  into  southeastern  Scotland  and  came  into  favour  at  court  (in 
Edinburgh).  Then  also  Malcolm  married  Margaret,  daughter  of 
Edmund,  King  of  the  Saxon  peoples  (afterwards  St.  Margaret). 
The  new  influences  began  to  affect  king,  court  and  government 
from  this  time  forward.  And  the  king  began  to  find  it  easy  to  lean 
upon  the  newcomers,  the  southerners,  as  well  as  their  kinsmen,  the 
old  Anglo-Danish  colony  of  the  southeast,  in  the  differences  that 
were  constantly  arising  between  him  and  the  semi-independent  (Gae- 
lic) chieftains  of  the  Highlands.  When,  at  the  end  of  the  eleventh 
century,  Malcolm's  son,  Edgar,  English  both  by  name  and  nature, 
was  crowned  king — the  Gaelicism  of  royalty  and  of  the  court 
waned  more  rapidly,  till  in  the  thirteenth  century  it  went  out  alto- 
gether; and  the  last  of  the  Irish  royal  line  became  extinct  with 
Alexander  the  Third,  who  died  without  heir  in  1287.  Then  be- 
gan the  Wars  of  Succession  among  the  Lowland  old-English  fam- 
ilies, the  Bruces  and  the  Balliols. 

So,  though  the  greater  portion  of  the  country  was,  and  still  is, 
Gaelic — with  Gaelic  manners,  customs,  dress  and  language,  still 
holding  in  the  Highlands  and  the  Islands — the  end  of  the  thirteenth 
century  saw  the  end  of  Scotic  (Irish)  rule  in  Alba. 

Keating's  History  of  Ireland. 

Joyce,  P.  W. :     Social  History  of  Andent  Ireland. 

O'Curry,  Eugene:     Manners  and  Customs  of  the  Ancient  Irish. 

Manuscript  Materials  of  Irish  History. 

MacNeill,  Eoin:     Some  Phases  of  Irish  History. 
Skene,  W.  F. :     Celtic  Scotland. 


CHAPTER  XXVI 

THE    CENTURIES    OF    THE    SAINTS 

The  new  Impetus  and  aim  that  Patrick  gave  to  the  Irish  nation, 
turning  It  from  war-love  to  Ideals  much  higher,  wrought  In  the 
island  a  phenomenal  transformation.  While  foreign  warring  and 
raiding  ceased,  and  internal  warring  became  more  rare,  tens  of 
thousands  of  every  rank  and  class  in  the  nation  vied  with  one  an- 
other, not,  as  formerly,  for  skill  In  handling  war  weapons,  but 
for  ease  in  conning  the  Scriptures;  not  for  gaining  fame  in  fight- 
ing, but  for  gathering  favour  In  the  sight  of  God.  The  religious 
development  and  spiritual  revolution  were  extraordinary.  A  con- 
suming thirst  for  knowledge,  and  burning  ardour  for  spreading  the 
Gospel,  swept  the  eager  land,  as  a  Lammas  fire  would  sweep  the 
powder-dry  mountainside.  Old  and  young,  men  and  women,  teacher 
and  fighter,  king  and  kerne,  all  were  caught  up  in  the  Christ-fire 
that  glowed  In  every  vale  and  leaped  on  every  hill  In  Erin.  The 
true  history  of  several  centuries  succeeding  Patrick's  coming,  con- 
sists not  of  the  chronicle  of  Erin's  wars,  and  the  roll  of  her  kings, 
but  the  record  of  the  thousands  of  the  saints,^  and  the  tens  of  thou- 
sands of  the  teachers  of  Erin.  And  let  us  keep  In  mind  that  this 
period  of  the  spiritual  rejuvenation  of  the  island  on  the  verge  of 
the  world  synchronised  with  that  dark  and  fearful  period  in  Eu- 
rope when  Christianity  and  culture  were  being  mercilessly  over- 
whelmed by  the  onward-rolling,  Irresistible  wave  of  barbarism  that 
left  naught  but  wild  desolation  In  its  wake. 

Fortunate  for  Europe  and  for  the  world  it  was  that  In  this 
dread  hour  the  Lord  called  the  eager  labourers  of  Eire  to  His 
Island  vineyard;  and  from  It  sent  the  saving  vintage  far  and  wide 
for  the  reviving  of  a  perishing  world. 

"For  once,  at  any  rate,  Ireland  drew  on  herself  the  eyes  of  the 
whole  world,"  says  Kuno  Meyer,  in  the  Preface  to  his  Ancient  Irish 
Poetry  .  .  .  "as  the  one  haven  of  rest  in  a  turbulent  world  overrun 

1  All  men  who  signally  devoted  themselves  to  the  religious  life  then  were 
termed  saints. 

196 


THE  CENTURIES  OF  THE  SAINTS  197 

by  hordes  of  barbarians,  as  the  great  seminary  of  Christianity  and 
classic  learning.  Her  sons,  carrying  Christianity  and  a  new  human- 
ism over  Great  Britain  and  the  Continent,  became  teachers  of  whole 
nations,  the  councillors  of  Kings  and  Emperors.  .  .  .  The  Celtic  spirit 
dominated  a  large  part  of  the  Western  world  and  its  Christian  ideals 
imparted  new  life  to  a  decadent  civilisation." 

Christianity  and  learning  went  hand  In  hand  in  Ireland.  Al- 
most every  one  of  her  multitude  of  holy  men  became  scholars,  and 
every  holy  scholar  became  a  teacher.  Each  holy  man's  fame  went 
wide  over  the  land,  attracting  to  him  crowds  who  desired  to  sit  at 
his  feet  and  emulate  him.  And  unexpectedly  would  he  then  find 
himself  the  head  of  a  school — for,  both  for  their  sake  and  for 
sake  of  those  with  whom  they  should  afterwards  work,  it  was 
necessary  to  educate  the  colony  of  disciples,  whose  little  huts 
and  bothies  arose  so  thickly  around  his  own  modest  habitation. 
Hence,  ecclesiastical  schools,  side  by  side  with  their  secular 
forerunners,  and  soon  far  overshadowing  them,  sprang  up  in 
every  corner  of  the  country,  till  the  land  was  thickly  dotted  with 
them. 

Of  what  is  known  of  the  holy  men  of  this  period  many  volumes 
have  been  written.  It  would  take  infinitely  more  volumes  to  record 
all  that  has  been  lost  or  forgotten  regarding  them.  Here  we  can 
only  suggest  the  men  and  the  time,  by  sketching  some  shadowy 
outlines  of  a  few  of  the  more  prominent  figures — chiefly  saints  of 
the  second  order — with  a  iew  scraps  of  the  characteristic  folk-lore 
that  has  grown  entwiningly  around  their  memory. 

For,  those  centuries  had  three  orders  of  saints,  namely:  the 
Patrician  or  secular  clergy,  missionaries  who  travelled  and  preached 
Christ  to  all  the  land  during  the  hundred  years  succeeding  the  com- 
ing of  Patrick;  the  monastic  saints,  who,  during  the  next  hundred 
years,  cultivated  Christianity  in,  and  radiated  it  from,  their  monastic 
establishments  and  monastic  schools;  and  the  anchorites,  the  hermit 
saints,  who,  succeeding  the  great  ones  of  the  second  order,  culti- 
vated Christ  in  solitude,  on  lonely  islands,  on  wild  mountain-tops, 
and  in  the  impenetrable  wilderness.  These  last,  like  Fechin,  Se- 
nach,  Coleman,  Ernaan,  are  described  as  "holy  and  shone  as  aurora; 
the  second  class,  more  holy,  lighted  the  land  as  does  the  moon;  and 
the  first,  most  holy,  were  like  the  sun  that  warms  the  land  by  the 
fervour  of  its  brightness." 

Under  the  second  order  such  communities  sprang  up  as  that  of 
St.  Nessan,^  of  Mungret  (near  Limerick)  of  which  Keating  states, 

2  "Never  came  forth  from  his  mouth  what  was  false  or  deceitful." 


198  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

"The  following  was  the  number  of  its  members,  to  wit,  five  hun- 
dred monks  who  were  men  of  learning,  whose  office  it  was  to 
preach  to  the  people,  six  hundred  choristers  who  sang  in  the  choir, 
and  four  hundred  seniors  who  were  devoted  to  the  meditation  of 
divine  things." 

One  of  the  most  honoured  and  most  beloved  of  the  second 
order  of  Irish  saints  was  Finian  of  Clonard,  a  child  of  the  Clan 
Rory — "a  doctor  of  wisdom  and  tutor  of  the  saints  of  Erin,  in 
his  time,"  as  O'Clery  in  his  Martyrology  styles  him.  For,  from 
his  famous  school  at  Cluain-erard — Clonard,  on  the  River  Boyne 
— went  forth  the  twelve  saints  who  were  styled  the  Twelve 
Apostles  of  Eirinn:  the  two  Ciarans,  the  two  Brendans,  the  two 
Colms,^  Mobi,*  Ruadan,  Lasserian,  Ciannech,  Senach  and  Ninnid 
of  Loch  Erne.  Strange  to  say,  Finian  got  his  education  in  Britain 
— in  that  part  which  is  now  called  Wales.  There  he  studied  chiefly 
under  Cadoc,  who  was  himself  part  Irish  and  had  been  trained  by 
two  Irish  teachers.  He  also  studied  under  the  Welshman  Gildas, 
who  had  conducted  some  of  his  own  studies  in  Ireland.  After 
Finian  had  returned  to  Ireland,  and  had  established  himself,  about 
A.  D.  520,  on  the  Boyne,  his  fame  for  piety  and  for  wisdom  spread 
so  fast  that  in  short  time  a  community  was  established  there.  "Ab- 
bots left  their  monasteries  and  bishops  their  sees,  to  come  to  learn 
Divine  Wisdom  from  his  lips."  "His  school,"  says  O'Clery,  "was 
in  quality  a  holy  city  full  of  wisdom  and  virtue.  And  he  came  to 
be  called  Finian  the  Wise." 

The  growth  of  his  community,  and  of  his  power,  are  well  illus- 
trated in  a  little  incident  recorded  of  Colm  Cille's  first  coming 
there.  Having  told  the  little  stranger,  to  whom  he  took  a  liking, 
to  build  his  hut  at  the  door  of  the  church  and  finding,  later,  that 
he  had,  Instead,  in  his  modesty,  gone  far  off  to  build,  Finian  af- 
fectionately chided  him  for  not  doing  what  he  had  been  told — to 
which  the  princeling  from  Tir-Conaill  prophetically  replied,  "But 
here,  before  long,  the  door  of  thy  church  will  be." 

His  school  grew  so  enormously  that  it  is  recorded  he  had  at 
length  three  thousand  pupils,  native  and  foreign. 

3  Of  course  this  refers  to  the  two  most  famed  Colms — Colm  of  lona  and  Colm 
of  Tir-da-glass.  There  were  scores  of  St.  Colms.  O'Halloran  reckons  of  Irish 
Saints  whose  names  were  common :  4  named  Colga,  10  named  Gobhan,  12  Dicuil, 
12  Maidoc,  12  Adran,  13  Caman,  13  Dimian.  14  Brendan,  14  Finian,  14  Ronan,  15 
Conall,  15  Dermod,  15  Lugad,  16  Lassaran,  18  Comin,  19  Foilla.  20  Ciaran,  20 
Ultan,  22  Cillian,  23  Aidan,  30  Cronan,  37  Moluan,  43  Lasrian,  34  Mochuma,  58 
Mochua,  55  Fintan,  60  Cormac,  200  Colman. 

•*  Mobi,  who  had  a  school  at  Glasnevin,  sent  to  Colm  Glle  on  lona,  the  present 
of  a  certain  sacred  girdle.  "Good  was  the  man  who  had  this  girdle,  for  it  never 
opened  on  feasting  nor  closed  on  falsehood." 


THE  CENTURIES  OF  THE  SAINTS  199 

That  Finian's  pupils  advanced  in  sanctity  as  they  did  in  knowl- 
edge we  learn  from  a  quaint  bit  of  lore  recorded  in  the  old  Book 
of  Lismorc,  which  tells  how  Finian,  otherwise  occupied  himself, 
once  sent  the  student  Senach  to  observe  and  bring  him  word  how 
the  other  pupils  were  engaged — "Different  in  sooth  was  that  at 
which  each  of  them  was  found,  yet  all  were  good.  Colm  the  son 
of  Crimthann  was  with  hands  stretched  forth,  and  mind  contem- 
plative of  God,  the  wild  birds  resting  on  his  hands  and  on  his 
head.' 

With  this  Finian  is  sometimes  confounded  his  contemporary, 
Finian  of  Moville"  in  Down,  who,  Colgan  says,  is  the  Irish  Frigi- 
dius,  who  became  bishop  of  Lucca  in  Italy — at  whose  school  the 
great  Colm  chiefly  studied,  and  from  whose  book  of  the  Scriptures 
he  took  the  surreptitious  copy  that  indirectly  caused  his  exile. 

The  Senach  just  referred  to — the  saintly  Senach,  on  whom  at- 
tended many  miracles,  and  who  was  one  of  the  twelve  apostles  of 
Erin,  is  the  same  who  afterwards  failed  in  attempt  to  turn  away 
from  his  Island  of  Iniscathy  (at  the  mouth  of  the  Shannon)  the 
holy  woman  Canaire.  He  conducted  on  this  Island  of  Iniscathy 
a  noted  school.  It  was  when  (before  that)  he  conducted  an  estab- 
lishment at  Iniscara,  that  there  is  said  to  have  landed  in  Cork  a 
ship's  company  of  Romans,  hither  attracted  by  Erin's  fame  for 
holiness  and  wisdom.  Ten  of  these  Romans  are  said  to  have 
joined  Senach's  Iniscara  community.  That  he  should  be  a  worthy 
and  inspiring  teacher  is  not  to  be  wondered  at,  for  as  a  lad  he  had 
an  unquenchable  thirst  for  knowledge,  which  forced  him  to  be- 
come that  which  in  later  days  was  termed  a  "poor  scholar."  He 
had  read  and  profited  by  the  verse  of  Matthew  which  says:  "Who- 
soever will  be  great  among  you,  let  him  be  your  servant."  And 
for  his  teaching  he  paid  with  service.  He  herded  cows  and  calves 
for  Notal  of  Kell  Manach,  with  whom  he  read.  Senach  carried 
a  book  with  him  to  the  fields,  when  he  went  herding.^ 

5  Once,  says  a  legend,  Kevin  of  Glendalough  prayed  so  intently  that  a  bird 
built  its  nest  between  his  extended  palms,  laid  its  eggs,  and  reared  its  young. 

"  Of  this  Finian  of  Moville  is  related  one  of  the  heavenly  bird  legends — which, 
however,  for  chronological  reasons,  must  have  been  first  related  of  some  other  of 
the  many  St.  Finians.  Once  when  he  was  in  the  woods  gathering  wattles  for 
building  a  monastery,  a  beautiful  bird  sang  three  enchanting  songs  to  him — which 
held  him  spell-bound  for,  he  thought,  several  minutes.  But  when  the  songs  were 
finished  and  that  he  went  home  with  his  burden  of  wattles, — which  were  still  green 
— he  was  astounded  to  see  a  great  monastery  built — and  occupied  by  a  commu- 
nity of  men  all  strange  to  him.  When  he  and  they  had  got  over  mutual  aston- 
ishment and  bewilderment,  and  that  the  records  were  searched  it  was  found  that 
a  Finian  had  gone  into  the  woods  to  gather  wattles  150  years  ago — and  never  re- 
turned ! 

^  So  that  he  might  not  be  distracted  in  his  reading,  he  would,  when  he  went 


200  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

Like  Senach,  Ciaran  the  Wright,  he  of  Clonmacnois,  herded 
in  his  youth,  and  carried  to  the  herding  his  hunger  for  knowledge. 
He  was  herding  in  Magh  Ai  for  his  foster-father,  Justus,  who  was 
also  his  tutor  when,  attracted  by  the  saintliness  of  Ciaran,  a  fox 
out  of  the  woods  made  itself  his  servant,  it  is  said.^ 

Ciaran  was  a  beautiful  character,  who  was  cut  off  in  the  flower- 
ing of  his  manhood.^  After  Colm,  he  had  been  the  favourite  of 
his  master,  Finian,  at  Clonard.  To  Finian's  eyes  he  was  the  moon, 
who  was  to  cheer  and  enlighten  the  centre  of  Ireland,  while  Colm 
was  the  sun  which  should  enlighten  Erin  and  Alba,  and  all  of  West- 
ern Europe. 

His  liberality,  and  love  of  helping  others,  made  him  noted — 
and  won  for  him  a  nick-name,  when  he  studied  under  the  loving  eye 
of  his  spiritual  father,  Finian.  It  was  on  the  first  day  when  that 
little  Ninnid  the  slant-eyed,  of  Loch  Erne,  seeking  the  knowledge 
for  which  his  soul  yearned,  came  to  the  big  school.  When  the 
great-hearted  Finian  had  spoken  with,  and  accepted,  and  enrolled 
the  shy  little  fellow  from  Loch  Erne,  he  told  him  to  go  among  the 
scholars  and  borrow  a  book.  But  all  whom  the  timid  boy  visited 
were  so  deep  in  their  studies  that  they  could  not  spare  him  what  he 
wanted.  He  returned  to  Finian  and  told  him  he  had  made  the 
rounds  of  the  school,  but  could  get  no  book  from  the  scholars. 
"Hast  thou  gone,"  said  Finian,  "to  yon  tender  youth  who  is  on  the 

to  the  pasture,  separate  the  calves  from  the  cows — drawing  a  line  across  the  field 
between  them,  over  which  neither  had  the  power  to  go  to  the  other.  And  when 
in  the  grinding  season,  he  had  to  take  his  turn  sitting  up  in  the  mill  at  night,  he 
also  brought  a  book  for  study.  On  one  occasion,  when  they  knew  that  he  was 
there  alone,  robbers  came,  but  on  arriving  saw  to  their  dismay  two  men,  one 
reading  and  one  grinding.     And  their  evil  scheme  was  thus  miraculously  thwarted. 

Of  pupils  in  his  school  is  told  a  beautiful  incident.  Two  of  them,  little  boys, 
having  gone  with  another  bigger  boy,  Donnan,  the  son  of  Liach,  to  cut  sea-weed 
for  the  master,  were  drowned.  To  assuage  the  frantic  grief  of  their  parents, 
Senach  recalled  their  souls  to  their  discovered  bodies.  Then  the  re-living  lads 
protested  to  their  mother:  "O  Mother,  though  the  power  of  the  whole  world 
was  given  us  and  its  delightfulness  and  joyance,  we  would  deem  it  the  same  as 
if  we  were  in  prison,  compared  with  being  in  the  life  and  the  land  we  reached." 

^  The  fox,  we  are  told,  used  to  carry  back  and  forth  between  pupil  and 
tutor  the  psalter  wherein  Ciaran  read.  The  animal  would  sit  by  Ciaran  in  the 
field,  barkening  to  the  boy  reading  his  lesson  to  the  end,  and  would  watch  while 
Ciaran,  with  his  style,  copied  the  lesson  upon  the  waxen  tablets.  Then  the  wise 
animal,  taking  the  tablets  in  his  mouth,  carried  them,  with  the  psalter,  home  to 
Justus,  and  brought  them  back  corrected.  But,  once,  tempted  by  the  tastiness  of 
the  wax,  the  fox  succumbed  to  the  devil's  prompting — and  went  aside  from  the 
straight  path  to  enjoy  the  lesson  under  a  bush.  Aongus,  the  son  of  Crimthann  came 
upon  him  with  his  hounds  and  men  at  that  critical  moment,  and  gave  chase  to 
Reynard,  who,  with  the  tablets,  fled  for  his  life.  He  ran  to  Ciaran  and  came 
under  his  cowl.  And  Ciaran  saved  the  fox  from  the  hounds,  and  the  tablets 
from  the   fox. 

^  He  died  A.  D.  548,  aged  only  33.    "He  never  uttered  a  word  that  was  false." 


THE  CENTURIES  OF  THE  SAINTS  201 

north  of  the  green?"  Ninnid,  replying  that  he  had  not  done  so, 
was  directed  to  go  there  now.  The  tender  youth  was  Ciaran,  the 
son  of  the  Carpenter.  When  the  slant-eyed  one  asked  Ciaran  if 
he  might  have  his  book  to  read  from,  the  reader  was  studying  that 
verse  of  Matthew:  "Omnia  qua^cumque  ultis  ut  faciant  homini," 
etc. — and  turning  to  the  timid  lad,  answered  him:  "This  I  read, 
that  I  should  do  unto  others  what  I  would  desire  them  to  do  unto 
me.  So,  though  I  am  only  half  through  Matthew,  you  may  have 
it."  And  he  gave  his  book  to  the  little  fellow  with  whom  no  one 
else  would  bother.  His  playful  fellow-students  hereupon  nick- 
named him  "Ciaran  half-Matthew" — and  when  the  story  came  to 
the  ears  of  Finian,  he  proudly  said  to  these  students:  "Not  Ciaran 
half-Matthew  will  he  be,  but  Ciaran  half-Ireland." 

Shortly  before  his  birth,  Ciaran's  mother  came  to  visit  a  holy 
bishop,  who,  when  he  heard  the  roll  of  her  approaching  chariot 
said:  "It  is  the  noise  of  a  chariot  under  a  king.  And  he  shall  be 
a  mighty  king.  As  the  sun  shineth  among  the  stars  of  heaven,  so 
shall  he  shed  on  earth  miracles  and  marvels  that  can  not  be  told."  " 

When  he  was  at  Clonard,  and  would  go  out  to  study  in  the 
silence  of  the  woods,  tradition  says  that  a  stag  used  to  come  and 
lie  down  in  front  of  him,  presenting  its  horns  for  a  reading  stand 
on  which  he  laid  his  book  whilst  he  read. 

After  Clonard  he  went  to  Aran  to  study  under  St.  Enda.  While 
studying  there  he  used  to  thrash  the  corn  for  the  community;  but 
they  had  to  take  this  office  from  him,  because  he  gave  of  the  corn 
so  lavishly  to  the  poor  that  he  often  left  the  students  and  the  com- 
munity hungering.  When  he  was  leaving  Aran  he  had  vision  of  a 
tree  which  grew  up  in  the  middle  of  Erin  and  sheltered  all  the  land. 
Its  branches  bent  with  load  of  fruit,  wherefrom  all  the  birds  of 
the  air  came  to  eat.  Enda  read  the  vision  for  him:  "That  tree 
is  thyself.  All  Erin  shall  be  filled  with  thy  name,  and  sheltered 
by  the  grace  that  will  be  In  thee.  And  many  from  all  parts  will 
be  fed  by  thy  prayers  and  fastings.  Go,  in  God's  name,  and  found 
thy  church  on  the  Shannon's  banks." 

Before  Ciaran  put  his  foot  In  his  boat  to  sail  away  from  Enda 
and  Aran,  he  knelt  him  down  upon  the  strand  to  get  his  teacher's 
parting  blessing.    And  the  grieving  Enda,  as  he  would  give  it,  broke 

1"  On  a  certain  day  Garan  was  sowing  seed  at  Iseal-Chiarain.  A  poor  man 
asked  him  for  alms.  Ciaran  threw  a  handful  of  grain  into  his  breast,  and  it  tumed 
immediately  into  gold.  King  Angus,  son  of  Crimthann,  sent  two  horses  and 
chariots  to  Ciaran,  and  Ciaran  gave  them  to  the  poor  man  for  the  gold,  and  the 
gold  turned  into  grain  immediately,  and  the  field  was  sown  with  it  after,  so  that 
not  in  the  whole  territory  was  there  corn  better. 


202  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

down  and  wept — and  was  gently  chided  therefor  by  his  brethren. 
"Oh,  my  brothers,"  said  Enda,  "why  should  I  not  weep;  this  day 
our  Island  has  lost  its  rarest  flower." 

He  went  to  the  place  where  he  had  been  directed  by  Enda.  He 
first  stopped  at  Ard  Mantain,  a  beautiful  and  fertile  spot,  on  the 
river  banks,  which  attracted  him  much.  But  on  consideration  he 
said :  "No,  not  here  may  I  found  my  church.  Here  indeed  are 
the  world's  riches  in  plenty,  but  from  such  a  place  the  souls  going 
to  heaven  would  be  few."  He  next  stopped  at  Ard  Tiprait,  a 
place  unattractive  and  with  soil  unyielding.  "Here  let  us  remain," 
he  said  to  his  companions,  "for  many  souls  will  ascend  to  Heaven 
from  this  spot."  That  was  Saturday,  January  23rd,  540.  In  that 
place  and  on  that  day  he  blessed  and  drove  the  first  post.  When 
he  was  making  his  preparations  for  this  there  appeared  upon  the 
scene  an  outlaw — Diarmuid,  the  son  of  Fergus  Kerbeoll,  who  was 
hiding  from  the  High  King's  armies  that  sought  him.  This  Diar- 
muid enthusiastically  aided  the  young  cleric  in  fixing  the  first  post 
of  his  church.  Turning  to  the  faithful  one  who  was  hunted,  Ciaran 
then  said :  "Though  to-day  thy  followers  are  few,  to-morrow  thou 
wilt  be  High  King  of  Eirinn."  And  his  words  were  fulfilled,  for 
the  powerful  Ard-Righ  of  later  days,  Diarmuid  O'Carroll,  was 
no  other  than  the  outlaw  friend  of  Ciaran.  Ciaran  had  his  church 
finished  on  May  9th,  of  the  same  year;  and  then  his  community  and 
school  began  to  grow.  He  lived  for  a  very  short  time  to  enjoy 
and  to  foster  both.  But  even  in  this  short  time  new  lustre  was 
added  to  a  name  whose  brightness  had  before  been  notable. 

In  his  very  short  life — for  he  died  at  the  age  of  thirty-three — • 
he  had  lifted  many  thousands  toward  God.  He  had  evoked  won- 
derful veneration  throughout  the  land,  and  been  a  beacon  on  a 
mountaintop  to  the  men  and  women  of  Eirinn.  And  the  monastery 
and  school  which  he  had  started,  which  he  blessed  with  his  name, 
and  inspired  with  his  spirit,  was  to  be  among  the  greatest  of  the 
great  monasteries  and  schools  of  Eirinn;  and  down  the  ages  the 
fame  of  his  school  was  to  exceed  the  fame  of  all  other  schools  that 
Eirinn  ever  knew,  and  its  scholars  were  to  be  noted  for  their  wis- 
dom and  their  learning,  both  at  home  in  Ireland,  and  abroad  on 
the  Continent. 

The  last  moments  of  the  holy  Ciaran  are  told  with  simple 
beauty  in  the  Book  of  Lismore: 

"When  the  time  of  his  decease  drew  nigh  to  holy  Ciaran,  In  the 
little  Church,  in  the  thirty-third  year  of  his  age,  on  the  fifth  of  the 
Ides  of  September,  as  regards  the  day  of  the  solar  month,  on  Satur- 
day as  regards  the  day  of  the  week :  on  the  eighteenth  as  regards  the 


THE  CENTURIES  OF  THE  SAINTS  203 

day  of  the  moon,  he  said,  'Let  me  be  carried  to  the  little  height  above 
the  church.'  And  when  that  \vas  done  he  looked  to  the  sky  and 
the  lofty  air  above  his  head.  And  saith  he,  'Awful  is  this  way  above.' 
'Not  for  thee  is  it  awful,'  say  the  monks.  'I  know  not  indeed,'  saith 
he,  'aught  of  God's  commandments  I  have  transgressed,  and  yet  even 
David,  son  of  Jesse,  and  Paul  the  Apostle  dreaded  this  way.'  Then 
the  stone  pillow  was  taken  from  under  him  for  his  comfort.  'Nay,' 
saith  he,  'put  it  under  my  shoulder.'  .  .  .  Then  angels  filled  all  be- 
tween heaven  and  earth  to  meet  his  soul.  Then  he  was  carried  into 
the  little  church  and  he  raised  his  hands  and  blessed  his  people" — 
and  closed  his  eyes  in  Christ." 

This  Ciaran  the  Wright  is  not  to  be  confounded  with  the  other 
famous  Ciaran,  Ciaran  of  Saighir.  Ciaran  the  Wright  (the  son 
of  the  Carpenter),  with  whom  we  have  dealt,  was  of  Ulster  origin; 
Ciaran  of  Saighir  was  of  Munster.  He  was  born  in  Cork.  It  is 
he  who,  some  contend,  first  introduced  Christianity  in  the  South  of 
Ireland — before  the  coming  of  Patrick.  Southern  tradition  is  stub- 
bornly strong  on  this  point,  but  there  are  many  pieces  of  circum- 
stantial evidence  that  tend  to  prove  him  of  the  sixth  century.  Very 
great  he  was  though,  to  judge  from  tradition — which  after  all,  is 
one  of  the  most  certain  proofs  of  true  greatness.  So  great  was  he 
in  the  popular  esteem  that  one  legend  has  him  as  conceived  of 
Heaven.  A  star  fell  into  the  mouth  of  his  mother,  Liadain,  when 
sleeping:  "thereof  was  born  the  wondrous  birth,  Ciaran  of  Saighir. 
And  after  his  birth  the  angels  of  the  Lord  tended  him,  and  the 
ranks  of  Heaven  baptised  him.  And  it  is  in  Corcu  Luidaich  first 
that  in  Ireland  the  cross  was  believed  in — thirty  years  before  the 
coming  of  Patrick." 

He  was  a  worker  of  miracles,  was  this  great  Ciaran.  And  in 
his  love  of  the  poor,  the  southern  Ciaran  rivalled  his  humbler  name- 
sake.    The  Feilire  of  Aongus  tells  us,  "Many  cattle  had  Ciaran 

11  Ciaran  died  of  the  great  plague,  the  Buidhe  Conaill,  a  kind  of  yellow  jaundice 
which  again  and  again  ravaged  Ireland  (as  well  as  the  neighbouring  countries  in 
the  sixth  and  seventh  centuries).  About  the  time  of  Ciaran's  death  it  played  havoc 
with  the  monastic  communities.  The  schools  were  broken  up,  and  the  pupils  sent 
home.  In  that  visitation  during  which  Ciaran  died  St.  Ultan  signalised  himself 
by  becoming  father  and  mother  to  hundreds  of  children  who  were  orphaned  by 
the  pestilence.  Apropos  of  this  is  a  truly  quaint  legend  (recorded  by  Aongus) 
how  that  an  invading  fleet  arrived  at  this  time  of?  the  coast  of  Ireland.  Diarmuid, 
who  was  then  Ard-Righ,  sent  a  messenger,  with  the  alarming  news,  to  Ultan, 
urging  his  intercession  with  God  to  avert  this  second  calamity  coming  upon  the 
suffering  country.  When  the  message  was  delivered  to  Ultan  he  was  busy  feed- 
ing his  children  But  he  raised  against  the  fleet  his  unoccupied  left  hand,  where- 
upon a  storm  arose  and  completely  wrecked  the  fleet.  And  when  they  would 
thank  Ultan  for  this  he  reproached  them,  "Shame  it  was  not  to  have  left  me  till 
my  right  hand  was  free.  For,  against  the  raising  of  my  right,  no  foreign  foe 
could  ever  after  invade  Eirinn." 


204  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

of  Saighir,  for  there  were  ten  doors  to  the  shed  for  his  kine,  ten 
stalls  for  each  door,  ten  cows  for  each  stall,  ten  calves  for  each 
cow.  ...  So  long  as  he  was  alive,  Ciaran  consumed  not  any  kine, 
small  or  great,  of  their  relish  nor  of  their  great  produce;  but  dis- 
tributed to  the  poor  and  needy  of  the  Lord.  Moreover,  Ciaran 
had  fifty  horses  for  ploughing  and  tilling  the  earth,  but  it  seems  that 
of  what  they  tilled  he  ate  not  a  single  cake  so  long  as  he  was  alive. 
The  following  was  his  dinner  every  night:  a  little  bit  of  barley 
bread  and  spring  water  as  a  drink  with  it,  and  two  roots  of  sea- 
fern  as  relish  for  it.  Skins  of  fawns  was  the  raiment  he  wore.  A 
bolster  of  stone  was  at  his  head  when  he  used  to  sleep."  ^ 

This  Ciaran  was  of  the  first  order  of  Saints — a  missionary, 
who  did  great  work  in  bringing  the  people  of  Munster  to  Christ. 
And  winning  them  for  Christ,  he  won  them  also  for  himself.  For 
his  fame  in  Munster  is  imperisbable." 

One  of  the  thousand  traditions,  which  display  the  Irish  sym- 
pathy with  the  animal  world  and  show  so  many  of  the  saints  in 
intimate  intercourse  with  the  dumb  living  things  around  them,  says 
that  when  Ciaran  lived  in  the  woods,  worshipping  God,  a  furious 
wild  boar  came  to  keep  him  company.  And  after  that  came  a  fox, 
and  then  a  wolf,  and  a  badger,  and  a  fawn.  And  this  curious  com- 
munity lived  together  in  loving  harmony  always.  At  least  except  for 
one  little  slip  when  the  fox,  getting  inordinately  hungry,  stole  the 
saint's  sandals,  and  carried  them  off  to  make  him  a  meal.  But  the 
badger,  discovering  the  crime,  indignantly  followed,  took  the  san- 
dals from  the  thief,  and  returned  them  to  their  owner." 

Another  famous  southern  saint  of  the  early  Church  was  the 
Kerryman,  Brendan — known  as  the  Voyager,  or  Brendan  of  Clon- 
fert — to  distinguish  him  from  his  contemporary  Brendan  of  Birr. 
Throughout  the  Middle  Ages  Brendan  was  known  and  famed  in  all 
corners  of  Europe,  through  the  romantic  account,  then  translated 
into  every  written  tongue,  of  the  wonderful  voyage,  extending  over 
seven  years,  which  he  is  said  to  have  gone  upon — a  voyage,  in  the 

12  A  legend,  proving — if  proof  be  needed — ^that  the  Lord  would  not  suffer  His 
beloved  Munstermcn  to  be  put  to  shame  before  outlanders  from  less  favored  prov- 
inces, tells  how  on  a  fast-day,  Brendan  of  Birr,  and  Ciaran  of  Quain,  once  un- 
expectedly dropped  in  upon  Ciaran  of  Saighair.^  Finding  him  with  nothing  eatable 
in  the  house,  but  a  piece  of  meat,  Ciaran,  taking  the  meat,  blessed  it,  and  lo  he 
had  fish,  honey  and  oil  in  plenty  to  put  before  these  outlanders. 

1'  Many  ot  the  saints  were  noted  for  their  love  of  animals,  and  for  the  animals' 
love  of  them.  A  flock  of  wild  ducks  followed  St.  Coleman,  wherever  he  went. 
Brendan,  the  Navigator,  had  a  pet  crow:  Colm  die,  a  pet  crane.  When  Molua 
MacOchae  died  all  the  birds  and  all  the  animals  in  Erin  mourned.  One  bird  whom 
St.  Maelanfaid  questioned  as  to  the  cause  of  its  sad  lamenting,  told  him  that  St. 
Molua  had  never  harmed  bird  or  beast  in  all  his  life — '"So,  not  more  do  human 
beings  grieve  for  him  than  the  other  animals,  and  the  little  birds  that  thou  seest." 


THE  CENTURIES  OF  THE  SAINTS  205 

course  of  which,  say  some,  he  landed  upon  the  Continent  that  is 
now  America. 

Brendan  was  born  in  the  last  quarter  of  the  fifth  century,  and 
lived  nearly  a  hundred  years.  He  studied  his  theology  in  one  of 
the  very  early  schools,  St.  Jarlath's  famous  school  near  Tuam. 
But  before  that  he  had  been  tutored  by  Bishop  Eire — the  same 
who,  tradition  says,  on  the  night  of  the  birth  of  this  Brendan,  be- 
held the  woods  by  the  home  where  the  child  was  born,  wrapt  in 
one  vast  flame,  which  reached  up  to  the  skies,  and  the  like  of  which 
he  never  saw  before;  and  a  manifold  service  of  angels,  in  bright 
white  garments,  all  around  the  land.  And  during  his  childhood  it 
is  said,  a  hind  from  Sliabh  Luachra  used  to  come  daily,  with  her 
fawn,  to  give  milk  for  the  heaven-favoured  child. 

It  was  this  Brendan  who,  when  going  forth  to  his  studies,  was 
admonished  by  St.  Ita  "  (his  foster-mother),  "Study  not  with 
women  nor  with  virgins  lest  some  should  make  mock  of  thee." 

But  Brendan  hardly  needed  the  admonition,  for  his  strenuous 
objection  to  feminine  company  is  famed  through  the  incident  that 
happened  when  his  foster-father.  Bishop  Eire,  took  the  little  lad 
Brendan,  with  him,  when  he  went  to  visit  the  King  and  Queen  of 
the  territory.  He  left  the  lad  in  the  chariot  while  he  called  upon 
the  royal  pair;  and  a  pretty  little  yellow-haired  princess  entered 
the  chariot  to  play  with  the  boy,  but  was  ignominiously  ejected  by 
him.  Bishop  Eire  penanced  him  severely  for  his  conduct — con- 
demning him  to  spend  the  night  in  the  cave  of  Fenit.  The  penitent 
chanted  psalms  during  the  night  which  were  heard  for  a  thousand 
paces  on  every  side.  And,  says  the  legend,  about  the  cave  troops 
of  angels  were  seen  up  to  heaven  and  down  to  earth,  from  night- 
falling  to  day  dawn. 

It  was  in  the  middle  of  the  sixth  century  (556)  that  he  began 
his  school  of  Clonfert — on  an  island  in  Lough  Dearg,  in  the  River 
Shannon — which  was  to  be  one  of  the  famous  schools  of  Ireland, 
and  which  in  future  generations  was  to  boast  for  Abbot,  one  of 
Ireland's  famous  scholars,  St.  Cummian  Fada.^"' 

1*  St.  Ita,  born  about  480,  founded  the  first  monastery  in  Alunster,  at  the  foot 
of  Sliabh  Luachra.     She  was  a  great  miracle  worker.     Died  570. 

15  It  was  in  his  church  of  Qonfert  that  Brendan  had  his  vision  of  the  heavenly 
bird,  which  coming  to  him  after  Mass  one  morning,  perched  upon  the  altar,  and 
so  dazzled  him  with  its  sun-like  radiance  that  he  had  to  look  away  from  it. 
Putting  its  bill  behind  its  wing  the  bird  sang  for  him.  And,  sweeter  than  any 
music  ever  heard  in  the  world  before,  was  the  music  that  it  made.  He  hearkened, 
entranced  for  twenty-four  hours — which  passed  like  a  moment  of  time.  _  And 
after  that  Brendan  would  not  any  more  permit  worldly  music  to  be  played  in  his 
presence ;  for  he  did  not  want  to  lose  from  his  hearing  the  music  of  the  people  of 
Heaven. 


2o6  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

His  famous  voyage,  accounts  of  which,  in  many  languages,  are 
still  to  be  found  in  a  dozen  old  libraries  of  Europe,  was  under- 
taken for  purpose  of  finding  the  Land  of  Peace  which  the  Lord 
had  promised  to  all  who  did  His  will.  "For  Brendan  had  read  in 
the  Gospel,  'Every  one  that  hath  forsaken  father  and  mother,  sister 
and  land  for  My  namesake,  will  receive  an  hundredfold  in  the 
present  and  shall  possess  everlasting  life.'  And  then  the  love  of 
the  Lord  grew  exceeding  in  Brendan's  heart,  and  he  desired  to 
leave  his  land,  his  country,  his  parents,  his  fatherland.  And  he 
urgently  besought  the  Lord  to  give  him  a  laiid,  secret,  hidden, 
secure,  a  delightful  land,  separated  from  men." 

In  answer  to  his  persistent  prayer,  an  angel  of  the  Lord  at 
length  directed  him:  "Arise,  O  Brendan,  for  God  hath  given  thee 
what  thou  soughtest,  even  the  Land  of  Promise."  Then  he  built 
his  ship,  and  chose  his  company,  and  in  the  name  of  the  Lord,  set 
out  upon  the  trackless  ocean.  It  is  noteworthy  that  the  last  man 
to  join  the  boat's  company,  a  buffoon  and  a  notoriously  sinful  man, 
was  the  first  to  go  to  heaven. 

And  Brendan's  voyage,  if  it  gave  him  not  the  Land  of  Promise, 
still  gave  to  the  world  a  wonderful  romance,  which  through  a  long 
count  of  centuries  never  lost  its  fascination  for  the  miUions  of  the 
people  of  Brendan's  land — not  to  mention  other  millions  in  other 
lands.^^ 

Of  the  ship's  company  of  Romans  who,  as*was  said,  landed  in 
Cork  when  Senach  was  at  Iniscara  a  number  probably  went  to 
the  school  of  Enda  in  Aran.  In  the  ancient  graveyard  there,  was 
discovered  a  head-stone,  commemorating  "VII  Romani"  for  the 
fame  of  Enda  and  his  school  travelled  far.  It  is  said  that  when 
Colm  Cille  visited  Aran,  he  saw  there  the  grave  of  an  abbot  of 
Jerusalem,  who  had  made  pilgrimage  to  Enda. 

Under  this  great  Enda — ^who  stood  in  the  front  rank  of  the 
saints  of  the  second  order — the  Island  home  which  he  selected  for 
his  activities,  his  monastery  and  school,  very  properly  earned  the 
title  of  Aran  na  Naoim  (Aran  of  the  Saints).  Tradition  has  it 
that  in  the  graveyard,  at  the  old  church  of  Killeany  there,  lies  the 
dust  of  an  hundred  and  twenty-seven  saints.  Says  the  Feilire  of 
Aengus:     "It  will  never  be  known  till  the  Day  of  Judgment  the 

^^  It  was  a  time  of  wonderful  voyages :  Only  a  few  years  before  Brendan's 
voyage  is  fixed  the  time  of  the  penitential  voyage  of  the  sons  of  O'Corra,  who 
had  been  foster-children  of  the  devil,  and  consecrated  to  him,  and  had  been  his 
faithful  servitors.  Other  two  beautiful  voyages  of  romance — of  much  earlier 
time — are  the  Voyage  of  Bran,  and  the  Voyage  of  Maelduin. 


THE  CENTURIES  OF  THE  SAINTS  207 

countless  hosts  of  Saints  whose  relics  mingle  with  the  lacred  soil 
of  Aran  na  Naoim.*^ 

Enda  was  from  near  Loch  Erne.  He  was  of  princely  family. 
He  passed  a  tiiou(?htlcss  youth,  gay  and  sportive  in  the  extreme. 
Ele  never  took  heed  for  the  morrow,  much  less  thought  he  of  the 
world  to  come.  His  conversion  came  as  sudden  as  Paul's.  It 
was  wrought  through  his  sister,  Fanchea,  a  girl  notably  devout. 
She  had  a  beautiful  girl  friend,  with  whom  Enda  fell  in  love — and 
whom  he  asked  to  marry  him.  He  asked  her  on  a  morning  when 
he  was  going  off  with  other  gay  companions  to  the  chase — and  in- 
sisted that  she  should  have  made  up  her  mind  to  consent  by  the 
time  of  his  return.  Upon  his  return  Fanchea  took  him  to  her  room, 
to  see  the  maiden.  From  a  couch  there  she  drew  aside  a  white 
coverlet,  disclosing  to  him  the  girl's  corpse.  The  maiden,  who 
was  like  Fanchea  very  pious,  and  who  feared  for  Enda  in  the 
thoughtless  life  he  led,  had  prayed  to  God  for  guidance,  and  God 
had  called  her  to  Himself.  "She  chose  Christ  for  her  spouse," 
Fanchea  said. 

Enda  was  stunned — and  sobered.  That  Instant  was  born  In 
him  a  new  man.  He  cast  off  his  former  companions,  forsook  his 
former  ways,  and  gave  himself  to  study  and  prayer.  He  appears 
to  have  studied  under  Manchan  the  Master,  a  noted  Irish  teacher 
then  in  charge  of  the  school  of  Candida  Casa  in  Galloway.  He 
founded  his  own  monastery,  and  opened  his  own  school  on  the  wild 
island  of  Aran,  in  Galway  Bay,  in  the  late  fifth  century.  So,  it 
was  one  of  the  earliest  of  the  noted  monasteries  and  schools. 

Enda,  here,  came  to  have  one  hundred  and  fifty  personal  dis- 
ciples. The  traditional  accounts  bring  to  this  school  a  great  many 
of  the  leading  saints  of  the  second  order,  many  of  those  who  had 
also  gone  to  the  school  of  Finian  at  Clonard.  Healy  says  that  they 
went  to  Enda's  school  after  Clonard — when  it  came  time  to  pre- 
pare for  the  novitiate  of  their  religious  life.  So  great  were  the 
numbers  that  flocked  to  Aran,  from  all  parts,  that  Enda  divided 
the  Island  into  ten  sections,  each  with  its  own  religious  house  and 
its  own  superior — all,  of  course,  under  him.  The  remains  of  four 
of  the  different  groups  of  churches  still  show  on  the  island.^^ 

1^  And  in  his  Litany,  after  invoking  the  principal  of  Aran's  Saints,  Aongus 
adds :  "And  all  the  other  saints  here  deceased  whose  numbers  are  so  great  as 
to  be  known  to  the  living  God  only." 

^8  Colm  Cille  is  said  to  have  visited  Enda  there.  Some  say  that  he  studied 
under  Enda  for  a  while.  Anyhow  Enda  and  Aran  were  in  high  esteem  with 
the  great  saint  of  lona.  To  him  is  attributed  the  touching  Farewell  to  Aran, 
written  when,  with  regret,  he  Viras  quitting  its  holy  ground. 


2o8  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

The  great  monastery  and  school  of  Bangor  took,  in  later  days, 
that  leading  place  which  Enda's  establishment  on  Aran  had  for  so 
long  held.  The  Bangor  institution  was  the  work  in  the  mid  sixth 
century,  of  the  great  saint  of  the  men  of  Ulad,  St.  Comgall — who 
himself  had  studied  under  St.  Finian  at  Cluain-Enach,  in  the  Mid- 
lands, and  also  at  the  school  of  Clonmacnois.  His  Bangor  school 
sent  out  teachers  and  missionaries,  saints  and  scholars,  in  great 
numbers  to  Ireland,  and  to  the  countries  of  the  Continent.  As 
the  Continental  St.  Bernard  says,  in  his  Life  of  Malachi  (a  tenth 
century  successor  of  Comgall)  :  "There  stood  a  most  noble  mon- 
astery, under  the  first  father  Comgelius,  inhabited  by  many  thou- 
sand monks,  and  the  head  of  many  monasteries.  The  place  was 
truly  sanctified,  abounding  in  saints,  abundantly  fruitful  to  God; 
so  that  one  of  the  sons  of  this  holy  congregation,  Luanus  or  Evanus, 
was  said  to  be  the  founder  of  an  hundred  monasteries.  Its  dis- 
ciples not  only  filled  Ireland  and  Scotia,  but  swarms  poured  like  a 
torrent  into  foreign  countries." 

Comgall  was  upwards  of  forty  years  director  of  this  hive  of 
sanctity  and  learning,  which  arose  on  the  shores  of  what  we  now 
call  Belfast  Loch,  and  where  we  are  told  three  thousand  students 
were  at  one  time.  He  died  about  the  year  600.  Under  May  loth, 
O'Clery  in  his  Martyrology  sets  down  the  anniversary  of  Comgall 
abbot  of  Bennchor  Ulad  (Bangor  of  Ulster)  :  "A  man  full  of  the 
grace  of  God  and  of  His  love  was  this  man;  a  man  who  fostered 
and  educated  very  many  other  saints,  as  he  kindled  and  lighted  up 
an  unquenchable  fire  of  the  love  of  God  in  their  hearts,  and  in  their 
minds,  as  is  evidenced  in  the  old  Books  of  Eirinn." 

The  Three  Sorrows  of  the  Saints  of  Ireland  were — the  send- 
ing of  Colm  into  exile;  the  cutting  short  of  the  life  of  Ciaran;  the 
driving  out  of  Mochuda  from  Rathain. 

Rathain  was  a  monastery  and  school  in  the  midlands,  to  which 
it  will  be  remembered  Ruman,  the  Virgil  of  the  Gael,  gave  a  third 
of  the  wealth  he  had,  for  his  poem,  extracted  from  the  Galls  of 
Dublin.  It  was  founded  by  Mochuda — which  name  was  a  pet  name 
for  St.  Carthach,  a  native  of  Kerry.  As  a  lad  herding  swine  in 
his  native  mountains,  Carthach  was  turned  to  a  religious  life  by 
hearing  the  monks  of  a  monastery  near  his  home,  chanting  the 
psalms — and  which  so  entranced  him  that  he  remained  spellbound 
on  the  spot  all  night.  Having  come  to  Rathain  on  a  pilgrimage, 
accompanied  by  a  body  of  his  Kerrymen,  he  fell  in  love  with  the 
place  and  there  settled,  and  founded  his  monastery  and  school 
which  flourished  and  became  famous.  There  gathered  around  him 
a  large  body  of  disciples  from  his  own  Munster.    And  the  holiness 


THE  CENTURIES  OF  THE  SAINTS  209 

of  the  life  they  led  was  such  that  the  angels  are  said  to  have  come 
down  and  conversed  with  them.  "It  was  Mochuda  that  had  the 
famous  congregation,  consisting  of  seven  hundred  and  ten  persons 
at  Rathain.  And  an  angel  used  to  address  every  third  man  of 
them." 

So  great  was  the  holiness  of  Rathain  that  powerful  clerics  of 
the  Ui  Neill  race,  in  whose  territory  it  was,  grew  jealous  of  it;  and 
in  the  reign  of  Donal  (mac  Aoda),  they  got  that  Ard-Righ's 
command  sent  to  Mochuda  that  he  and  his  people  should  leave 
Rathain  and  return  to  their  own  province.  The  pathetic  answer 
which  Mochuda  returned  to  this  order  was;  "Since  I  have  served 
God  for  many  years  in  this  place,  and  that  now  my  death  is  nigh, 
I  desire  to  end  my  days  here.  I  shall  not  depart  out  of  this  place 
unless  I  am  compelled  to,  lest  men  should  think  me  inconstant  of 
purpose.  And  I  would  be  ashamed  to  become  a  wanderer  in  my 
old  age." 

Since  he  would  not  go  of  his  own  free  will,  two  princes  of  the 
royal  line  of  the  Ui  Neill,  Blathmac  and  Diarmuid,  were  sent,  with 
a  body  of  men,  to  expel  him  and  his  monks.  Three  times  in  three 
successive  years  the  expedition  against  Mochuda  set  out,  but  each 
of  the  first  two  times  there  was  a  parley,  and  a  year's  respite  was 
granted.  The  third  time  it  was  resolved  that  nothing  should  turn 
the  drivers  from  their  object.  When  they  reached  Rathain,  Diar- 
muid was  deputed  to  head  a  body  of  men  into  the  church,  and  there 
arrest  Mochuda  and  lead  him  forth.  But,  filled  with  veneration 
for  this  holy  man,  Diarmuid  approached  him  with  the  utmost  re- 
spect, expressed  his  sorrow  for  being  there,  and  refused  to  act 
against  him.  Mochuda  blessed  him,  prayed  that  the  kingship  of 
all  Ireland  might  come  to  him — which  it  eventually  did — and  told 
him  that  for  failing  to  act  on  his  orders,  he  should  be  nick-named 
by  his  companions  Diarmuid  Ruadnaid,  Diarmuid  the  Ruthful — 
"But  that  title  shall  yet  become  a  glory  to  thee,  and  thy  progeny 
after  thee."  And  as  Diarmuid  the  Ruthful  he  is  known  to  Irish 
history  ever  since. 

After  scoffing  at  and  reproaching  Diarmuid,  his  brother  Blath- 
mac headed  a  body  of  men  into  the  church,  forced  out  Mochuda 
and  his  monks  and  drove  them  forth. 

When  the  mournful  band,  after  weary  wandering,  reached  the 
country  of  the  Deisii  (now  Waterford)  the  King  of  the  Deisii, 
with  his  attendants,  came  to  meet  the  holy  Mochuda,  received  him 
with  reverence  and  honour,  knelt  for  his  blessing,  placed  himself 
under  the  saint's  protection  and  besought  him  to  choose  where  he 
would  in  this  territory  to  build  his  chuich  and  fix  his  community. 


2IO  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

And  the  aged  saint,  strong  in  God's  faith,  and  supported  by 
God's  strength,  began  his  lifework  anew  at  beautiful  Lismore — 
on  the  banks  of  that  river  which  is  now  called  the  Black  Water. 
Here  he  erected  a  new  monastery  and  school,  v/ith  whose  fame  not 
Ireland  alone  but  likewise  far  foreign  lands  were  destined  yet  to 
ring.  For  it  was  to  give  famed  teachers  and  holy  evangelisers  to 
distant  countries  wherein  the  name  of  Scotia  was  yet  but  seldom 
heard. 

Tradition  says  it  was  in  these  days  of  the  great  saints — and  by 
the  action  of  some  of  the  greatest — that  ancient  Tara  of  the  Kings 
went  down  forever.  It  was  Ruadan,  one  of  the  Twelve  Apostles 
of  Erin,  who  chiefly  brought  about  that  calamity.  And  it  was 
Diarmuid,  the  son  of  Fergus  (the  friend  of  Ciaran  the  Wright) 
who,  then  reigning,  provoked  the  calamity. 

King  Diarmuid  was  striving  against  the  position  of  Independ- 
ence which  the  provincial  and  territorial  kings  assumed.     He  had 
issued  an  order  commanding  that  all  chiefs  should  widen  their 
doors  so  that  his  spear,  carried  horizontally,  could  pass  through. 
It  is  assumed  that  the  chiefs  had  narrowed  their  doors  for  greater 
security  against  assault  by  the  Ard-Righ's  forces.     Anyhow  Diar- 
muid sent  forth  his  sergeant  to  see  if  his  order  had  been  obeyed. 
When  the  sergeant  reached  the  residence  of  Aed  Guaire  of  Con- 
naught,  he  interrupted  Aed's  wedding  feast,  in  the  process  of  car- 
rying out  the  Ard-Righ's  command — and  Aed,  drawing  his  sword, 
struck  off  the  man's  head.    Then  he  sought  sanctuary  with  St.  Rua- 
dan of  Lorra.     Diarmuid,  who  was  almost  as  much  enraged  with 
the  ecclesiastics,  as  he  was  with  the  chiefs,  for  their  independence, 
violated  the  Saint's  privilege  of  sanctuary,  and  took  Aed  Guaire 
from  him  for  his  punishment.    St.  Ruadan  then  journeyed  to  Tara, 
to  curse  Diarmuid,  and  it  is  said,  was  joined  by  many  other  lead- 
ing saints  of  the  time,  who  made  common  cause  with  him.     The 
saints  first  fasted  against  Diarmuid,  and  Diarmuid  answered  them 
with  his  fast.     Every  day  the  fasting  ones  gathered  on  the  green 
before  Tara,  sang  their  psalms,  and  rang  their  bells  against  the 
king — till  at  length  Diarmuid  was  broken  in  his  fast,  and  gave  in. 
Then  he  came  forth  from  his  hall  in  the  morning,  and  joined  the 
saints  in  their  praying  and  singing.     After  that  he  reasoned  with 
them,  showed  them  the  unwisdom  of  their  course,  and  at  length, 
carried  away  by  his  indignation,  cursed  Ruadan.      Ruadan  in  re- 
turn cursed  Diarmuid,  and  Diarmuid's  dynasty  that  it  might  come 
to  an  end — which  it  did;  and  he  cursed  Tara  that  it  might  never 
more  be  the  residence  of  a  king. 

So  tradition  has  it  that  after  the  year  563,  through  the  cursing 


THE  CENTURIES  OF  THE  SAINTS  211 

of  Ruadan,  the  wild  birds  roosted  in  the  hall  of  Tara  and  the 
beasts  of  the  field  trampled  on  its  hearth  and  made  it  their  home.^* 

Stokes,  Whitley:     Lives  of  the  Saints  from  the  Book  of  Lismore. 

O'Hanlon,  The  Rev.  Jno.,  Canon:     Lives  of  the  Irish  Saints. 

Reeves,  The  Rev.  Wm.,  D.D. :     The  Martyrology  of  Donegal. 

Healy,  The  Most  Rev.  Jno. :     Ireland's  Ancient  Schools  and  Scholars. 

MacGeoghegan,  Abbe:     History  of  Ireland. 

Keating's  History  of  Ireland. 

Montalembert:     Monks  of  the  West. 

Colgan :     Acta  Sanctorum. 

Usher's  Works. 

O'Curry,  Eugene:     Manuscript  Materials  of  Irish  History. 

Manners  and  Customs  of  the  Ancient  Irish. 

Ware's  Works  (Edited  by  Harris). 

Four  Masters,  Annals  of. 

Stokes,  Whitley:     The  Feilire   (Calendar)  of  Oengus  the  Culdee:     Trans. 

Roy.  Ir.  Acad.,  1880. 
D'Alton,  Jno.:     Prize  Essay  on  Irish  History-  (Proc.  R.  I.  A.). 
Stokes,  Rev.  Dr.  Geo.  T. :     Ireland  and  the  Celtic  Church. 

^»Some   (like  MacNeill)   hold  that  the  Kings  of  Meath  still  made  Tara  theif 
home  for  some  centuries  after  that  date — and  also  that  Ruadan  never  cursed  it. 


CHAPTER  XXVII 

LEARNING    IN    ANCIENT    IRELAND 

When  long  ago  the  English  poet  Spenser,  in  his  "State  of  Ire- 
land" set  down:  "For  it  is  certain  that  Ireland  hath  had  the  use 
of  letters  very  auntiently  and  long  before  England;  that  they  had 
letters  auntiently  is  nothing  doubtful,  for  the  Saxons  of  England 
are  said  to  have  their  letters  and  learning,  and  learned  men,  from 
the  Irish" — he  was  possibly  not  aware  that  even  for  centuries  be- 
fore the  English  began  to  value  learning,  and  in  shiploads  flocked 
to  Ireland  to  obtain  it,  Ireland's  valleys  were  dotted  with  schools, 
and  her  hillsides  hummed  with  studying  scholars.  Babington  in 
his  Fallacies  of  Race  Theories  says  that  in  the  sixth  century,  "the 
old  culture  lands  had  to  turn  for  some  little  light  and  leading  to 
that  remote  and  lately  barbarous  land"  (Ireland). 

Says  the  mediaevalist,  Arsene  Darmesteter:  "The  classic  tradi- 
tion, to  all  appearance  dead  in  Europe,  burst  into  full  flower  in  the 
Island  of  Saints.  The  renaissance  began  in  Ireland  seven  hundred 
years  before  it  was  known  in  Italy.  And  Armagh,  the  ecclesiastical 
capital  of  Ireland,  was  at  one  time  the  metropolis  of  civilisation." 

And  our  own  Doheny  puts  it  as  gracefully  as  truthfully  (in  his 
Memoir  of  Keating)  :  "The  early  literary  history  of  Ireland  stands 
out  distinct  from  that  of  any  other  country  of  Europe.  While  the 
revel  of  the  Goth  profaned  the  Roman  forum  and  he  stabled  his 
steeds  in  the  Coliseum,  the  pilgrims  of  learning  from  every  dark- 
ened land  found  shelter,  sustainment,  and  inexhaustible  sources  of 
information,  in  Ireland." 

The  late  Professor  Zimmer,  most  eminent  of  Celtologists,  states 
in  his  remarkable  little  work,  The  Irish  Element  in  Mediaeval  Cul- 
ture : 

"Ireland  can  indeed  lay  claim  to  a  great  past;  she  can  not  only 
boast  of  having  been  the  birthplace  and  abode  of  high  culture  in  the 
fifth  and  sixth  centuries,  at  a  time  when  the  Roman  Empire  was 
being  undermined  by  the  alliances  and  inroads  of  German  tribes, 
which  threatened  to  sink  the  whole  Continent  into  barbarism,  but 
also  of  having  made  strenuous  efforts  in  the  seventh  and  up  to  the 

212 


LEARNING  IN  ANCIENT  IRELAND  213 

tenth  century  to  spread  her  learning  among  the  German  and  Ro- 
mance peoples,  thus  forming  the  actual  fountain  of  our  present  con- 
tinental civilisation." 

It  is  interesting  to  speculate  upon  the  certain  antiquity  and 
activity  of  that  learning  as  far  away  as  the  sixth  century,  when  it 
would  give  fruitful  soil  for  the  planting  of  such  abiding  tradition 
as  that  of  the  fall  of  the  book-satchels^  at  the  death  of  Longarad, 
"master  of  study  and  jurisprudence,  history  and  poetry." 

"This  is  said,"  says  Aongus  in  the  Feilire,  "that  on  the  night 
of  Longarad's  death  Ireland's  book  satchels  and  her  Gospels,  and 
books  of  instruction  fell  from  their  shelves,  as  if  they  understood 
that  never  again  would  there  come  any  one  like  Longarad. 

"Lon  is  dead  (Lon  is  dead)  ; 

To  Cill  Garad  it  is  a  great  misfortune; 

To  Eirinn  with  its  countless  tribes; 

It  is  a  destruction  of  learning  and  of  schools. 

"Lon  has  died  (Lon  has  died)  ; 

In  Cill  Garad  great  the  misfortune; 

It  is  a  destruction  of  learning  and  of  schools. 

To  the  Island  of  Eirinn  beyond  her  boundaries." 

One  tradition  even  has  the  book  satchels  of  lona  falling  on 
this  grievous  night.  They  fell  in  the  cell  of  Colm  Cille,  who,  with 
the  vision  of  the  saint,  exclaimed,  "Longarad,  master  of  every  art 
in  Ossory,  is  dead."  "Long  may  it  be  till  that  comes  true,"  ex- 
claimed the  shocked  Baithin.  To  which  the  impetuous  Colm  an- 
swered:    "Misbelief  be  in  thy  successor." 

Most  of  the  Irish  scholars  and  Continental  students  of  Celtic 
lore,  like  Zimmer,  agree  that  when  Patrick  came,  in  the  early  part 
of  the  fifth  century,  he  found  there  such  a  plenitude  of  learning 
and  learned  men  as  necessitated  a  background  of  previous  centuries 
of  educational  progress.  When  the  reputation  has  descended  to 
us  of  at  least  two  most  notable  pre-Patrician  Irish  scholars  on  the 
Continent,  it  is  a  practical  conclusion  that  there  were  dozens  of 
others  abroad  also,  whose  memories  have  been  submerged  in  the 
sweep  of  the  ages.  And,  interchange  of  the  cream  of  foreign  learn- 
ing with  native  Irish  learning  on  Irish  soil  must  have  occurred  with 
frequency,  in  the  ages  immediately  succeeding  Patrick,  if  we  accept 
the  learned  Petrle's  conclusion  (in  his  Inquiry  into  the  Origin  and 

1  The  polaires  or  leathern  cases  in  which  the  volumes  of  those  days  were 
kept — hung  upon  the  walls. 


214  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

Uses  of  the  Round  Towers  of  Ireland)  that  "Crowds  of  foreign 
ecclesiastics,  Egyptian,  Roman,  Italian,  British  and  Saxon,  flocked 
to  Ireland,  as  a  place  of  refuge,  in  the  fifth  and  sixth  centuries. 
Of  such  emigration  there  can  not  possibly  exist  a  doubt." 

And  then  there  was  the  exchange  of  Irish  with  Continental 
learning  which  occurred  as  a  result  of  the  many  and  great  pilgrim- 
ages that  in  Ireland's  earliest  Christian  days  were  constantly  being 
made  to  Rome  and  to  the  Holy  Land  by  crowds  of  Erin's  faithful. 
These  pilgrimages  sometimes  extended  over  years,^  the  pilgrim  fre- 
quently making  wide  detours  for  purpose  of  visiting  temples  of  the 
famous  living,  and  shrines  of  the  hallowed  dead — and  often  so- 
journing for  months  and  seasons  in  the  neighbourhood  of  a  famous 
preacher  and  teacher,  or  at  institutional  centres  of  piety  and 
learning. 

Besides  the  dozens  of  Incidental  references  to  such  with  which 
the  ancient  records  teem,  Petrie  cites  the  testimony  in  the  famous 
Litany  of  Aongus  Ceile  De:  "The  three  times  fifty  canoes  full  of 
Roman  pilgrims  who  settled  in  Ui  Mele,  along  with  Notal  Nem- 
shenchaid  and  Cornutan,  invoco  in  auxilium  meiim  per  Jesum  Chris- 
tum, etc.  The  other  thrice  fifty  pilgrims  of  the  men  of  Rome  and 
Latium  who  went  into  Scotia,  invoco  in  auxilium  meum  per  Jesum 
Christum.  The  thrice  fifty  Gaedhils  of  Eirinn,  in  holy  orders,  each 
of  them  a  man  of  strict  rule,  who  went  in  one  body  into  pilgrimage, 
under  Abban,  the  son  of  Ua  Cormaic,  invoco  in  auxilium  meum 
per  Jesum  Christum,"  etc. 

Within  two  centuries  after  Patrick,  George  Stokes  (Knowledge 
of  Greek  In  Ireland)  shows  that  in  the  very  centre  of  the  bog  of 
Allen,  in  Durrow,  there  was  "a  wide  range  of  deep  learning,  chron- 
ological, astronomical,  and  philosophical."  And  Joyce  says  that 
the  earliest  of  the  seventh  or  eighth  century  glosses,  published  by 
Zeuss,  testify  to  the  fact  that  "the  written  language  of  the  Irish 
was  then  fully  developed  and  cultivated,  with  a  polished  phraseology 
and  an  elaborate  system  of  grammar,  and  having  fixed  and  well 
established  written  forms  for  all  its  words,  and  for  all  the  rich  in- 
flections." 

It  was  Zimmer's  opinion  that  at  least  the  classical  learning  for 
which  Ireland  in  those  very  early  centuries  became  noted,  Latin 
and  Greek,  were  brought  there  by  the  many  learned  people  from 
Gaul  who  fled  to  Ireland,  the  haven  of  refuge  from  the  overwhelm- 
ing tide  of  barbarism,  which  was   sweeping  Europe   in  the   fifth 

2  An  embassy  sent  from  the  Irish  ecclesiastics  to  Rome,  in  631,  was  three 
years  absent — and  such  embassy,  naturally,  did  not  journey  with  the  same  leisure 
as  did  pilgrims. 


LEARNING  IN  ANCIENT  IRELAND  215 

century.  But  the  fact  that  these  learned  ones  should  flock  to  Ire- 
land is  in  itself  partial  proof  that  the  fame  of  Ireland  then  as  a 
home  of  learning  must  have  been  fairly  well  established.  The 
brilliance  of  her  beacon  must  have  beckoned  these  alfri^hted  ones, 
and  the  repute  of  her  schools  and  scholars  been  ringing  in  their 
ears.  Whether  or  not  it  was  those  very  early  scholar  refugees, 
in  those  early  ages,  v/ho  brought  some  knowledge  of  Greek  into 
Ireland,  in  addition  to  Latin,  M.  Darmesteter  expresses  his  aston- 
ishment at  finding,  a  couple  of  centuries  later,  Greek  taught  in  Ire- 
land when  it  had  become  forgotten  elsewhere,  and  when  even  such 
a  noted  scholar  as  Pope  Gregory  the  Great  was  ignorant  of  it. 
But  Zimmer  acknowledges  that  in  Ireland,  "the  standard  of  learn- 
ing was  much  higher  than  with  Gregory  and  his  followers.  It  was 
derived  without  interruption  from  the  learning  of  the  fourth  cen- 
tury, from  men  such  as  Ambrose  and  Jerome.  Here  also  were  to 
be  found  such  specimens  of  classical  literature  as  Virgil's  works 
among  the  ecclesiastical  writings,  an  acquaintance  with  Greek  au- 
thors as  well,  besides  the  opportunity  of  free  access  to  the  very 
first  sources  of  Christianity."  "The  knowledge  of  Greek,"  says 
Professor  Sandys  in  his  History  of  Classical  Scholarship,  "which 
had  almost  vanished  in  the  west  was  so  widely  dispersed  in  the 
schools  of  Ireland  that  if  any  one  knew  Greek  it  was  assumed  he 
must  have  come  from  that  country." 

And  the  eminent  Celtologist,  De  Jubalnville,  talking  of  the 
Irishman,  Columbanus,  who,  in  the  sixth  century,  was  evangelising 
and  teaching  in  Burgundy  and  Lombardy,  says:  "We  only  need 
to  glance  at  his  writings  to  be  at  once  convinced  of  his  wonderful 
superiority  over  Gregory  and  the  Gallo-Roman  scholars  of  his 
time." 

As  early  as  the  fifth  century,  scholars  from  Wales,  Cornwall, 
Brittany  were  coming  to  Ireland  for  schooling;  or  were,  at  home, 
receiving  tuition  from  the  Irish  schoolmaster  who  had  even  then 
begun  to  travel  as  an  educational  missionary.  Lannigan  (in  his 
Ecclesiastical  History  of  Ireland)  tells  us  that  the  Welsh  historian, 
Gildas,  came  to  Ireland,  probably  in  the  middle  or  end  of  the  fifth 
century,  "to  perfect  himself  in  philosophy  and  theology."  He  at- 
tended several  schools  there,  and  finally,  according  to  his  country- 
man, Caradoc,  became  a  teacher  at  the  school  of  Armagh.  He  re- 
turned to  Wales  when  he  heard  of  his  brother  being  killed  by  King 
Arthur.  Gildas'  Welsh  contemporary,  St.  Caradoc  (who  was  Irish 
on  his  mother's  side),  attended  as  a  boy  the  celebrated  school  of 
Caer,  In  Monmouth,  taught  by  the  Irishman,  St.  Tatha^us.  Petrocus 
from  Cornwall  was  studying  the  Scriptures  in  Ireland  for  twenty 


2i6  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

years.  The  Breton  St.  Paternus  was  some  time  In  Ireland;  and  his 
father  Petranus  retired  to  lead  a  holy  life  in  Ireland — in  the  be- 
ginning of  the  sixth  century. 

Then  we  have  the  testimony  of  the  Venerable  Bede,  the  Saxon 
ecclesiastical  historian,  who,  writing  in  the  very  shadow  of  the  time 
of  which  he  spoke,  and  describing  the  great  plague  of  664,  says: 
"This  pestilence  did  no  less  harm  in  the  neighbouring  Island  of 
Ireland.  Many  of  the  nobility,  and  of  the  lower  ranks  of  the  Eng- 
lish nation  were  there  at  that  time,  who  in  the  days  of  Bishops 
Finan  and  Colman,  forsaking  their  native  land,  retired  thither, 
either  for  the  sake  of  divine  studies,  or  of  a  more  continent  life; 
and  some  of  them  presently  devoted  themselves  to  the  monastical 
life;  others  chose  rather  to  apply  themselves  to  study,  going  about 
from  one  master's  cell  to  another.  The  Scots  (Irish)  willingly 
received  them  all,  and  took  care  to  supply  them  with  food,  as  also 
to  furnish  them  with  books  to  read,  and  their  teaching,  gratis." 

Patrick  and  his  followers  founded  Christian  schools  to  super- 
sede those  of  the  Druids.  Patrick's  school  of  Armagh  became  one 
of  Ireland's  greatest — attended  at  a  later  time  by  (says  Keating) 
as  many  as  seven  thousand  students.  This  school  was  a  favourite 
resort  of  the  Saxons,  who  had  in  the  city  their  own  quarter,  called 
Trian  Saxon.  Ibar  of  Beg-Eire  and  Ailbe  of  Emly,  Patrick's  con- 
temporaries, and  his  convert  Mochae  the  swineherd  of  Oendrum, 
St.  Fiach  of  Sletty,  Olcan  of  Dercan,  St.  Mochta  of  Louth  amongst 
others,  had  each  his  school  in  Patrick's  day. 

Together  with  crowds  of  lesser  ones,  then  followed  the  noted 
schools  of  Colman  at  Dromore,  Enda  at  Aran,  Jarlath  near  Tuam, 
Finian  at  Moville,  the  greater  FInian  at  Clonard,  Comgall  at  Ban- 
gor, Ciaran  at  Clonmacnois,  of  Kevin  at  Glendalough,  of  Senan  at 
Inniscathy,  of  Brendan  at  Clonfert,  of  Mobi  at  Glasneven,  of  Fin- 
bar  at  Cork,  of  Fachtna  at  Ross,  of  Finan  at  Innlsfallen,  of  Colm 
at  Iniscaltra,  of  Carthach  at  LIsmore — and  numberless  others — 
at  Roscrea,  Slane,  Cashel,  Inisbofin,  Kildare,  Limerick,  Fore,  etc., 
all  of  such  importance  that  their  fame  has  come  down  to  the  pres- 
ent day.  And  again  and  again  the  records  and  traditions  Intimate 
that  several  of  these  schools  had  thousands  of  scholars  in  attend- 
ance. We  are  told  that  there  were  two  thousand  students  at  Kevin's 
school  at  Glendalough,  three  thousand  at  Finian's  school  at  Clon- 
ard; three  thousand  at  the  school  of  Comgall  at  Bangor^ — and  that 
Clonmacnois  at  the  height  of  its  fame  was  attended  by  between  six 
thousand  and  seven  thousand  students. 

So  famous  and  great  did  the  school  of  Clonmacnois  become 
that  many  of  the  leading  families  of  Ireland  had  there  each  Its  own 


LEARNING  IN  ANCIENT  IRELAND  217 

cathedral,  or  church,  mortuary  chapel,  round  tower,  or  burial 
place.  And  there  the  dust  of  students  representing  every  clan  in 
Ireland,  and  many  a  people  oversea,  mingle  underneath  the  green 
sod  of  the  old  cemetery. 

There    is    a    fine    poem    by    an    Irish    bard,    O'Gillan,    finely 
translated  by  Rolleston,  on: 

THE  DEAD  AT  CLONMACNOIS 

In  a  quiet  watered  land,  a  land  of  roses, 

Stands  Saint  Kieran's  city  fair: 
And  the  warriors  of  Erin  in  their  famous  generations 

Slumber  there. 

There  beneath  the  dewy  hillside  sleep  the  noblest 

Of  the  clan  of  Conn, 
Each  below  his  stone  with  name  in  branching  Ogham 

And  the  sacred  knot  thereon. 

There  they  laid  to  rest  the  seven  Kings  of  Tara, 

There  the  sons  of  Cairbre  sleep — 
Battle-banners  of  the  Gael,  that  in  Kieran's  plain  of  crosses, 

Now  their  final  hosting  keep. 

And  in  Clonmacnois  they  laid  the  men  of  Teffia, 

And  right  many  a  lord  of  Breagh; 
Deep  the  sod  above  Clan  Crede  and  Clan  Conaill, 

Kind  in  hall  and  fierce  in  fray. 

Many  and  many  a  son  of  Conn,  the  Hundred-Fighter, 

In  the  red  earth  lies  at  rest ; 
Many  a  blue  eye  of  Clan  Colman  the  turf  covers, 

Many  a  swan-white  breast, 

Ireland  had  now  truly  become,  as  described  by  one  of  the  an- 
cients, "a  hive  of  learning"  :  the  hum  of  the  scholars  in  this  land 
of  lore  was  as  the  hum  of  the  bees  on  the  flowery  hillsides  in  June. 
There  was  no  corner  of  the  Island,  convenient  or  remote,  and  even 
off  to  the  scattered  islets  of  the  ocean,  but  had  its  centre  of  learning, 
to  which  came  alike  youth  and  age,  noble  and  simple — and  to  which 
thronged  not  Irish  only,  but  flocks  of  foreigners  also — from  Britain 
and  from  the  Continent  of  Europe,  all  thirsting  to  drink  at  the 
fountains  that  so  lavishly  gushed,  and  the  streams  that  so  plenti- 
fully flowed,  in  the  Island  of  the  West. 

One  of  the  early  writers  records  that  when,  in  neighbouring 
countries,  a  man  of  studious  habits,  was  for  a  time  missed  from 


21 8  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

his  usual  haunts,  it  was  concluded  that  he  had  gone  to  Ireland  to 
seek  education.  All  of  the  great  schools  had  their  groups  of  for- 
eign students,  who  for  the  most  part,  were  not  only  educated  gratis 
but  lived  on  the  hospitality  of  the  people.  We  may  of  course  as- 
sume that  this  refers  to  the  bulk  of  foreign  students  who,  not  lav- 
ishly endowed  with  wealth,  sought  learning  for  learning's  sake. 
We  may  conclude  that  such  of  the  foreign  nobility  as  came  to  Ire- 
land seeking  learning  just  as  an  added  grace  and  accomplishment, 
paid  their  way — like  Dagobert  the  Second  of  France,  who  in  656 
was  brought  (by  the  Bishop  of  Poitiers)  to  be  educated  at  Clonard. 
And  indeed  the  Brehon  law,  which,  touching  upon  almost  every 
condition  and  circumstance  of  life  in  Ireland,  lays  down  the  rule 
for  teachers  and  pupils  incidentally  confirms  this — as  already  shown 
in  the  Brehon  Law  chapter. 

Almost  all  of  the  greatest,  most  notable  schools  of  the  olden 
days  in  Erin  grew  up  incidentally,  around  the  residence  of  a  great 
teacher.  Wherever  such  a  noted  man  settled  thither  came  students, 
who  seemed  to  have  been  continually  wandering  over  the  land, 
seeking  masters.  First  came  a  few  who  erected  their  little  huts  or 
bothies  close  to  the  hut  or  the  residence  of  him,  the  scholar,  from 
whom  they  expected  to  absorb  knowledge.  Soon  came  a  few  more, 
and  still  others  followed.  If  the  master's  qualities,  his  knowledge, 
his  ability,  his  aptness  in  imparting  instruction,  held  those  who  first 
came,  that  fact  was  quickly  known  throughout  the  land,  and  quickly 
crowds  were  flocking  there.  Sometimes  the  instruction  was  given 
in  the  open;  sometimes  under  cover.  Largely  the  youths  read  for 
themselves — under  direction  of  the  master,  who  laid  down  the  gen- 
eral scheme  for  them,  and  to  whom  they  resorted  for  enlightenment 
when  they  met  with  a  problem  impossible  of  solution  by  themselves 
or  their  more  advanced  fellows.  Oftentimes  students  accompanied 
a  teacher  upon  a  journey,  barkening  to  his  words,  observing  his 
actions,  and  absorbing  knowledge  from  him  as  they  went. 

A  pupil  who  was  instructed  gratis,  was  entitled  to  work  for  his 
tutor.  Likewise  it  was  the  law  that  to  his  tutor  should  go  the  first 
fee  earned  by  such  student,  when  he  had  graduated  into  a  profes- 
sion. 

In  the  eyes  of  the  law,  any  one  w^ho  insulted  or  assaulted  a  stu- 
dent was  guilty  of  insult  or  assault  to  the  teacher.  It  was  to  the 
teacher  that  the  fine  was  paid  for  such  misdemeanour. 

Naturally  a  powerful  bond  of  affection  sprang  up  between  mas- 
ter and  pupil — a  bond  that  throughout  life  was  never  broken. 
When  old  age  incapacitated  him,  the  master,  if  he  did  not  belong 
to  a  community,  which  naturally  would  care  for  him,  was  looked 


LKARXlNCi   IN  ANCIENT  IRELAND  219 

after  and  provided  for  by  his  former  pupils.  Not  only  was  this 
a  matter  of  love,  but  it  was  a  matter  of  law,  also.  In  the  Brehon 
laws  it  is  laid  down  that  pupils  arc  responsible  for  the  comfort  and 
well-being  of  their  master,  in  his  need  and  in  his  age.  In  the  an- 
cient Contest  of  the  Two  Sages  (Acallam  na  da  Suach)  Neide,  in 
enumerating  the  dire  woes  that  will  come  over  Erin  as  the  end  of 
the  world  nears,  says  that  pupils  will  neglect  to  provide  for  their 
tutors  in  their  old  age.^ 

Of  course  it  is  to  be  understood  that  in  Ireland  any  more  than 
in  other  learned  countries  of  the  early  ages,  the  mass  of  the  people 
was  not  educated.  All  who  desired  it  could  get  an  education,  and 
naturally  the  students  came  chiefly  from  the  leisured  class  and  the 
professional  class.  Among  the  body  of  the  people,  it  was  only  the 
exceptionally  bright  and  ambitious,  who,  shaking  them  free  from 
the  fetters  of  tradition,  bade  good-bye  both  physically  and  intellec- 
tually to  their  kith,  and  set  out  as  a  Scolaire  bocht  (poor  scholar) 
to  seek  education.  Yet  then,  as  now,  some  of  the  most  noted  schol- 
ars sprang  from  the  soil. 

The  learned  scholar  and  noted  abbot,  St.  Adamnan  (of  Tir- 
Conaill  and  lona)  is  an  interesting  illustration  of  this.  From  an 
ancient  manuscript  account  of  the  reign  of  Finachta  the  Festive 
who  was  Ard-Righ  in  the  last  quarter  of  the  seventh  century, 
O'Curry  tells  the  story  of  the  origin  of  the  famous  friendship  which 
existed  between  the  Ard-Righ  and  the  saint.  When  Adamnan  was 
a  poor  scholar  at  Ciaran's  school  of  Clonard,  he  was  one  day 
carrying  home  on  his  back,  a  jar  of  milk,  when  a  cavalcade,  coming 
up  behind,  made  him  jump  to  one  side,  strike  his  toe,  fall  and 
smash  the  jar.  Weeping  and  grieving,  and  with  a  bit  of  the  broken 
jar  still  hanging  over  his  shoulder  he  ran  alongside  the  cavalcade, 
till  a  great  man  who  was  the  centre  of  the  group  saw  and  pitied 
the  grieving  lad,  and  stopped  the  cavalcade  to  question  and  console 
him.  Tenderly  he  spoke  to  the  grieving  youth.  "We  will  make 
thee  happy  again,  for  we  have  sympathy  with  the  unfortunate  and 
the  powerless.  Thou  shalt  receive,  O  student,  satisfaction  from 
me."  "Oh,  good  man,"  said  Adamnan,  "I  have  cause  to  be 
grieved,  for  there  are  three  noble  students  in  one  house,  and  there 
are  three  lads  of  us  who  wait  upon  them,  and  what  we  do  is,  each 
one  in  turn  goes  around  the  neighbourhood  to  collect  support  for 
the  other  five,  and  it  is  my  turn  to  do  so  this  day;  but  what  I  had 

3  "Instruction  without  reservation,  correctness  without  harshness,  are  due  from 
the  master  to  the  pupil,  and  to  feed  and  clothe  him  during  the  time  he  is  learn- 
ing," says  the  Brehon  laws.  "To  help  him  against  poverty  and  to  support  him  in 
old  age;  these  are  due  from  the  pupil  to  the  tutor." 


220  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

obtained  has  been  lost,  and  what  is  more  unfortunate  the  borrowed 
vessel  has  been  broken,  while  I  have  not  the  means  of  paying  for 
it."  The  simple  youth  won  the  heart  of  the  great  man,  who  turned 
out  to  be  the  Ard-Righ,  Finachta,  who  became  his  friend  and 
patron  from  that  day  forward. 

While  most  of  the  noted  schools  whose  fame  has  come  down 
to  us  from  those  early  ages,  were  ecclesiastical,  there  certainly  were, 
side  by  side  with  them  in  Ireland,  a  host  of  lay  schools  also,  which 
had  been  founded  and  painstakingly  built  up  by  great  lay  scholars. 
And  sometimes  lay  scholars  were  employed  as  teachers  in  the  eccle- 
siastical schools.  The  famous  Colcu  MacUa  Dunechda,  to  whom 
the  Emperor  Charlemagne  sent  presents  was  a  lay  fer-leginn  or 
chief  professor  in  the  school  of  Clonmacnois.  And  in  later  cen- 
turies MacCosse  was  the  chief  teacher  in  the  monastic  school  of 
Ros  Ailithir,  in  Cork;  and  the  celebrated  annalist  Flan,  chief  pro- 
fessor in  the  school  of  Monasterboice. 

For  one  who  desired  to  graduate  in  the  highest  rank  of  his 
profession,  twelve  years  was  the  course  of  study — during  which 
the  diligent  student,  if  he  were  successful,  passed,  step  by  step 
through  the  Seven  Degrees  of  Wisdom — the  details  and  particu- 
lars of  which,  and  the  course  of  study  for  them,  are  contained  in 
the  tract  known  as  the  Book  of  the  Ollams  preserved  in  the  old 
Book  of  Ballymote  and  in  the  Books  of  the  Brehon  Laws.* 

The  Book  of  Ballymote  tract  gives  the  requirements,  year  by 
year,  for  the  twelve  years  of  the  scholar's  course — from  a  course 
of  the  elementaries  up  to  the  mastery  of  the  six-score  great  ora- 
tions, and  the  four  arts  of  poetry — "from  the  study  of  the  smallest 
book  called  The  Ten  Words,  up  to  the  mastery  of  the  greatest 
book,  The  Cuilmen."  Also  the  requirements  are  set  down  for 
each  of  the  Seven  Degrees  of  Wisdom,  from  the  first  degree  called 
Fochluc  through  the  others,  MacFuirmid,  Dos,  Canna,  Cli  and 
Anruth  to  the  final  degree  of  Ollam — or  in  a  monastic  school,  Rosai 
or  Great  Professor. 

O'Curry  enumerates  and  particularises  six  grades  of  professors 
in  the  ecclesiastical  school,  with  the  acquirements  of  each — from 
the  lowest  grade,  the  Caogdach,  up  to  the  highest,  the  Drumcli 
(ridgepole),  a  master  who  knew  the  whole  course  of  learning. 
When  the  latter  ambitioned  being  fer-leginn,  or  chief  professor  in 
a  college,  he  "had  to  be  master  of  the  whole  course  of  GeeHc  litera- 

■*  A  sequel  to  the  Crith  Gablach,  in  Volume  IV  of  the  Brehon  Laws,  and  a 
law  tract  called  the  Small  Primer,  in  Volume  V,  interestingly  deal  with  these 
details. 


LEARNING  IN  ANCIENT  IRELAND  221 

tunc,  in  prose  and  verse,  besides  the  Scriptures  and  likewise  the 
learned  languages." 

In  tlic  bardic  or  lay  schools  a  prominent  place  on  the  program 
of  studies  is  given  to  the  tales  and  the  poems  of  the  seanachies 
and  poets,  of  that  day  and  of  the  previous  ages.  Each  year  was 
added  to  the  course  the  memorising  and  the  minute  study  and  ex- 
pounding of  a  certain  number  of  historic  and  romantic  tales  and 
epic  poems.  In  the  monastic  schools,  the  Scriptures,  theology  and 
the  Classics  very  largely  took  the  place  of  the  study  of  the  tales 
and  poems.  The  other  usual  subjects  of  study  in  both  schools 
were,  grammar,  geography,  history,  hagiography,  law,  mathemat- 
ics, astronomy,  philosophy,  logic,  rhetoric,  music,  art  and  metal 
work. 

The  common  languages  of  the  schools  were  Irish  and  Latin. 
Archbishop  Usher,  who  says  that  he  himself  saw  in  St.  Caimin's 
(seventh  century)  Psalter  positive  proof  of  Hebrew  knowledge, 
was  under  the  belief  that  Hebrew  was  taught  in  the  schools. 
George  Stokes  (supported  by  some  other  scholars)  holds  that 
Greek  was  well  known  to  the  Irish  teachers.  And  such  noted  Irish 
scholars  as  Cummian  the  Tall,  Aileran  the  Wise,  Columbanus,  and 
others,  again  and  again  show  familiarity  with  the  writings  of  the 
Greeks.  Greek  prayers,  Greek  glosses  and  Greek  quotations  are 
found  in  connection  with  various  ancient  Irish  manuscripts,  both 
at  home  and  in  the  old  libraries  on  the  Continent  of  Europe. 

But  with  the  Latin  language  all  the  Irish  scholars  of  those  early 
days  show  almost  a  like  familiarity  that  they  do  with  their  own 
Gaelic.  They  were  experts  in  Latin  literature.  The  Latin  classics, 
sacred  and  profane,  they  had  at  their  finger-tips.  They  wrote  in 
that  language  with  a  masterful  ease  and  read  in  it  voraciously. 

A  single  illustration,  out  of  numberless  one^s  available,  is  the 
famous  letter  of  St.  Cummian  (seventh  century)  written  to  Sege- 
nius,  abbot  of  lona,  in  the  Easter  date  controversy  that  then  nearly 
rent  the  church.^    In  this  letter  (preserved  for  us  in  Usher's  Sylloge 

5  Cummian,  who  is  combating  the  Irish  Easter,  shows  that  an  Irish  embassy 
at  Rome  in  631,  found  the  Romans  celebrating  on  March  24th  the  Elaster  which 
would  not  be  celebrated  in  Ireland  until  April  21st.  The  Irish  continued  cele- 
brating the  old  Roman  Easter  long  after  the  Romans,  by  direction  of  Pope  Hilary, 
had  adopted  the  present  (Alexandrian)  method  of  fixing  the  date  of  the_  festival. 
This  was  the  cause  of  the  great  paschal  controversy,  which,  both  in  Irish  com- 
munities on  the  Continent  of  Europe  (as  Columbanus'  community)  and  at  home 
in  Ireland,  and  with  the  Irish  in  Alba,  was  waged  for  a  century.  It  was  only  in 
716  that  lona,  the  last  citadel  of  the  Roman  method,  capitulated.  It  may  be  men- 
tioned that  within  two  years  after  this  capitulation,  the  Irish  tonsure  likewise, 
which  required  the  shaving  of  the  whole  front  of  the  head,  from  ear  to  ear — 
yielded  to  the  Continental  tonsure,  the  shaving  of  the  crown  of  the  head. 


222  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

Epistolarum  Hibernicarum)  there  is  displayed  a  wealth  of  classic 
learning,  and  an  intimate  familiarity  with  things  Latin,  Grecian, 
Egyptian,  Hebrew,  that  justly  amazes  the  scholars  of  to-day — "a 
marvellous  compilation,"  says  Professor  Stokes,  "because  of  the 
vastness  of  its  learning."  Beginning  with  the  institution  of  the 
Paschal  Feast  in  Exodus  (as  Stokes  points  out)  Cummian  quotes 
commentators  as  Jerome  and  Origen,  and  many  Fathers  of  the 
Church;  discusses  the  calendars  of  the  Macedonians,  Egyptians  and 
Hebrews;  quotes  the  opinions  of  Augustine,  Cyprian,  Pachomius 
(founder  of  Egyptian  monasticism) ,  Gregory  the  Great,  etc.;  re- 
fers to  the  views  of  the  Irish  saints;  and  balances  the  decrees  of 
the  Councils  of  Nice  and  Aries.  He  gives  the  Hebrew,  Greek  and 
Egyptian  names  of  the  first  lunar  month  and  (says  Healy)  "re- 
fers to  almost  every  cycle  and  emendation  of  a  cycle  that  we  know 
of — the  Paschal  cycle,  and  those  of  Anatolius,  Theophilius,  Diony- 
sius,  Cyril,  Morinus,  Augustine,  Victorius,  etc." 

D'Arbois  de  Jubainville  in  the  introduction  to  his  Study  of  Cel- 
tic Literature,  speaking  on  the  subject  of  Irish  classical  knowledge, 
says  of  the  early  Irish  missionaries  and  scholars  in  Europe: 

"What  surprises  us  most  about  these  Irish  emigrants  was  that 
they  knew  Greek,  and  were  probably  the  only  people  in  Western 
Europe,  then,  who  knew  it.  They  have  Gra^co-Latin  glossaries, 
grammars,  the  books  of  the  Bible  in  Greek.  ...  It  was  considered 
good  taste  among  the  Irish  then,  to  mingle  Greek  words  through- 
out the  Latin  text  which  they  composed." 

In  the  library  of  Laon,  France,  there  is  a  manuscript  written 
by  an  Irish  scribe  in  the  last  half  of  the  ninth  century,  containing 
two  glossaries  of  the  Greek  and  Latin  languages,  some  passages  in 
Irish,  and  a  Greek  grammar. 

Dr.  Healy,  arguing  from  the  evidence  of  the  Lord's  Prayer 
in  Greek,  found  upon  an  Irish  manuscript  (which  he  says  was  prob- 
ably written  in  lona),  expresses  himself  as  convinced  that  Greek 
was  taught  by  the  Irish  monks  in  lona,  twelve  hundred  years  ago. 
The  Colophon,  in  which  the  scribe  in  those  days  often  asked  the 
readers'  prayers,  reads:  "Pray  to  the  Lord  for  me,  Dorbenum." 
And  Dorbene  was  an  abbot  of  lona,  second  in  succession  after 
Adamnan,  who  died  in  713. 

That  astronomy  was  taught  in  Ireland  in  the  early  centuries  of 
Christianity  is  evident  from  many  of  the  old  writings.  And  when 
we  reach  the  eighth  and  ninth  centuries,  we  find  Ireland  producing 
eminent  astronomical  thinkers,   such   as   Fergal   of  Aghaboe,   and 


LEARNING  IN  ANCIENT  IRELAND  223 

Dungall  of  Bangor,  of  whose  accomplishments  we  shall  talk  in  the 
next  chapter.  In  the  commentary  on  the  Senchus  Mor  is  set 
down  a  good  general  description  of  the  universe.  From  the  Saltair 
na  Rann,  a  collection  of  poems  made  about  the  year  1000,  but  many 
of  which  were  then  hundreds  of  years  old,  Joyce  extracts  a  short 
description  of  the  universe  which  gives  us  a  good  rough  idea  of 
the  state  of  astronomical  knowledge  then : 

"The  earth  is  stated  to  be  like  an  apple,  goodly,  truly  round. 
The  names  of  the  seven  planets  are  given  ('Saturn,  Joib,  Mercuir, 
Mars,  Sol,*Uenir,  Luna')  ;  the  distances  are  given  of  the  moon,  and 
the  sun,  and  the  firmament,  from  the  earth :  the  firmament  is  round 
the  earth  as  the  shell  is  round  the  egg:  the  signs  of  the  zodiac  with 
their  names  in  order,  and  the  correct  month  and  day  when  the  sun 
enters  each:  the  sun  is  30  days  IOJ/2  hours  in  each  sign:  the  five 
zones — north  and  south  frigid,  and  two  temperate,  with  the  torrid 
zone  between." 

Medicine  was  taught  by  physicians,  in  their  own  homes,  from 
very  early  times,  and  physicians  were,  as  we  know  from  the  an- 
cient legends,  in  great  esteem  from  far  beyond  the  dawn  of  his- 
tory. And  in  this,  as  in  every  other  phase  of  Irish  life,  the  old 
Brehons  dealt  with  the  physicians'  privileges  and  obligations.  With 
nice  wisdom,  they  specified  cases  in  which  a  fee  was  due  from  the 
physician  to  the  patient — as  when,  either  through  want  of  skill,  or 
neglect,  he  failed  to  cure  a  wound — in  which  case  the  doctor  paid 
to  the  patient  the  same  fine  as  would  a  man  who  inflicted  the 
wound.^ 

Ancient  traditions  indicate  that  the  Caesarian  operation,  and 
also  trepanning,  were  performed  by  Irish  surgeons  in  olden  times. 

While  ancient  stories,  poems,  and  traditions  bristle  with  refer- 
ences to  medical  men,  the  Annals,  beginning  with  a  record,  under 
date  A.  D.  860,  of  the  death  of  O'Tinnri,  "the  best  physician  in 

^  A  particularly  wise  provision  of  the  laws  affecting  the  sick,  was  that  the 
patient  must  be  shielded  "from  dogs,  fools,  and  female  scolds" — an  injunction 
from  which  many  a  poor  sufferer  might  be  made  to  profit  even  to-day. 

He  who  unjustly  wounded  another  had  to  pay  sick  maintenance  for  that  other 
until  he  was  cured :  and  he  was  responsible  for  the  wounded  one's  being  cared  for, 
according  to  the  provisions  of  the  law. 

The  ancient  poems  and  stories  show  that  the  common  bath  was  a  matter  of 
daily  routine,  in  the  lives  of  many  of  the  old  Irish.  The  so-called  Turkish  Bath 
was  at  the  same  time  commonly  used  for  the  ailing.  It  is  only  in  comparatively 
recent  times  that,  in  some  parts  of  Ireland,  the  ancient  Sweating  Houses,  which 
were  once  quite  common,  went  out  of  use.  Some  of  these  old  Sweating  Houses 
are  still  to  be  seen,  in  various  parts  of  the  country.  And  Joyce  points  out  that  at 
Prague,  and  in  Nuremberg  and  other  parts  of  the  Germanic  countries,  this  kind 
of  bath  was  denominated  Romische-Irische  Bader. 


224  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

Ireland,"  give  place  to  many  prominent  physicians/  henceforward. 

Musical  tuition  received  great  attention  in  ancient  Ireland. 
Even  as  late  as  the  ninth  century,  we  find  the  Irishman  Marcellus, 
after  he  had  consented  to  remain  at  the  old  Irish  foundation  of  St. 
Gall,  making  that  school  illustrious  for  its  musical  teaching,  and 
for  the  world  famous  musicians  which  it  turned  out.  Of  the  Irish 
music  more  will  be  said  in  a  subsequent  chapter. 

The  big  place  that  learning  occupied  in  those  days  in  the  coun- 
try's life  and  in  the  people's  esteem,  is  evidenced  not  merely  by 
the  lavish  wealth  of  traditions  of  the  schools,  which  have  survived 
both  the  lapse  of  ages  and  the  ruthless  rule  of  the  destroying  con- 
queror,* but  also  by  the  frequent  references  of  the  annalists  to  the 

^  As  in  the  case  of  the  other  professions,  that  of  medicine  usually  descended 
in  the  same  families.  Joyce  mentions  how  that  the  O'Callanans  were  physicians 
to  the  McCarthys  of  Desmond;  the  O'Cassidys  to  the  MacGuires  of  Fermanagh; 
the  O'Lees  to  the  O'Flahertys  of  Connaught ;  the  O'Hickeys  to  the  O'Briens  of 
Thomond,  to  the  O'Kennedys  of  Ormond,  and  to  the  MacNamaras  of  Clare.  The 
O'Shiels  were  the  physicians  of  the  MacMahons  of  Oriel,  and  of  the  MacCoghlans 
of  Delvin.  Five  hundred  acres  of  land  was  the  usual  allowance  to  the  physician 
of  the  chief, — and  perquisites  besides.  He  says  "the  surviving  collection  of  old 
Irish  medical  manuscripts  preserved  in  the  libraries  of  London,  Dublin,  and  Ox- 
ford, present  probably  the  largest  such  collection  in  existence,  iii  any  one  tongue." 

An  estimate  of  Irish  physicians  in  comparatively  modern  days,  is  quoted  by 
Joyce,  from  the  Confessio  Authoris  of  Van  Helmont  of  Brussels,  who  wrote  nearly 
three  hundred  years  ago :  "The  Irish  nobility  have  in  every  family  a  domestic 
physician,  who  has  a  tract  of  land  free  for  his  remuneration,  and  who  is  appointed, 
not  on  account  of  the  amount  of  learning  he  brings  away  in  his  head  from  colleges, 
but  because  he  can  cure  disorders.  These  doctors  obtain  their  medical  knowledge 
chiefly  from  books  belonging  to  particular  families  left  them  by  their  ancestors, 
in  which  are  laid  down  the  symptoms  of  the  several  diseases,  with  the  remedies 
annexed :  which  remedies  are  vernacula — the  production  of  their  own  country.  Ac- 
cordingly the  Irish  are  better  managed  in  sickness  than  the  Italians,  who  have  a 
physician  in  every  village." 

And  the  following  piece,  quoted  by  Joyce,  from  the  preface  of  an  Irish  medical 
manuscript  of  1352,  beautifully  illustrates  the  singularly  lofty  spirit  which  actuated 
Irish  physicians  in  all  the  ages :  "May  the  merciful  God  have  mercy  on  us  all. 
I  have  here  collected  practical  rules  from  several  works,  for  the  honour  of  God, 
for  the  benefit  of  the  Irish  people,  for  the  instruction  of  my  pupils,  and  for  the 
love  of  my  friends  and  of  my  kindred.  I  have  translated  them  from  Latin  into 
Gaelic  from  the  authority  of  Galen  in  the  last  Book  of  his  Practical  Pantheon,  and 
from  the  Book  of  the  Prognostics  of  Hippocrates.  These  are  things  gentle,  sweet, 
profitable,  and  of  little  evil,  things  which  have  been  often  tested  by  us  and  by  our 
own  instructors.  I  pray  God  to  bless  those  doctors  who  will  use  this  book ;  and 
I  lay  it  on  their  souls  as  an  injunction,  that  they  extract  not  sparingly  from  it; 
that  they  fail  not  on  account  of  neglecting  the  practical  rules  (herein  contained)  ; 
and  more  especially  that  they  do  their  duty  devotedly  in  cases  where  they  receive 
no  pay  (on  account  of  the  poverty  of  the  patients).  Moreover  let  him  not  be  in 
mortal  sin,  and  let  him  implore  the  patient  to  be  also  free  from  grievous  sin.  Let 
him  offer  up  a  secret  prayer  for  the  sick  person,  and  implore  the  Heavenly  Father, 
the  physician  and  balmgiver  for  all  mankind,  to  prosper  the  work  he  is  entering 
upon  and  to  save  him  from  the  shame  and  discredit  of  failure." 

8  That  learned  antiquary,  the  Pt.  Rev.  Dr.  Reeves  (Protestant  Bishop  of  Down), 
says :  "We  must  deplore  the  merciless  rule  of  barbarism  in  this  country,  whence 
was  swept  away  all  domestic  evidences  of  advanced  learning,  leaving  scarcely  any- 
thing at  home  but  legendary  lore,  and  which  has  compelled  us  to  draw  from  foreign 


LEARNING  IN  ANCIENT  IRELAND  225 

death  of  men  of  learning — even  to  the  scribes,  who,  for  their  skill 
in  perpetuating  the  monuments  of  wisdom,  commanded  huge  re- 
spect. In  the  sixth  and  seventh  centuries  the  annalists  begin  to 
praise  as  scribes  certain  men  whose  passing  they  record.  As,  under 
date  587,  we  are  told  of  the  death  of  Dag^us  of  Inniscaltra: 
"Scriptor  llbrorum  peritissimus."  And  under  date  655  the  passing 
of  Ultan:  "Scriptor  et  pictor."  They  begin  then,  also,  to  refer 
to  the  scholars  and  the  schools. 

And  when  we  come  down  to  the  days  of  the  ravaging  Dane, 
the  books,  because  of  their  frequent  destruction,  begin  to  get  no- 
tice from  the  annalist.  During  the  Danish  period  the  annals  record 
nine  different  burnings  of  the  great  library  of  Armagh  School,  the 
Teach-Screptra  (House  of  Writings).  One  such  characteristic  rec- 
ord of  burning — though  this  time  evidently  by  accidental  fire — is 
the  following,  from  the  Four  Masters : 

"Ard-Macha  was  burned  without  saving  of  any  house  in  it,  ex- 
cept the  House  of  Writings  only.  And  many  houses  burned  in  the 
Trians,  and  the  great  church  burned,  and  the  belfry  with  its  bell. 
The  other  stone  churches  were  also  burned ;  and  the  old  preaching 
chair,  and  chariot  of  the  abbott;  and  their  books  in  the  houses  of 
the  students;  with  much  gold,  silver,  and  other  precious  things." 

The  fame  of  many  of  the  Irish  scholars  of  those  early  centuries 
still  survives — and,  of  some  of  them  who  have  become  world  fig- 
ures, always  will  survive.  Bangor  gave  the  world  the  great  Colum- 
banus,  scholar  extraordinary,  preacher,  teacher,  evangellser — Co- 
lumbanus,  courted  of  good  (Continental)  kings,  and  fearless  de- 
nouncer of  bad — and  remonstrant,  too,  with  one  of  the  greatest 
of  Popes — the  learned  Columbanus,  for  whom,  on  his  approaching 
the  Eternal  City  "all  the  bells  of  Rome  rang  out."  He,  as  we 
know  from  his  biographer  and  friend  Jonas,  carried  with  him  from 
Bangor,  in  addition  to  his  great  Scriptural  and  classical  learning,  a 
remarkable  knowledge  of  grammar,  rhetoric,  geometry,  divinity, 
and  we  may  add  poetry. 

Of  this  famous  sixth  century  scholar  we  shall  later  speak  at 
further  length — as  also  we  shall  do  of  another  alumnus  of  Bangor 
who  won  Continental  fame,  the  astronomer  Dungall,  whose  Intel- 
lectual ability  w^on  him  the  favour  and  esteem  of  the  Emperor 
Charlemagne;  and  who  was  by  that  King's  grandson,  Lothaire,  ap- 
pointed in  charge  of  the  educational  system  In  the  city  of  Pavla. 


depositories  the  materials  on  which  to  rest  the  proof  that  Ireland  of  old  was  really 
entitled  to  that  literary  eminence  which  the  national  feeling  lays  claim  to." 


226  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

And  from  the  study-halls  of  holy  Bangor,  too,  emerged  in  later 
centuries,  another  world  figure,  Marianus  Scotus,  who,  when  he 
had  established  himself  in  Germany  wrote  his  Chronicle  of  the 
World.  Bangor,  of  which  the  Saxon  Jocelyn  said,  "It  is  a  fruitful 
vine,  breathing  the  odour  of  salvation,  whose  offshoots  extend  not 
only  into  the  ends  of  Erin,  but  far  over  seas  into  many  foreign 
lands,  filling  them  with  abounding  fruitfulness."  Bangor,  the  beau- 
tiful, whose  praise  is  well  sung  in  the  ancient  Latin  hymn,  the  An- 
tiphonary  of  Bangor — property,  most  probably  of  Columbanus  or 
Dungall,  and  discovered  in  Columbanus'  monastery  of  Bobbio  in 
Italy: 

"O   BENCHUIR    BONA    REGULA 

"Holy  is  the  rule  of  Bangor:  it  is  noble,  just  and  admirable. 
Blessed  is  its  community,  founded  on  unerring  faith,  graced  with 
the  hope  of  salvation,  perfect  in  charity — a  ship  that  is  never  sub- 
merged tho'  beaten  by  the  waves.  A  house  full  of  delights,  founded 
upon  a  rock.  Truly  an  enduring  city,  strong  and  fortified.  The 
ark  shaded  by  the  cherubim,  on  all  sides,  overlaid  with  gold.  A 
princess  mete  for  Christ,  clad  in  the  sun's  light.  A  truly  royal 
hall  adorned'^  with  various  gems." 

Noted  scholar  of  those  very  early  days  was  Aileran  the  Wise, 
head  of  the  school  of  Clonard,  and  who,  along  with  other  works, 
left  to  us  the  scholarly  production,  "The  Mystical  Interpretation 
of  the  Ancestry  of  Our  Divine  Lord."  The  Benedictine  editors 
who  republished  it  a  couple  of  centuries  ago  (after  finding  the 
manuscript  in  the  old  Swiss-Irish  monastery  of  St.  Gall)  say,  "He 
unfolded  the  Sacred  Scripture  with  so  much  learning  and  ingenuity 
that  every  student  of  the  sacred  volume,  and  especially  preachers 
of  the  Divine  Word,  should  find  it  most  acceptable."  To  the 
scholarliness  of  this  work  and  its  author,  Dr.  Healy  bears  this  re- 
markable testimony:  "Whether  we  consider  the  style  of  the  Latin- 
ity,  the  learning  or  the  ingenuity  of  the  writer,  this  work  is  mar- 
vellous. He  cites  not  only  Jerome  and  Augustine,  but  what  is  more 
wonderful  still  quotes  Origen  repeatedly,  as  well  as  Philo,  the 
Alexandrian  Jew.  It  shows,  too,  that  a  century  after  the  death  of 
the  holy  founder,  Scripture  study  of  the  most  profound  character 
was  still  cultivated  in  the  great  school  of  Clonard." 

It  seems  to  have  been  at  the  time  that  learned  Aileran  ruled 
the  school  of  Clonard  that  Adamnan  of  Tir-Conaill,  destined  to 
be  famed  for  his  literary  work,  studied  there — and  as  we  have 


LEARNING  IN  ANCIENT  IRELAND 


-^  I 


already  seen,  in  the  capacity  of  a  poor  scholar.  Besides  his  Life 
of  St.  Colm  Cille,  which,  from  foreign  scholars  as  well  as  Irish, 
has  received  a  chorus  of  praise,  as  one  of  the  best  and  most  re- 
markable of  ancient  biographies,  Adamnan  left  us  also  a  book  on 
the  Holy  Land,  De  Locis  Sanctis. 

But  probably  a  more  remarkable  man  than  any  of  the  foregoing 
was  the  brilliant  genius  Ceannfaelad.  "Undoubtedly  one  of  the 
most  eminent  men  of  his  age,"  O'Curry  with  good  warrant  says  of 
him.  He  had  been  a  warrior  in  his  early  days,  and  only  turned 
scholar  when,  by  a  serious  wound  in  the  head,  got  in  the  battle  of 
Magh  Rath  (Down)  in  634,  he  was  incapacitated  for  fighting. 
He  was  borne  unconscious  from  the  battlefield  to  Armagh,  where 
he  seems  to  have  undergone  a  surgical  operation — trepanning,  some 
conclude — which  not  only  restored  his  mentality  but,  it  is  concluded, 
made  that  mentality  infinitely  more  vigorous  than  ever  it  had 
been.  "His  brain  of  forgetfulness,"  says  the  old  writer,  "was  re- 
moved." 

To  convalesce  he  came  to  Tuaim  Bricin  in  Cavan — where  there 
were  three  schools — of  Classics,  Law  and  Poetry.  The  tradition 
tells  that  while  he  was  convalescing  he  interested  himself  and 
occupied  his  mind  by  frequently  sitting  in  the  schools  and  listening 
to  the  lectures  and  lessons.  The  memory  of  this  man  was  so 
phenomenal  that  everything  he  heard  he  retained.  And  from  this 
strange  beginning  and  discovery  of  his  ability,  Ceannfaelad  went 
onward  till  he  came  to  be  regarded  as  illustrious  amongst  the 
bright  scholars  of  Ireland;  esteemed  a  master  by  his  contem- 
poraries and  reverenced  as  a  master  by  the  scholars  of  Ireland 
down  till  to-day.  There  are  preserved  three  works  which  are  at- 
tributed to  Ceannfaelad,  a  very  ancient  grammar  of  the  Gaelic  lan- 
guage, a  book  of  the  laws,  and  primer  of  poetry. 

Colcu,  fer-leiginn,  or  chief  professor  at  Clonmacnois,  author 
of  the  Besom  of  Devotion,  must  have  been  a  scholar  of  much  dis- 
tinction, when  he  won  the  affection  and  devotion  of  Alcuin,  the 
chief  scholar  at  Charlemagne's  court,  and  won  tribute  from  that 
scholar,  and  from  his  master,  Charlemagne.  Usher,  in  his  Sylloge 
Epistolarum  Htbernicarum  gives  in  full  the  letter  of  Alcuin  to 
Colcu — which,  by  a  reference, in  it,  is  shown  to  be  only  part  of  an 
irregular  correspondence  kept  up  between  the  court  scholar  abroad 
and  the  scholars  in  Ireland.  This  letter  addressed  by  Alcuin  to 
"My  dearly  loved  father  and  master,  Colcu,"  complains  that  the 
writer  has  not  for  a  long  time  been  gratified  by  receiving  any  of 
Colcu's  coveted  letters — gives  gossip  of  the  Court,  news  of  Euro- 


228  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

pean  politics,  and  states  that  the  bearer  of  the  letter  is  likewise 
taking  to  Colcu,  for  the  school  of  Clonmacnois,  a  present  of  fifty 
shekels  of  silver  from  Alcuin  and  fifty  from  the  Emperor."  * 

Though  he  was  of  very  much  later  date  than  the  period  we 
have  been  deahng  with,  we  can  not  help  referring  to  another  dis- 
tinguished Clonmacnois  man,  the  famous  Tighernach,  scholar,  lin- 
guist and  historian.  O'Curry  says  of  the  Annals  of  Tighernach, 
"It  is  a  composition  of  a  very  remarkable  character,  whether  we 
take  into  account  the  early  period  at  which  they  were  written,  the 
amount  of  historical  research,  or  the  judicious  care  which  distin- 
guishes the  compiler."  These  valuable  Annals  of  Tighernach  cover 
Ireland's  history  from  30c;  B.  C.  to  the  year  of  his  own  death, 
1088.  "Tighernach,"  says  O'Curry  (in  MSS.  Material),  "was 
undoubtedly  one  of  the  most  remarkable  of  all  the  scholars  of  Clon- 
macnois. His  learning  appears  to  have  been  very  varied  and  ex- 
tensive. He  quotes  Eusebius,  Orosius,  Africanus,  Bede,  Josephus, 
Saint  Jerome  and  many  other  historic  writers,  and  sometimes  com- 
pares their  statements  and  points  in  which  they  exhibit  discrepan- 
cies, and  afterwards  endeavours  to  reconcile  their  conflicting  testi- 
mony, and  to  correct  the  chronological  errors  of  one  writer  by 
comparison  with  the  dates  given  by  others.  He  also  collates  the 
Hebrew  text  with  the  Septuagint  version  of  the  Scriptures." 

Since  the  subject  of  Clonmacnois  induced  us  to  leap  to  such  a 
late  date  as  the  eleventh  century,  we  may  justifiably  make  passing 
reference  to  another  remarkable  scholar  of  late  date  also — but 
about  two  centuries  earlier  than  Tighernach — the  learned  Cormac 
MacCullinan  of  Cashel,  scholar,  warrior,  ecclesiastic  and  king — 
the  most  famous  man  of  his  time  in  Eirinn — and  one,  too,  whose 
fame  must  have  sounded  on  the  Continent  of  Europe.     Cormac 

*Here  is  George  Stokes'  summary  of  this  letter:  "He  begins  his  letter  with 
telling  Colcu  the  news  of  the  day ;  tells  him  how  Charlemagne  had  converted  the 
Saxons  and  the  Frisians,  some  (as  he  naively  expressed  it)  by  rewards,  and 
others  by  threats.  He  narrates  how,  during  the  previous  year  the  Slavs,  Greeks, 
Huns,  and  Saracens  had  been  defeated  by  the  master's  forces.  He  describes  a 
quarrel  between  Charlemagne  and  the  Mercian  King,  Offa.  He  laments  that  he 
has  not  received  any  Irish  letters  for  a  considerable  time,  and  continues :  *I  have 
sent  to  thee  some  oil,  which  is  now  a  scarce  article  in  Britain,  that  you  may  di- 
vide it  among  the  bishops,  for  man's  assistance  and  God's  honor.  I  have  also 
sent  fifty  shekels  to  my  brethren  from  the  King's  bounty;  I  beseech  you  pray  for 
him;  and  from  myself  fifty  shekels.  For  the  brethren  in  the  South  I  have  sent 
thirty  from  the  king  and  thirty  from  myself,  and  for  the  anchorites  three  shekels 
of  pure  silver;  that  they  all  may  pray  for  me  and  King  Charles,  that  God  may 
preserve  him  to  the  protection  of  his  Holy  Church,  and  the  praise  and  glory  of 
His  holy  name.' " 

Aengus,  in  his  Feilire  praises  as  "a  saint,  a  priest,  and  a  scribe  of  the  saints 
of  Eirinn,  Colcu,  Lector  of  Cluainmacnois."  It  records  of  Colcu:  "It  was  to  him 
Paul  the  Apostle  came  to  converse.  He  took  his  satchel  of  books  at  Moin-tirc-an-. 
air,  and  it  was  he  that  pleaded  for  him  to  the  school  of  Cluain." 


LEARNING  IN  ANCIENT  IRI-LAND  229 

Avas  not  only  a  profound  Gaelic  scholar  and  commentator  on  the 
ancient  obsolete  language  of  the  Gael,  but  was  also  a  Hebrew, 
Greek,  Latin,  Saxon  and  Danish  scholar.  This  truly  great  states- 
man, churchman,  writer  and  ruler,  was  cut  off  in  the  year  903,  on 
the  bloody  field  of  Bellach  Mughna — on  which  disastrous  day,  by 
the  way,  fell  many  noted  scholars.  Such  respect  did  the  learned 
Cormac  command  that  even  the  enemy  whom  he  fought  on  that 
fatal  day,  the  monarch  Flann  Sinna,  when  the  head  of  Cormac  was 
carried  to  him  that  he  might  exult  over  it,  "kissed  it,  and  turned 
round  three  times  therewith." 

The  wisdom  of  this  scholarly  king  was  a  heavenly  boon  to  his 
kingdom  of  Munster. 

"Great  was  the  prosperity  of  Ireland,"  says  Keating,  "during  his 
reign,  for  the  land  became  filled  with  the  divine  grace,  and  with 
worldly  prosperity,  and  with  public  peace  in  his  days,  so  that  the 
cattle  needed  no  cowherd,  and  the  flocks  no  shepherd,  as  long  as  he 
was  king.  The  shrines  of  the  saints  were  then  protected,  and  many 
temples  and  monasteries  were  built ;  public  schools  were  established 
for  the  purpose  of  giving  instruction  in  letters,  law,  and  history ; 
many  were  the  tilled  fields,  numerous  were  the  bees,  and  plenteous 
the  beehives  under  his  rule ;  frequent  was  fasting  and  prayer,  and 
every  other  work  of  piety ;  many  houses  of  public  hospitality  were 
built,  and  many  books  written,  at  his  command.  And,  rhoreover, 
whenever  he  exacted  the  performance  of  any  good  work  from  others, 
he  was  wont  to  set  them  the  example  himself  by  being  the  first  to 
practise  it,  whether  it  was  a  deed  of  alms,  or  benevolence,  or  prayer, 
or  attending  mass,  or  any  other  virtuous  deed.  It  was  the  good  for- 
tune of  Ireland  during  that  epoch,  that,  whilst  he  was  reigning  over 
Munster,  the  country  was  abandoned  by  whatever  of  the  Lochlan- 
naigh  (Danes)  had  previously  infested  it  for  the  purposes  of 
plunder."  ^° 

^°  The  Will  of  Cormac,  in  verse,  is  of  high  interest  as  giving  us  a  glimpse  of 
what  were  some  of  the  prize  possessions  of  a  man  of  his  standing  in  those  days — 

'Tis  time  my  testament  were  made. 
For  danger's  hour  approacheth  fast ; 
My  days  shall  henceforth  be  but  few, 
My  life  has  almost  reached  the  goal. 

My  golden  cup  of  sacrifice. 
Wherewith  I  holy  offerings  make, 
I  will  to  Senan's  brotherhood, 
At  Inis  Cathaigh's  sacred  fane. 

The  bell  that  calleth  me  to  prayer, 
Whilst  on  the  green-robed  earth  I  stay; 
Forget  not  with  my  friend  to  leave 
At  Conall's  shrine,  where  Forgas  flows. 


230  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

Unfortunately,  during  the  Danish  period  of  destruction  great 
literary  treasures  of  the  very  early  days,  and  many  of  the  works 
of  the  early  scholars,  perished — and  some  were  carried  off  to 
Scandinavia.  Vast  numbers  of  books,  too,  were  carried  far  and 
wide  over  the  Continent  of  Europe  by  the  travelling  Irish  scholars 
and  missionaries  in  the  centuries  when  they  were  spreading  the  light 
in  Europe. 

After  the  Viking  tyranny  had  been  broken  by  Brian  Boru, 
that  monarch  found  it  necessary  to  do  all  in  his  power  to  provide 
the  country  with  fresh  literature,  getting  the  old  books  rewritten 
or  copied,  and  sending  emissaries  abroad  for  new  ones.  It  is  in 
the  century  succeeding  the  Battle  of  Clontarf,  fought  on  Good 
Friday,  1014,  that  were  made  the  great  collections  of  Irish  litera- 
ture which  we  now  have:  the  Book  of  the  Dun  Cow  about  iioo, 
and  the  Book  of  Leinster  about  50  years  later.  It  is  these  books 
and  others  like  them  "  that  contain  (mostly  in  the  language  of  the 
period,  but  often  shot  through  with  the  old  Irish  forms  which  the 
scribes  forgot  to  change)  these  ancient  poems  and  sagas  that  date 
substantially  from  pagan  times,  and  give  us  such  a  wondrous  in- 
sight into  the  past  of  the  Celtic  race  in  Ireland,  and  no  doubt  of 
the  Celtic  race  upon  the  Continent  also. 

My  silken  robe  of  graceful  flow, 
O'erlaid  with  gems  and  golden  braid, 
To  Ros-cre,  Paul  and  Peter's  fane, 
And  Cronan's  guardianship,  I  leave. 

My  silver  chessboard,  of  bright  sheen, 
I  will  to  Uladh's  royal  chief ; 
My  well-wrought  chain  of  faultless  gold, 
To  thee,  Mochuda,  I  bequeath. 

Take  then  my  amice  and  my  stole. 
And  take  my  manuple  likewise ; 
To  Lenin's  son,  who  lies  at  Cluain, 
To  Colman,  who  has  found  his  bliss. 

My  psalter  of  illumined  leaves, 
Whose  light  no  darkness  e'er  can  hide — 
To  Caisel  I  forever  leave 
This  potent  gift  without  recall. 

And  my  wealth,  I  bequeath  to  the  poor. 
And  my  sins  to  the  children  of  curses ; 
And  my  dust  to  the  earth,  whence  it  rose, 
And  my  spirit  to  Him,  who  has  sent  it. 

11  Such  as  those  other  famous  ancient  books — "The  Lebar  Brecc"  (The  Speckled 
Book),  "The  Yellow  Book  of  Lecan,"  "The  Book  of  Ballymote,"  "The  Book  of 
Lismore,"  etc.,  elc. — preserved  in  the  Roval  Irish  Academy,  and  in  Trinity  College, 
Dublin. 


LEARNING  IN  ANCIENT  IRELAND  231 

Healy:     Irish  Schools  and  Scholars. 

Stokes,  The  Rev.  Dr.  Geo.  T, :  The  Knowledge  of  Greek  in  Ireland  Be- 
tween A.  D.  500  and  900.     Proc.  R.  I.  A.,  1892. 

Zimmer:     The  Influence  of  Ireland  on  Medieval  Culture. 

Jubainville.  H.  D'Arbois  de:  Le  Cjxle  Mythologique  Irlandais  et  la 
Mythologie  Celtique. 

O'Ciirry's  Works. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII 

THE   IRISH    MISSIONARIES   ABROAD 

And,  during  these  several  fruitful  centuries  succeeding  St.  Patrick, 
the  story  of  the  Race  must  concern  Itself  not  merely  with  the  saints 
and  the  scholars  who  towered  tallest  in  the  nation  in  those  days, 
and  whose  acts  make  the  nation's  most  memorable  history,  but  also 
with  those  other  commanding  Irish  figures  who,  throughout  this 
time,  swarming  forth  from  the  Irish  monasteries  and  schools,  like 
bees  from  a  hive,  bore  with  them  to  distant  shores  the  faith  and 
the  lore  with  which  Ireland  overflowed,  and  with  knowledge,  secu- 
lar and  divine,  blessed  many  peoples  and  brought  them  out  of  bar- 
barism. 

Says  Dr.  Wattenbach  in  his  Congregations  of  the  Irish  Monks 
In  Germany:  "It  was  thus,  when  the  whole  world  seemed  Irre- 
coverably sunk  in  barbarism  .  .  .  the  Irish  went  forth  Into  every 
part  of  the  world,"  to  spread  Christianity  and  knowledge. 

Says  Kuno  Meyer  (in  his  Introduction  to  "Ancient  Irish 
Poetry")  : 

"Ireland  had  become  the  heiress  to  the  classical  and  theological 
learning  of  the  western  empire  of  the  fourth  and  fifth  centuries,  and 
a  period  of  humanism  was  thus  ushered  in  which  reached  its  culmina- 
tion during  the  sixth  and  the  following  centuries.  For  once,  at  any 
rate,  Ireland  drew  upon  herself  the  eyes  of  the  world,  as  the  one 
haven  of  rest  in  a  turbulent  world  over-run  by  hordes  of  barbarians, 
as  the  great  seminary  of  Christian  and  classical  learning.  Her  sons, 
carrj'ing  Christianity  and  a  new  humanism  over  Great  Britain  and 
the  Continent,  became  the  teachers  of  whole  nations,  the  counsellors 
of  kings  and  emperors." 

What  these  loyal  bearers  of  the  lamp  of  knowledge  and  eager 
carriers  of  the  cross  of  Christ  did  in  the  neighbouring  nation  of 
Britain,  we  shall  glance  at  first — and  then  outline  what  was  accom- 
plished by  a  typical  few  of  the  countless  many  who  swarmed  for 
centuries  far  and  wide  over  Europe. 

2i2 


THE  IRISH  MISSIONARIES  ABROAD  233 

Mainly  from  three  reservoirs  the  faith  and  its  accompaniment 
of  learning  was  borne  to  the  Britons — direct  from  Ireland — tram 
Aidan's  Irish  monastery  of  Lindisfarne  on  Britain's  northeastern 
coast — and  from  Augustine's  Roman  mission  in  Britain's  southeast- 
ern corner. 

The  latter,  though  last  named,  was  the  first  to  go  with  the  bless- 
ing of  faith  to  the  Britons,  but  the  two  former  succeeded  in  carry- 
ing the  blessing  over  by  far  the  greater  portion  of  the  field.  That 
the  work,  of  the  Roman  missionary  was  circumscribed  in  its  area, 
and  its  success  limited,  as  compared  with  the  work  and  the  success 
of  the  Irish  missionaries,  and  of  Saxon  missionaries  who  were  pu- 
pils and  disciples  of  the  Irish,  is  acknowledged  by  the  authorities 
who  have  written  upon  the  subject.  The  English  ecclesiastical 
writer.  Dr.  Lightfoot,  Bishop  of  Durham,  speaks  thus  on  the  sub- 
ject: 

"Though  nearly  forty  years  had  elapsed  since  Augustine's  first 
landing  in  England,  the  church  was  still  confined  to  its  first  conquest, 
the  southeast  corner  of  the  island,  the  kingdom  of  Kent.  .  .  .  Then 
commenced  those  thirty  years  of  earnest,  energetic  labour,  carried  on 
by  those  Celtic  missionaries  and  their  disciples,  from  Lindisfarne  as 
their  spiritual  citadel,  which  ended  in  the  submission  of  England  to 
the  gentle  yoke  of  Christ." 

Montalembert  (in  his  Monks  of  the  West)  says: 

"The  Italians,  Augustine  and  his  monks,  had  made  the  first  step, 
and  the  Irish  now  appeared  to  resume  the  uncompleted  work.  But 
what  the  sons  of  St.  Benedict  could  only  begin  was  completed  by 
the  sons  of  St.  Columha." 

And  Dr.  Reeves  says : 

"St.  Augustine  arrived  in  England  in  597  .  .  .  but  Christianity 
made  little  headway  in  the  provinces  until  Aidan  began  his  labors 
in  Lindisfarne  in  634." 

To  the  work  done  and  the  foundations  laid  by  this  Irishman, 
Aidan,  the  spread  of  Christianity  to  the  bounds  of  Britain  are 
chiefly  owing.  As  Dr.  Lightfoot  says:  "Aidan  holds  the  first 
place  in  the  evangelisation  of  our  race.  Augustine  was  the  apostle 
of  Kent,  but  Aidan  was  the  apostle  of  England." 

Aidan  came  into  England  from  Colm  Cille's  monastery  of  lona 
— by  request  of  Oswald  of  Northumbria,  who  had  got  his  faith 


2^4  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

and  his  education  in  Ireland.  Bede  records,  "Many  of  the  Scots 
came  daily  into  Britain,  and  with  great  devotion  preached  the 
\Yord  to  those  provinces  of  the  English  over  which  King  Oswald 
reigned." 

In  634  Aidan  founded  the  monastic  community  in  Lindlsfarne, 
or  Holy  Isle,  off  the  Northumberland  coast,  which  became  a  boun- 
tiful flowing  fountain  of  faith  for  England.  And  Irishman  after 
Irishman  came  there  in  succession  to  tend  the  fount.  Aidan  was 
succeeded  by  Finan,  and  Finan  by  Colman.  And  during  three  fruit- 
ful decades  the  propagation  of  the  faith  to  England  was  directed 
by  these  men.  They  travelled  and  taught  and  preached,  them- 
selves. And  their  disciples  and  their  pupils  spread  themselves  out 
over  vast  areas  doing  likewise.  We  are  told  that  the  pious  Oswald 
himself  humbly  interpreted  for  them  oftentimes,  ere  yet  the  mis- 
sionaries were  well  enough  acquainted  with  the  Saxon  tongue  to 
express  themselves  clearly  in  it. 

"It  can  be  affirmed,"  says  McGeoghegan,  "that  the  Saxons  of 
the  Northern  provinces  were  indebted  to  those  three  for  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  true  God.  Finan  it  was  who  converted  Sigebert,  King 
of  East  Anglia,  and  Panda,  King  of  the  interior  provinces,  with 
their  courts.  And  he  set  his  priests  instructing  and  baptising  their 
subjects." 

Besides  the  monastery  at  Lindlsfarne,  Aidan  founded  many 
monasteries  and  many  churches  in  other  places  in  northern  Eng- 
land. Preaching,  teaching,  converting,  baptising,  he  tirelessly  occu- 
pied himself  among  these  Saxons  to  whom  he  brought  Christ.  He 
won  the  veneration,  the  admiration,  and  the  earnest  love  of  all  of 
them,  noble  and  simple.  The  rich  loaded  him  with  gifts — which 
gifts  he  promptly  distributed  among  the  poor  who  needed  them. 

Then  many  of  those  Saxons  themselves  who  were  going,  as 
Aldhelm  said,  "in  fleet  loads  to  Ireland,"  to  the  schools  and  monas- 
teries there,  brought  back  with  them  to  their  native  land  and  propa- 
gated among  their  fellow  countrymen  the  knowledge  of  the  Scrip- 
tures, and  the  secular  knowledge  which  they  had  absorbed  under 
their  holy  masters  in  Eirinn. 

Leland  tells  us  of  St.  Petrocus,  renouncing  the  kingdom  of  Cum- 
berland, and  for  twenty  years  at  Irish  schools  studying  the  Holy 
Scriptures  and  literature. 

Camden  in  his  Brittania  says : 

"Our  Anglo-Saxons  went  at  those  times  to   Ireland  as  if  to  a 
fair  to  purchase  goods.     Hence,  it  is  frequently  read  in  our  historians 


THE  IRISH  MISSIONARIES  ABROAD  235 

of  holy  men,  'He  was  sent  to  Ireland  to  school,'  or  'He  went  to  the 
Irish  renowned  for  their  philosophy.'  " 

The  royal  court  of  Northumbria,  in  particular,  where  always 
were  to  be  found  Irish  preachers  and  Irish  teachers,  and  where,  we 
are  even  told,  Irish  came  to  be  at  one  time  the  court  language, 
acted  as  the  great  conduit,  through  which  flowed  both  the  religion 
and  learning  of  Eire  for  blessing  the  English  people.  The  North- 
umbrian kings,  Egbert  and  Oswald  and  Aldfrid^  (whose  mother 
was  Irish)  spent  a  long  time,  all  of  them,  at  the  Irish  schools. 

"Edilvinus,"  says  Bede,  "was  well  instructed  in  Ireland  and 
came  back  and  was  appointed  bishop  of  the  province  of  Lindisse." 
Agilberct,  who  was  probably  a  Saxon,  though  some  call  him  a 
Frank,  studied  theology  in  Ireland  for  several  years,  and  became 
bishop  of  Paris.  St.  Chad,  one  of  the  Fathers  of  the  Anglo-Saxon 
church,  got  his  education  in  Ireland.  And  the  English  Willibrord, 
educated  in  Ireland,  became  the  apostle  of  Saxony. 

The  Irish  bishop,  Diuma,  was  the  apostle  of  the  Mercians,  and 
after  him  the  Irish  bishop  Cellach  accomplished  arduous  work  in 
the  Mercian  kingdom.  The  Irishman,  Dicuil,  was  the  apostle  of 
the  South  Saxons.  Fle  founded  the  monastery  of  Bosanham.  The 
Irish  bishops,  St.  Sampson  and  St.  Magloire,  occupied  in  succession 
the  See  of  York,  Usher  tells  us.     St.  Ciaran,  called  by  the  Cornish 

^This  Aldfrid  is  said  to  be  the  author  of  the  famous  ancient  poem  in  Irish, 
"Aldfrid's  Itinerary"  which  is  now  best  known  in  Mangan's  translation — 

I  found  in  Innisfail  the  fair, 

In  Ireland,  while  in  exile  there, 

Women  of  worth,  both  grave  and  gay  men. 

Many  clerics  and  many  laymen. 

I  travelled  its  fruitful  provinces  round, 
And  in  every  one  of  the  five  I  found, 
Alike  in  church  and  in  palace  hall, 
Abundant  apparel,  and  food  for  all. 

Gold  and  silver  I  found  in  money ; 
Plenty  of  wheat  and  plenty  of  honey; 
I  found  God's  people  rich  in  pity, 
Found  many  a  feast,  and  many  a  city. 

I  also  found  in  Armagh  the  splendid, 
Meekness,  wisdom,  and  prudence  blended, 
Fasting  as  Christ  hath  recommended. 
And  noble  counsellors  untranscended. 

I  found  in  each  great  church  moreo'er. 
Whether  on  island  or  on  shore, 
Piety,  learning,  fond  affection, 
Holy  welcome  and  kind  protection,  &c. 


236  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

Piran,  was  the  apostle  of  Cornwall.  St.  Cuthbert,  a  native  of  Lein- 
ster,  Avas  the  patron  of  Durham.  St.  Fursa  at  Burgh  Castle,  in 
Suftolk,  founded  a  monastery,  from  which  centre  the  faith  was 
radiated  over  that  part  of  England.  The  Irish  St.  Moninna  is 
patron  of  Burton-on-Trent.  The  Irish  St.  Bega  established  herself 
in  Cumberland,  at  that  place  which  is  now  called  after  her  St.  Bee's. 
Maeldubh  founded  the  famous  monastery  and  school  at  that  place 
which  is  called  after  him  Malmesbury — in  676 — an  institution  that 
not  only  gave  the  faith  but  also  for  long  ages,  through  its  teachers, 
gave  the  higher  learning  of  those  days  to  nobles  from  many  parts 
of  England,  including  Aldhelm  (who  made  the  complaint  about 
Saxon  youths  continually  streaming  from  the  British  shores  to  Ire- 
land of  the  schools).  Glastonbury  in  the  southwest  of  England 
was  for  a  long  time  known  as  Glastonbury  of  the  Gaels,  because 
of  the  great  Irish  school  that  flourished  there,  a  centre  of  evan- 
gelisation as  well  as  education.  At  that  school  the  Saxon,  St.  Dun- 
stan,  studied  (says  William  of  Malmesbury)  "arithmetic,  geometry, 
astronomy  and  music,  under  Irish  teachers." 

But  during  this  time  those  eager  Irish  missionaries  were,  with 
ever-burning  flames  in  their  hearts,  swarming  north  and  south,  east 
and  west,  over  the  Continent  of  Europe,  preaching  and  teaching, 
baptising  and  building.  From  the  monastic  schools  of  Ireland 
thickly  they  poured  forth,  resigning  forever  family  and  friends,  and 
associates  and  country — resigning  crowns  and  kingdoms,  sometimes 
— for  the  purpose  of  carrying  the  glad  tidings  of  God's  Word  to 
all  lands.  And  to  all  lands  they  went,  from  Arctic  Iceland  to  tropic 
Africa,  and  from  the  Pyrenees  to  Palestine. 

If  record  had  been  kept  of  even  a  tithe  of  those  who  then  left 
Ireland  forever,  to  attend  to  their  Master's  work,  we  should  have 
a  roll  of  missionary  heroes  whose  length  would  alike  amaze  and 
fill  us  with  pride.  But  so  common  was  their  crowding  forth,  and 
so  natural  to  them  the  undertaking,  that  the  incident  seemed  too 
common  and  ordinary  to  waste  good  parchment  and  ink  upon  its 
setting  down.  Were  it  not  that  occasionally  some  Continental 
writer  preserved  to  us  the  fact  that  the  evangeliser  of  his  country, 
his  province,  or  city,  was  from  Ireland,  we,  depending  upon  our 
own  records,  would  be  in  almost  complete  ignorance  of  the  proud 
fact  (which  fortunately  every  Continental  scholar  can  now  tell  us) 
that  from  the  end  of  the  sixth  to  the  beginning  of  the  tenth  cen- 
tury the  little  isle  in  the  western  ocean  was  the  means  of  giving  the 
Gospel  of  Christ  to  the  vast  tract  of  barbarian-swept  Europe.  In- 
deed, since  for  one  such  missionary  the  memory  of  whose  Irish 
nationality  has  accidentally  escaped  the  oblivion  of  the  ages,  the 


THE  IRISH  MISSIONARIES  ABROAD  237 

natal  record  of  twenty  must  have  been  lost,  \vc  can  only  conjecture 
how  truly  daz/ling  would  be  the  list  of  Irish  missionaries  and  mar- 
tyrs on  the  Continent  of  I'Airope,  if  the  records  o\  all  or  even  one- 
half  had  been  spared  to  us. 

"At  that  time,"  says  the  French  historian  Alleinand,  "it  was 
sufficient  to  be  an  Irishman  to  be  considered  holy  and  become  the 
immediate  founder  of  an  abbey." 

In  the  brief  account  permitted  us  here,  of  early  Irish  mission- 
ary activities  in  Europe,  we  can  only  afford  to  glance  at  a  few  of 
the  more  prominent,  therefrom  to  obtain  a  slight  general  idea  of 
the  whole.  If  we  were  to  take  one  to  represent  them  all,  that  one 
would  undoubtedly  be  the  earliest  of  all  the  notable  ones,  the  de- 
servedly famous  Columbanus — of  whom  the  Benedictines,  in  their 
Literary  History  of  France  say: 

"The  light  which  Columbanus  disseminated  wherever  he  went 
caused  a  contemporary  writer  to  compare  him  to  the  sun  in  its 
course  from  East  to  West." 

And  Odericus  Vitall,  in  his  Church  History: 

"This  father  of  wonderful  sanctity  laboured  amonest  the  most 
zealous,  he  shone  gloriously  among  worldlings  by  lu's  miracles,  and 
taught  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  he  established  monastic  regulations,  and 
was  the  first  to  deliver  them  to  the  Gauls." 

Of  course  the  memory  of  several  Irish  Christians  on  the  Con- 
tinent before  Columbanus  came,  is  accidentally  preserved  to  us — 
such  as  the  elder  St.  Sedulius,  already  referred  to,  who  was  teach- 
ing in  Achaia.  And  Florentinus,  of  whom  Usher  tells  us,  whose 
festival  is  on  the  calends  of  December,  who  was  imprisoned  in 
Rome,  and  who  preached  and  converted  many. 

St.  Eliphius,  Bishop  of  Toul,  in  the  end  of  the  fourth  century 
was,  says  Abbot  Rupert  of  Duitz  (writer  of  Eliphius  Acts)  a  na- 
tive of  Scotia. - 

2  Usher  says :  "St.  Eliphius,  son  of  a  king  of  Scotia,  abandoned  vast  posses- 
sion ;  was  dehghted  to  serve  Christ  the  Lord  God,  in  poverty.  In  the  city  of 
Toul  together  with  thirty-three  of  his  faithful  companions  he  was  betrayed,  thrown 
into  prison,  but  by  the  goodness  of  God,  was  miraculously  delivered  in  the  night. 
After  this  he  preached  with  constancy  and  fervour,  and  made  a  great  harvest  in 
the  vineyard  of  the  Lord.  He  converted  and  baptised  in  a  short  time  four  hundred 
persons.  But  the  Emperor  Julian,  the  apostate,  being  incensed  against  them,  be- 
cause they  boldly  proclaimed  the  glory  of  Christ  of  whom  he  was  envious,  caused 
Eliphius  to  be  arrested  and  had  him  beheaded." 


238  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

Also  St.  Renan  in  the  forest  of  Nevit  in  Brittany,  in  the  latter 
part  of  the  fifth  century,  and  St.  Sezin  in  Brittany,  in  the  beginning 
of  the  sixth  century  (both  referred  to  by  Lannigan),  were  Irish. 
While  at  about  the  same  time  that  Rome  rang  all  its  bells  to  wel- 
come our  Columbanus,  we  have  an  Irishman,  Augustine,  labouring 
for  God  in  Carthage.  Augustine  left  us,  in  the  Wonders  of  the 
Sacred  Scriptures,  a  remarkable  attempt,  at  so  early  a  time,  to 
reconcile  science  and  revelation.^ 

But  Columbanus  was  certainly  the  first  typically  Irish  mission- 
ary on  the  Continent,  of  whose  career  we  have  pretty  full  and 
accurate  details.  Fortunately,  only  ten  years  after  he  passed  away, 
his  life  was  written  by  his  follower,  friend,  and  fellow-countryman, 
Jonas,  abbot  of  Luxeuil  in  Burgundy.  Columbanus  was  a  Leinster- 
man,  born  in  the  year  543,  and  schooled  first  with  St.  Sinnell  on 
Loch  Erne — and  next  under  Comgall  at  Bangor,  on  whose  monastic 
rule  he  modelled  the  rule  that  he  gave  to  his  own  monasteries  on 
the  Continent.  At  Bangor  he  made  himself  master  of  grammar, 
rhetoric,  geometry,  poetry,  the  Sacred  Scriptures,  Latin — and,  some 
believe,  Greek  and  Hebrew  also. 

When,  following  the  example  of  hundreds  of  other  holy  ones 
who  had  gone  before  him,  Columbanus  gave  up  all  in  order  to 
carry  Christ's  Gospels  to  the  heathen,  he  took  with  him  twelve 
disciples  (as  was  then  the  common  practice  of  many  masters  who 
went  forth)  and  set  out  through  Britain,  to  the  Continent  of 
Europe. 

Columbanus'  first  signal  success  on  the  Continent  was  the  con- 
version of  Sigebert,  king  of  Austrasia,  whose  heart  the  Irishman 
won  as  well  as  his  soul — for  Sigebert  tried  to  induce  the  missionary 
to  setde  down  close  to  his  court  (which  was  at  Metz)  offering  him 
generous  endowments  if  he  did  so.  But  not  for  Columbanus  was 
the  easy  life.  He  came  not  to  seek  worldly  favours  but  to  toil  for 
Christ.  In  the  Vosges  Mountains  he  settled,  at  a  wild  and  barren 
spot  called  Anagrai.  Here  he  and  his  companions  hved  upon 
herbs  and  roots,  and  sometimes,  in  their  stress,  ate  the  barks  of 
the  trees.  By  timely  relief  that  seems  miraculous,  they  were  twice 
saved  from  dying  of  starvation.  But  the  news  of  the  piety,  and 
beauty  of  the  lives,  of  the  wonderful  men  from  Eirinn  who  had  es- 
tablished themselves  in  this  bleak  spot,  was  carried  far  and  wide, 

8  In  the  course  of  this  work  Augustine  correctly  details  all  the  animals  that 
are  to  be  found  in  his  native   Ireland.     He  also  mentions  the  recent  death  of  a 
amous  man,  Mancheas  the  Wise,  in  Central  Ireland.     An  interesting  paper  upon 
\ugustine  s  work,  written  by  Dr.  Reeves,  is  contained  in  Volume  VII  of  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  Royal  Irish  Academy. 


THE  IRISH  MISSIONARIES  ABROAD  239 

and  mightily  impressed  the  people  of  those  regions,  who  began 
thronging  to  them,  bringing  also  crowds  of  the  sick  and  the  infirm. 
And  so  completely  won  were  they  to  their  holy  ways  of  life  that 
many  wanted  to  join  their  community — so  that  after  a  little  tirjne 
Columbanus  and  his  companions  had  to  quit  their  rude  and  cramped 
quarters  at  Anagrai  and  go  further  down  the  valley  to  Luxeuil, 
where  they  built  a  monastery  that  gave  them  more  spacious  quar- 
ters, and  much  better  facilities  for  dealing  with  the  streams  of  pil- 
grims which  were  constantly  flowing  to  them  from  all  sides. 

Here  also  they  were  in  far  better  position  to  provide  for  the 
teaching  of  the  students  who  had  been  pressing  upon  them,  even 
before  they  had  left  Anagrai.  A  school  grew  up  at  the  Luxeuil 
monastery,  where  the  sons  of  the  nobles  of  that  country  vied  with 
each  other  for  the  privilege  of  becoming  students,  and  becoming 
monks. 

So  marvellously  did  their  fame  continue  to  spread,  and  their 
monastery  and  school  to  grow,  that  in  a  short  time  again  they  had 
to  build  still  another — at  Fontaines.  And  around  these  three  Irish 
establishments,  in  the  heart  of  the  Vosges  mountains,  now  centred 
both  the  intellectual  and  the  religious  life  of  all  the  eastern  part 
of  that  country  which  is  now  France.  "The  fame  of  Columbanus' 
power,"  says  Lannigan,  "brought  crowds."  To  that  great  school 
many  prominent  ecclesiastics  of  France  owed  their  education. 

Yet  life  at  Luxeuil  was  not  one  uninterrupted  dream  of  peace. 
Two  notable  quarrels  disturbed  its  serenity,  and  one  of  them  finally 
resulted  in  driving  Columbanus  forth  from  the  great  institution 
which  with  infinite  patience  and  thought,  he  had  founded,  and  with 
infinite  solicitude  fostered. 

The  neighbouring  ecclesiastics  assailed  him  and  denounced  him 
as  a  disobedient  child  of  the  church  because  his  Vosges  community 
celebrated  the  old  Roman  Easter — after  the  custom  of  the  Irish — 
instead  of  the  new,  or  Alexandrian  Easter,  which  was  now  univer- 
sally observed  on  the  Continent.  Columbanus  would  not  bow  to 
the  will  of  his  antagonists.  He  held  his  own,  and  wrote  some  re- 
markable letters  to  the  bishops,  to  Pope  Gregory  the  Great,  and 
later  to  Pope  Boniface,  defending  himself.  Pathetic,  but  at  the 
same  time  noble,  is  that  beautiful  plea,  to  the  Gallic  bishops,  of  this 
man  representing  a  little  band  who  had  exiled  themselves  for 
Christ's  sake — "Let  us  live  here  in  Gaul  in  a  like  peace  in  which 
we  hope  to  live  eternally  in  heaven.  But  if  it  be  God's  will  that 
you  should  drive  me  from  this  wilderness,  whither  I  have  come  so 
far  for  the  sake  of  Jesus  Christ,  I  shall  say,  with  the  prophet:  'If 
for  my  sake  this  tempest  is  upon  you,  take  me  up  and  cast  me  forth 


240  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

into  the  sea.'  "  All  he  asked  was  to  be  left  in  peace  to  observe  the 
festivals  of  the  church  as  all  his  life  he  had  been  used  to  observe 
them,  as  all  his  countrymen  had  always  observed  them — as  they 
had  got  them  from  St.  Patrick.  "Better  comfort  us  poor  strangers, 
than  go  on  disturbing  us,"  he  writes  to  the  bishops,  when  vexed  by 
their  continued  annoyances — for  they  had  now  summoned  him  to  a 
Council  to  answer  for  his  crime  of  continuing  to  observe  the  Irish 
Easter.  And  as  he  knows  that  these  bishops,  who  persecute  him 
for  his  lack  of  a  letter  observance,  have  been  themselves  eminently 
lax  in  observing  the  spirit  of  many  church  ordinances,  and  that 
they  have  been  more  than  lax  in  neglecting  to  hold  Councils,  when 
matters  of  far  graver  moment  than  his  persecution  calls  for  them, 
his  Irish  sarcasm  comes  into  play.  So  he  answers,  congratulating 
them  on  the  fact  that  they  are  going  to  hold  a  Council — and  wishes 
that  they  would  comply  with  the  Canons  and  hold  them  oftener. 
The  saint  is  all  his  life  a  typical  Irishman,  again  and  again  display- 
ing the  Irish  qualities.  He  is  frank  and  fearless;  he  never  shrinks 
from  a  fight;  he  can  be  fierce  as  a  lion,  and  gentle  as  the  white  dove 
that  gave  him  his  name.  By  his  loving  persuasiveness  he  could 
win  alike  the  highest  and  the  humblest.  And  by  his  terrible  de- 
nunciation he  made  the  tjTant  tremble  on  his  throne.  He  was 
possessed  of  infinite  sweetness,  and  of  infinite  sarcasm;  and  to  com- 
plete his  Irishism  he  was  undoubtedly  gifted  with  that  insinuating 
Irish  quality  which  in  recent  days  is  dubbed  blarney.  For  we  find 
him  when  writing  to  Pope  Gregory  to  defend  himself  against  the 
bishops,  taking  occasion  to  compliment  Gregory  upon  a  recent  pas- 
toral, and  begging  from  him  a  copy  of  his  commentary  on  Ezechiel 
— compliments  which,  coming  from  a  notable  scholar,  admittedly 
more  able  than  Gregory  himself  or  any  of  the  scholars  of  that  day, 
must  have  left  His  Holiness  in  that  pleasant  frame  of  mind  which 
premises  a  sympathetic  consideration  of  the  complimenter's  case. 
Perhaps  Gregory  had  not  forgotten  that  Columbanus  was  a  man  of 
eminently  good  literary  judgment  when,  on  the  Saint's  going  to 
visit  him,  in  599,  he  ordered  the  bells  of  Rome  to  ring  for  him, 
and  he  and  his  clergy  did  all  the  honours  to  the  exiled  Irishman. 

Columbanus'  other  quarrel  was  with  the  notorious  Queen  Brune- 
hilde,  who  then  ruled  that  kingdom  for  her  young  grandson,  Theod- 
oric,  still  in  his  minority.  That  wicked  queen's  love  of  ruling  and 
of  power,  induced  her  to  indulge  and  encourage  the  young  king  in 
all  vicious  pleasures,  which  should  weaken  and  keep  him  subser- 
vient to  her,  and  wean  him  from  desire  to  take  his  rightful  place. 
Now  the  young  king,  for  all  his  weakness,  loved  and  admired  the 
Irish  apostle,  and  would  do  anything  to  serve  him.    To  the  chagrin 


THE  IRISH  MISSIONARIES  ABROAD  241 

of  Brunchildc,  Columbanus  endeavoured  to  reform  him — and  in- 
deed succeeded  several  times  in  drawing  him  froin  tiis  vicious 
courses,  and  setting  him  in  the  straight  path.  But  the  wily  old 
queen-mother  could  always  craftily  undo  whatever  the  saint  did. 
Openly  and  unfcaringly  Columbanus,  when  he  saw  the  absolute 
necessity  for  it,  publicly  thundered  at  the  wicked  king  and  at  the 
still  more  wicked  queen,  his  grand-mother.  And  her  before  whom 
some  of  the  boldest  trembled,  this  Irish  wanderer  threatened,  re- 
buked, and  denounced.  And  no  royal  threats  in  return  could  silence 
him. 

Once,  when  Theodoric  had  relapsed,  Columbanus  followed  him 
to  Epoisses,  to  reprimand  him  before  his  unworthy  associates  there. 
The  Irishman  stood  without  the  castle  gate,  and  demanded  that 
the  king  should  come  to  him.  He  indignantly  rejected  the  invita- 
tion of  Theodoric  to  enter  and  enjoy  the  castle's  hospitality.  And 
when  then  a  rich  feast  was  carried  out  to  him  Columbanus  scat- 
tered the  feast,  and  smashed  the  plates  upon  the  gates  of  the  castle. 

He  finally  succeeded  in  bringing  the  wicked  pair,  the  old  and 
the  yol'.r.g,  to  repentance — or  apparent  repentance — and  apology 
for  their  wicked  conduct. 

But  after  a  time  they  lapsed  again  and  Columbanus  now  thrust 
them  from  the  church — excommunicated  both.  Then  they  turned 
upon  him.  They  forced  him  from  under  the  roof  of  his  monastery, 
and  banished  him  to  Besangon.  The  prison  at  Besancon  was  filled, 
and  overflowed,  with  condemned  criminals,  most  of  them  the  vilest 
of  the  nation.  To  these  Columbanus  preached,  and  converted  the 
most  hardened,  confessed  them,  bathed  their  feet,  and  freed  them. 
And  soon  the  city  which  he  had  entered  as  an  outcast  bowed  to 
him  as  its  master,  and  hailed  him  as  its  saviour. 

But  his  heart  was  torn  for  his  poor  fatherless  community  at 
Luxeuil.  And  at  length,  one  morning,  wMth  Dogmael,  one  of  his 
Irish  disciples,  he  stole  out  of  Besancon,  and  made  his  way  again 
to  Luxeuil.  And,  oh,  the  unbounded  joy  with  which  he  was  there 
greeted!  by  the  long-time  grieving  monks,  his  afflicted  children. 
And  his  joy  to  be  once  more  with  the  community  he  loved — in  the 
hallowed  structure  whose  walls,  cemented  by  sweat  and  blood,  he 
had  reared — outdid  the  joy  of  his  fellows! 

But  not  long  was  he  left  to  his  enjoyment,  for  when  Brunehilde 
and  Theodoric  heard  of  his  return  they  were  enraged,  and  ordered 
him  to  be  seized  and  sent  back  to  his  native  country.  Accordingly, 
he  was  taken  away  forcibly  and  carried  to  Nantes,  where  he  was 
put  aboard  a  ship  that  was  sailing  for  Ireland.  The  hand  of  God, 
however,   intervened.     The   ship,   after   reaching  the   ocean,   was 


242  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

driven  back  upon  the  land,  and  he  and  his  companions  were  dis- 
embarked by  the  sailors  who  considered  that  the  mishap  to  the  ship 
was  caused  by  their  carrying  these  holy  ones  away.  He  returned 
to  Nantes,  where  he  stayed  for  a  short  time,  quickly  becommg  a 
hero  to  the  people,  who  came  to  admire  and  to  venerate  him.  Then 
he  journeyed  into  Clothair's  kingdom,  but  turned  a  deaf  ear  to 
Clothair's  entreaty  that  he  should  settle  down  there  under  his  pat- 
ronage. He  passed  on  to  the  kingdom  of  Theodobert,  where 
again  he  was  joyfully  received,  and  where  Theodobert's  nobles 
begged  him  to  remain  and  to  make  their  kingdom  holy,  learned, 
and  famous.  But  he  passed  on,  and  went  up  the  Rhine  to  Switzer- 
land, where,  after  journeying  and  sojourning  and  preaching  for 
some  time,  and  founding  a  monastery,  he  left  behind  him  his  dis- 
ciple Gall,  and  went  into  Italy. 

Arriving  at  Milan,  the  welcoming  king,  Agiluilph  (whom  he 
converted)  of  the  Lombards,  was  proud  and  joyous  to  have  this 
man  honour  his  kingdom.  He  entreated  Columbanus  to  settle  in 
his  dominion,  and  to  choose  where  he  would  for  his  monastery. 

In  Milan,  Columbanus  engaged  in  the  Arian  controversy  that 
was  then  threatening  to  split  the  church.  He  preached  against 
Arianism  and  wrote  against  it — hurled  at  it  both  oratorical  and 
literary  thunders.  He  now  wrote  a  daring  letter  to  Pope  Boniface 
the  Fourth,  who  was  accused  of  harbouring  Nestorians;  and  civilly 
but  firmly  upbraided  His  Holiness  for  the  religious  apathy  he 
found  among  Italian  Christians,  contrasting  it  most  unfavourably 
with  the  religious  fervour  that  held  his  own  people,  the  Irish. 
Furthermore,  in  this  letter  he  says:  "We  Irish,  though  dwelling 
at  the  far  ends  of  the  earth,  are  all  disciples  of  St.  Peter  and  St. 
Paul  .  .  .  neither  heretic  nor  Jew  nor  schismatic  has  ever  been 
among  us;  but  the  Catholic  faith  just  as  it  was  first  delivered  to  us 
by  yourselves  as  successors  to  the  apostles,  is  held  by  us  unchanged." 

In  that  same  year  he  settled  down  in  Bobbio,  and  there  erected 
his  monastery,  which  became  a  centre  of  holiness  and  learning  and 
a  Gospel-fount  which  should  bestow  the  knowledge  of  God  on  the 
heathen  and  the  ignorant,  and  was  to  be  far  famed  through  long  cen- 
turies to  come. 

Clothair  the  Second,  who  in  common  with  the  other  Gallic 
kings  hungered  to  have  the  honour  and  the  profit  of  this  great 
saint  settling  under  him,  now  sent  a  mission  to  Columbanus  in- 
viting him  back  to  Gaul,  and  offering  gold  to  pay  the  expenses  of 
his  journey,  and  promising  lavish  gifts  and  endowments  for  his 
undertakings,  should  he  return.  Although  Columbanus  had  to  re- 
ject the  offer,  thanking  Clothair  and  asking  him  to  bestow  all  fa- 


THE  IRISH  MISSIOxXARIES  ABROAD  243 

vours  he  had  upon  his  loved  monks  at  Luxeuil,  it  was  a  joy  to  liim 
to  receive  the  ambassador,  who  was  no  other  than  Eustatius,  a 
friend  and  disciple,  and  now  abbot  of  Luxeuil.  It  rejoiced  him 
to  get  long-wished-for  news  of  the  monastery  and  the  community  he 
loved,  of  the  monks  and  of  the  students  and  of  the  people. 

Here  in  Bobbio,  in  his  very  advanced  years,  Columbanus  ended 
a  fruitful  and  a  notable  life.* 

Even  before  his  death,  disciples  and  followers  and  students 
of  Columbanus  had  gone  forth  to  many  parts,  founding  monas- 
teries of  his  rule.  They  spread  rapidly  and  became  very  numer- 
ous; in  northern  France,  eastern  France,  southwestern  France,  in 
Austrasia,  along  the  Rhine,  in  Germany,  in  Switzerland,  and  in 
the  northern  part  of  Italy — so  that  for  centuries  after  his  death, 
in  many  lands  and  in  many  tongues,  memorial  prayers  for  this 
saint  were,  as  a  perpetual  incense,  ever  mounting  up  to  heaven.^ 

As  abbots,  as  bishops,  as  evangelisers  and  saints,  many  of  Co- 
lumbanus' Irish  disciples  and  followers  became  famous  on  their 
own  account.  As  St.  Magnus  (Magnoald)  who  founded  two 
famous  abbeys  in  Germany,  that  were  richly  endowed  by  King 
Pepin.  And  St.  Deicol  (Desle)  who,  patronised  and  endowed  by 
King  Clothair,^  founded  a  celebrated  monastery  at  Lure,  not  far 
from  Luxeuil,  where  his  memory  is  honoured  on  the  fifteenth  of 
February — "who  was  renowned,"  says  the  Gallican  Martyrology 
of  Laussoius,  "for  his  many  virtues,  and  the  splendour  of  his 
miracles."  At  Lure  Miss  Margaret  Stokes  saw  St.  Desk's  cup 
reverently  preserved,  and  found  his  memory  still  ardently  vener- 
ated.    And  above  all,   St.   Gall,  who  with   Columbanus'   parting 

*  Bobbio  was  suppressed  by  the  French  in  1803.  There  are  still  St.  Columbanus' 
chapel,  and  his  cave,  and  the  holy  well  of  Columbanus,  to  which  the  faithful  resort 
for  cures. 

It  may  be  mentioned  as  a  striking  coincidence  that,  as  in  the  case  of  so  many 
of  the  Irish  saints  at  home,  Columbanus  is  said  by  the  foreign  legends  to  have  been 
on  the  most  intimate  terms  with  all  living  things  around  him.  Birds  nestled  in 
the  palm  of  his  hand ;  doves  came  to  shelter  in  his  cowl — and  squirrels,  too.  When 
he  sang  his  psalms,  the  wild  birds  joyously  sang  with  him.  And  beasts  of  prey 
turned  harmless  in  his  presence. 

^  Works  of  Columbanus  still  extant  are  the  Monastic  Rule,  a  Book  of  daily 
penances  for  monks,  seventeen  sermons,  a  book  on  the  eight  vices,  Latin  verses, 
and  epistles,  two  to  Boniface,  two  to  Gregory,  and  one  to  the  members  of  the 
Gallican  Synod,  and  one  to  the  monks  of  Luxeuil. 

Lannigan  says  of  him :  "He  was  a  superior  and  very  elegant  genius,  deeply 
versed  not  only  in  every  branch  of  ecclesiastical  learning,  but  likewise  in  classical 
studies,  both  Latin  and  Greek." 

^  While  Deicol  had  only  a  little  cell  in  a  marsh,  where  afterwards  he  erected 
a  great  monastery,  he  was  sitting  at  his  door  one  day,  when  a  wild  boar  hunted  by 
King  Qothair  rushed  up  and  took  refuge  with  him,  while  he  turned  away  the  blood- 
thirsty hounds  and  saved  the  animal's  life.  Clothair  granted  him  the  lands  for  his 
monastery,  and  endowed  it  by  granting  to  him  also  the  town  of  Bredana. 


244  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

words  in  his  ear,  "May  the  almighty  God,  for  .whose  sake  we  left 
our  native  land,  grant  that  we  meet  before  his  face  in  heaven" — 
settled  on  Lake  Constance,  and  built  his  monastery  there,  around 
which  sprang  the  city  still  known  by  the  name  of  St.  Gall.  This 
saint  did  great  things  for  the  evangelising  of  that  part  of  Switzer- 
land. He  refused  the  bishopric  of  Constance,  putting  forward  in 
his  stead  his  deacon  and  disciple,  John  (most  probably  an  Irish- 
man, also)  who  was  elected.  He  also  refused  the  Abbacy  of 
Luxeuil,  though  a  deputation  of  six  Irish  monks  travelled  to  Con- 
stance to  entreat  him.  In  the  year  635,  at  the  age  of  ninety-five  he 
died,  renowned.  King  Sigebert  the  Second  richly  endowed  his 
monastery,  and  the  abbot  of  St.  Gall  was  raised  to  the  rank  of  a 
prince  of  the  Empire.  For  many  centuries  after  his  death  this 
abbey  was  noted  as  a  centre  of  Irish  activities. 

Though  St.  Gall  did  much  for  his  part  of  Switzerland,  of  course 
the  apostle  of  Switzerland  was  that  other  Irishman,  St.  Fridolin, 
who  brought  the  faith  there  almost  in  the  lifetime  of  St.  Patrick — 
and  who  was  buried  in  the  Island  of  Seeking  in  the  Rhine  in  514 — 
Fridolinus  the  Wanderer,  as  he  is  called  by  Possevin  and  other 
Continental  writers.  They  say  he  was  a  son  of  royalty  in  Ireland. 
He  wandered  much  over  both  Germany  and  France  at  the  time 
of  Clovis,  preaching  wherever  he  went.  He  founded  monasteries 
in  Upper  Saxony,  in  Alsace,  Strasburg,  and  on  the  frontiers  of 
Switzerland.  Colgan  in  his  Acta  Sanctorum  names  eight  of  his 
foundations.  Baltherus,  a  monk  and  canon  of  Seeking  the  most 
ancient  author  of  St.  Fridolin's  life,  expressly  states  that  he  was  an 
Irishman. 

Peter  Canisius  in  his  Life  of  St.  Fridolin  says:  "Old  historians 
are  agreed  upon  this,  that  Fridolin  was  of  royal  descent — that  he 
was  born  in  Lower  Scotia,  called  Ireland."  And  Guillimanus,  in 
his  work  on  Swiss  affairs,  says:  "Under  Clovis,  first  Christian  king 
of  the  Franks,  Fridolinus,  an  Irishman  by  birth,  and  of  royal  line- 
age, spent  a  long  time  in  Switzerland,  and  planted  in  it  the  name 
and  faith  of  Christ,  where  he  likewise  performed  many  miracles." 
Possevin  says  he  died  in  595;  some  others  say  574.  It  is  recorded 
that  Fridolin  was  a  councillor  at  one  time  to  King  Clovis.  He  re- 
built the  great  basilica  of  St.  Hilary,  at  Poitiers.  His  portrait 
is  in  the  Blason  of  the  Canton  of  Glarus,  Switzerland. 

After  Columbanus  the  most  famous  of  Irish  saints  who  laboured 
to  spread  the  faith  in  France  was  Fursey,  or  Fursa,  whom  Bede 
styled  "the  Sublime" — who  was  a  nephev/  of  Brendan  the  Naviga- 
tor, and  educated  under  him.  He  came  to  France  about  forty 
years  later  than  Columbanus.     He  had  laboured  in  the  conversion 


THE  IRISH  MISSIONARIES  ABROAD  245 

of  Picts  and  Saxons  after  he  left  Ireland  and  before  he  came  to 
France.    He  was  a  favourite  of  SIgebert,  King  of  the  East  Saxons, 
whom  he  induced  to  resign  the  throne  for  a  monk's  cell,  and  under 
whose  patronage  he  founded  the  abbey  of  Cnobcrsburg,  now  called 
Burghcastle  in  Suffolk.     In  France,  Clovis  the  Second  gave  Fursa 
a  place  at  Lagny  on  the  Marne,  where  he  founded  his  famous  mon- 
astery, and  drew  to  him  many  disciples  from  his  beloved  Galway. 
Erchinwald,  Mayor  of  the  Palace,  Fursa's  first  Gallic  patron,  had 
tried  in  vain  to  hold  him  at  Peronne;  but  Clovis'  wife,  Bathilde, 
it  was  who  succeeded  in  making  him  accept  Clovis'  offer  to  settle  at 
Lagny.     Memory  of  Fursa's  marvellous  miracles  still  survive  in 
that  part  of  France — as  also  the  miracles  of  his  Irish  disciples  and 
followers  who  spread  themselves  over  the  country,  bringing  the 
people  to   Christ — especially  Saints  Algeis,  Eto  and  Gobin    (the 
latter   endowed  by  Clothair   II),   who   are   the  respective   patron 
saints  of  the  towns  of  St.  Algia,  St.  Avesnes  and  St.  Gobin.    To  the 
holy  well  of  St.  Gobin  still  come  the  French  pilgrims.     Even  of 
Fursa's   servant,    St.    Maguille,    the    memory   is    honoured    at    St. 
Riquier,  where  is  his  holy  well,  and  where,  more  than  four  centuries 
after,  and  again  four  centuries  after  that,  his  body  was  enshrined  in 
a  very  precious  shrine,  and  re-enshrined  with  ecclesiastical  honours. 
Lamented  through  the  breadth  and  length,  of  northern  France, 
St.  Fursa  passed  away  in  648.    And  the  city  of  Peronne  which  had 
contended  for  him  in  life,  contended  for  him  again  in  death — this 
time  successfully.     His  body  lay  in  state  for  thirty  days,  under  a 
tent  of  precious  tapestry,  in  their  unfinished  church.    And  the  legend 
persists  in  Peronne  that  for  generations  afterward,  the  pious  who 
flocked  to  the  hallowed  spot  where  his  embalmed  body  had  lain, 
were  sensible  of  the  sweet  odour  of  spices,  lingering  there.     His 
church  in  Peronne  grew  very  rich,  from  the  wealth  bestowed  on  it 
by  the  crowds  of  pilgrims  who  for  centuries  thronged  to  the  shrine 
of  the  famous  Irishman.     Fursa  is  the  patron  of  Peronne  and  his 
figure  is  in  the  city  banner. 

After  returning  from  the  first  crusade,  St.  Louis  of  France  went 
to  Peronne  in  1256,  to  be  present  at  the  translation  of  the  body  of 
Fursa,  to  a  new  shrine — a  most  beautiful  one  specially  prepared 
for  the  body  by  St.  Eloi. 

He  was  called  Fursa  of  the  Visions.  He  had  wonderful  visions 
of  the  other  world — which  were  printed  and  reprinted  in  all  lan- 
guages throughout  the  continent  of  Europe — and  which  are  said 
by  many  to  have  been  the  original  source  from  which  Dante  first 
got  the  ideas  for  his  Divine  Comedy.  Sir  Francis  Palgrave,  for 
instance,  In  his  History  of  Normandy  and  England  says:     "We 


246  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

have  no  difficulty  in  deducing  the  poetic  genealogy  of  Dante's  In- 
ferno from  the  Milesian  Fursaeus." 

St  Foilan  and  St.  Ultan  (said  to  be  brothers  of  Fursa)  were 
brought  from  Ireland  by  St.  Gertrude,  the  Abbess  of  Neville  in  Bra- 
bant. Both  of  them  worked  for  Christ,  in  the  Netherlands.  The 
original  cause  of  her  bringing  them — along  with  other  Irish  teachers 
— from  Ireland,  was  to  expound  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  instruct 
her  nuns,  as  well  as  to  preach  the  Word  of  God  to  the  people. 
The  Breviary  of  Paris  thus  refers  to  the  fact: 

"Rome  at  that  time  took  care  to  have  the  relics  of  the  saints  and 
holy  books  brought  to  her  [Gertrude]  ;  she  sent  to  Ireland  for 
learned  men  to  expound  to  herself  and  to  her  people  the  canticles  of 
the  holy  law,  which  the  Irish  had  almost  by  heart.  The  monastery 
of  Vossuensis  was  built  on  the  banks  of  the  Sambre  for  receiving  the 
saints  Fullanus  and  Ultanus,  brothers  of  St.  Furseus."  ^ 

In  France  also  still  another  of  the  many  Irish  saints  who 
preached  and  taught  the  heathen  there,  is  honoured  in  the  vehicle 
the  jiacre — called  after  the  Irishman,  St.  Fiacre,  who  was  Bishop 
of  Meaux  and  who  flourished  in  the  early  seventh,  century  and 
had  his  cell  in  the  forest  of  Meaux.  He  was  of  noble  birth  in 
Ireland,  and  went  abroad  with  his  traia  of  disciples.  His  austere 
life  and  many  miracles  made  him  an  object  of  much  veneration. 
After  his  death  an  office  of  nine  lessons  in  his  honour  was  inserted 
in  most  of  the  breviaries  in  France,  the  first  of  which  reads : 

"Ireland  is  dignified  by  the  lustre  of  a  new  lamp:  that  island 
glitters,  to  the  Meldi,  by  the  presence  of  so  great  a  light.  The 
former  sent  Fiacrius ;  Meaux  received  the  ray  which  was  sent.  The 
joy  of  both  is  in  common;  the  latter  possesses  a  father,  the  former 
a  son." 

Such  was  the  recourse  of  pilgrims  to  his  grave  for  centuries 
after,  that  the  special  kind  of  conveyance  in  use  in  that  part  of 

'  In  November  1920,  Cardinal  Mercier  and  his  Belgian  Bishops,  in  the  course 
of  their  reply  to  the  cry  of  the  Irish  bishops  against  the  terrible  atrocities  then  be- 
ing wrought  in  Ireland  by  the  English  soldiery,  say: 

"Does  not  Belgium  herself  owe  the  signal  grace  of  belonging  to  Christ  largely 
to  the  first  pioneers  of  Giristian  civilisation  from  Ireland?  The  names  of  the 
Irish  missionaries  who  in  the  Merovingian  period  evangelised  the  north  of  C^ul — 
Saints  Columban,  Foillan,  Ultan,  Livianus  and  many  others — are  familiar  to  us. 
More  than  30  Belgian  churches  have  been  dedicated  to  saints  who  were  natives  of 
Ireland. 

"Ireland,  won  to  the  faith  in  the  fifth  century,  seems  to  have  received  from 
Divine  Providence  a  special  mission  for  the  Apostolate. 

"What,  then,  is  your  history  but  a  long  Calvary  of  a  people  incessantly  be- 
trayed, despoiled,  starved,  but  ever  unfailing  in  its  faith  and  its  passion  for  liberty?" 


THE  IRISH  MISSIONARIES  ABROAD  247 

the  country,  which  used  to  carry  the  pilgrims  to  the  grave,  came 
to  be  called  fiacre — and  retains  that  name  to-day. 

St.  Gibrien,  after  whom  is  named  the  village  of  Gibrien  near 
Chalons-sur-Mer,  was,  "one  of  seven  brothers  and  three  sisters 
from  Ireland  on  pilgrimage  for  the  love  of  Christ."  They  dwelt 
on  the  Marne,  and  there  lived  a  life  of  labour  united  with  won- 
derful holiness,  and  constant  prayer,  which  won  for  them  great 
love  among  the  natives  of  the  country.  And  another  ancient  French 
writer  says  that  "they  instructed  the  people  and  formed  in  them 
the  habits  of  faith,  piety  and  morality."  St.  Gibrien's  relics  were 
enshrined  in  the  church  of  St.  Remi  in  Rheims. 

June  third  is  the  festival  of  two  other  Irish  saints,  Caidoc 
and  Fricor,  who,  with  twelve  companions,  landing  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Somme  in  the  latter  part  of  the  sixth  century,  there  preached 
and  taught.  They  converted  the  heathen  noble  who  was  to  become 
St.  Riquier.  They  afterwards  spread  the  Gospel  in  Picardy.  Their 
relics  were  enshrined  with  those  of  Maguille  by  St.  Jervinus  in 
1070. 

The  Irishman,  St.  Rumald — whose  church  In  Mallnes  (of  which 
city  he  is  patron)  is  now  the  metropolitan  church  of  the  Low 
Countries,  and  holds  his  relics  In  a  beautiful  silver  shrine — came 
from  Leinster.  He  was  bishop  of  Malines  in  Brabant,  where 
Count  Ado  induced  him  to  settle.  Another  Leinsterman,  LIvinus, 
who  was  a  Latin  poet,  was  martyred  in  Flanders  in  SG^i  after  he 
had  preached  the  Gospel  there,  and  converted  many.  His  relics 
are  preserved  in  the  church  of  St.  Babo  In  Ghent. 

John  D'Alton  refers  to  the  fact  that  Vernutaeus  in  his  work 
on  the  spread  of  the  Christian  faith  In  Belgium,  by  the  Irish  saints, 
tells  how,  even  at  the  time  that  the  Danes  were  ravaging  their 
own  country,  they  were  successfully  spreading  Christianity  from 
Mechlin,  Brabant,  Flanders,  Artols,  Namur,  Leyden,  Gllderland, 
Holland,   Friesland  and  Luxemburg. 

Authberte,  bishop  of  Cambrai,  an  Irish  missionary  who  con- 
verted Hannonia,  Is  styled  the  apostle  of  Flanders.  The  old 
church  of  St.  Dympna,  a  king's  daughter  from  Monaghan  (In  the 
seventh  century),  Is  still  to  be  seen  at  Gheel.  She  Is  honoured  as 
the  patron  of  the  Insane.  Fedegond  converted  the  people  of  Ant- 
werp, where  his  name  Is  still  revered.  St.  Briccus,  from  whom  is 
named  the  town  of  Brieux  In  Brittany,  Is  said  to  have  been  a  na- 
tive of  Cork. 

These  are  but  a  few  of  the  hundreds  of  Irish  saints,  to  whom, 
in  those  early  ages,  France  and  civilisation  owe  a  debt  which  they 
can  never  repay. 


248  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

Italy  owes  to  Ireland  a  St.  Bridget  and  her  brother  St.  An- 
drew, St.  Donatus,  St.  Cummian  and  St.  Cathaldus — and  many 
unrecorded  missionaries. 

Philip,  a  Florentine,  who  was  an  ambassador  of  Pope  Boniface 
in  1390,  wrote  the  life  of  Andrew  who  is  patron  of  San  Martino 
a  Mensola — "a  holy  man  from  the  Island  of  Ireland,"  says  Philip, 
"more  generally  called  Scotia" — and  of  Bridget,  patroness  of  San 
Martino  a  Lobaca.  The  tomb  of  the  eighth  century  St.  Cummian 
who,  a  bishop  in  Ireland,  became  a  humble  monk  at  Bobbio,  is 
still  to  be  seen  at  the  latter  place.  St.  Ursus  founded  a  church  in 
the  Val  d'Osta,  in  the  first  half  of  the  sixth  century.  Pellegrinus, 
from  Ireland,  in  the  time  of  Columbanus  settled  down  in  the  Ap- 
ennines at  Garfagnana.  The  tomb  of  the  Irish  St.  Siloa  is  to 
be  seen  at  Lucca,  where  he  died  in  the  sixth  century. 

St.  Donatus  settled  in  Tuscany  in  the  beginning  of  the  ninth 
century.  He  became  bishop  of  Fiesole.  He  was  a  poet  and  author 
of  several  works.  Colgan  quotes  a  few  lines  from  a  Latin  poem 
of  his  in  which  he  describes  his  native  Ireland.  Donatus  was 
much  celebrated  for  his  virtues  as  well  as  for  his  intellectual 
ability. 

Donatus  is  said  to  have  been  a  brother  of  the  most  famous 
Italian  Irish  saint  Cathaldus  (Cathal) — after  whom  is  named  the 
city  of  San  Cataldo  in  southern  Italy.  Cathaldus  is  the  patron 
saint  of  Tarentum,  and  his  festival  is  celebrated  there  with  much 
pomp,  on  March  eighth.  He  became  bishop  of  Tarentum  and 
rescued  all  that  country  from  the  paganism  into  which  it  had  re- 
lapsed after  the  Gospel  had  been  given  to  it  by  the  Apostles  Peter 
and  Mark. 

In  this  connection,  Usher  quotes  from  Joannes  Juvenis: 

"The  Tarentines  returning  to  the  worship  of  idols,  as  a  dog  to 
his  vomit,  the  holy  Cathaldus  born  in  Ireland  brought  them  back  to 
the  ancient  faith." 

That  was  in  all  probability  in  the  sixth  century,  though  his 
Italian  biographers,  the  brothers  Moron,  claim  that  he  came  there 
some  centuries  before  that.  Bonaventura  Moron's  poem  on  St. 
Cathaldus'  life  begins: 

"The  icy  leme  bewails  that  so  great  an  ornament  of  the  West, 
second  to  none  in  piety,  celebrated  in  the  ancient  laws  of  Phalantus, 
should  be  sent  to  foreign  nations." 

And  from  the  office  sung  in  honour  of  Cathaldus  at  the  Church 
of  Tarentum  is  the  following,  quoted  by  Usher: 


THE  IRISH  MISSIONARIES  ABROAD  249 

"Rejoice,  O  happy  Ireland,  for  being  the  country  of  so  fair  an 
offspring !  But  thou,  Tarentum,  rejoice  still  more,  which  cnclosest 
(within  a  tomb)  so  great  a  treasure!" 

This  ofHce  says  that  when  Cathaldus  taught  in  Ireland  (prob- 
ably at  Lismore),  Gauls,  Angles,  Scots  and  pupils  from  other  coun- 
tries studied  under  him. 

In  1 150  Archbishop  Giraldus  had  Cathaldus'  relics  shrined  in 
a  silver  shrine  decorated  with  gold  and  jewels.  The  ancient  mar- 
ble tomb  which  had  held  the  body  is  by  the  high  altar  in  the 
church.     There  also  is  a  large  silver  statue  of  the  saint. 

With  the  possible  exception  of  France,  there  is  no  country  on 
the  Continent,  that  owes  so  much  to  the  Irish  missionaries  as  Ger- 
many. For  at  least  six  hundred  years,  from  the  sixth  to  the  twelfth 
century,  the  holy  men  from  Ireland  were  to  be  met  with  in  almost 
every  part  of  the  Germanic  countries;  and  their  establishments 
became  the  centres  of  enlightenment  for  the  vast  populations  which 
they  so  materially  helped  to  lead  out  of  the  night  of  barbarism. 

"Near  the  end  of  the  seventh  century  and  the  beginrnng  of  the 
eighth,"  says  Zimmer,  "a  long  series  of  these  (Irish)  missionary 
establishments  extended  from  the  mouths  of  the  Meuse  and  Rhine 
to  the  Rhone  and  the  Alps,  and  many  others  founded  by  the  Ger- 
mans are  the  offsprings  of  Irish  monks.  And  throughout  the  chron- 
icles and  Lives  of  the  Saints  the  purely  Irish  are  constantly  found." 

But,  for  long  centuries  after,  their  activities  in  Germany  de- 
creased not. 

The  following  words  are  from  a  tribute  paid  to  Ireland  and 
her  missionaries  in  an  address  which  the  heads  of  German  col- 
leges presented  to  Daniel  O'Connell  in  1844: 

"We  never  can  forget  to  look  upon  your  beloved  country  as  our 
mother  in  religion,  that  already,  at  the  remotest  periods  of  the  Chris- 
tian era,  commiserated  our  people,  and  readily  sent  forth  her  spirit- 
ual sons  to  rescue  our  pagan  ancestors  from  idolatry  and  to  entail 
upon  them  the  blessings  of  the  Christian  faith." 

Dr.  Ferdinand  Keller  of  Zurich,  in  his  Illuminations  and  Fac- 
similes from  Irish  manuscripts  in  the  Libraries  of  Switzerland, 
says:  "The  eleventh  and  twelfth  centuries  were  the  greatest  for 
the  Irish  monks  on  the  Continent.  Communities  of  Scotic  monks 
were  formed  in  almost  every  large  city  in  southern  Germany." 
And  It  was  only  the  results  of  the  Norman  Invasion  of  Ireland 
which  even  then  put  practical  end  to  their  Continental  activities. 


2SO  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

And  of  the  latter  part  of  the  period  indicated  we  may  quote 
the  testimony  of  Dr.  Wattenbach  in  his  Congregations  of  the 
Monasteries  of  the  Scotic: 

"The  most  prosperous  time  of  Irish  irlDnks  was  in  the  twelfth 
century.  They  were  examples  of  rigid  abstemiousness,  and  filled 
with  ardent  faith  that  incited  them  to  go  afar.  Even  in  Bulgaria 
the  Emperor  Barbarossa,  going  on  crusade,  fell  in  with  an  Irish  abbot 
at  the  castle  of  Scribentium.  His  monastery 'probafcly  served  as  a 
hospice  for  pilgrims  to  Jerusalem." 

A  few  of  the  Irish  saints  in  the  Germanic  countries  are  here 
set  down. 

St.  Gunifort,  descended  of  noble  parents  in  Ireland,  preached 
in  Germany  at  a  very  early  time — some  think  before  St.  Patrick's 
era.  His  festival  i«  kept  at  Pavia  in  Italy  on  the  22nd  of  August. 
The  festival  of  his  sister,  St.  Dardaluch,  who  went  to  Germany 
with  him,  is  observed  at  Pressing  in  Bavaria.  Usher  records  these 
two  Irish  saints. 

St.  Arbogast,  who  converted  large  numbers  in  Alsace,  became 
bishop  of  Strasburg  in  646 — appointed  thereto  by  King  Dago- 
bert.  By  his  dying  request  Arbogast  was  interred  in  the  place  of 
public  execution  called  Mont  Michel,  where  a  monastery  dedicated 
to  his  name  was  founded  long  afterward. 

The  honoured  apostle  of  Franconia  is  St.  Kilian.  He  had 
gone  on  a  pilgrimage  to  Rome,  and  so  favourably  did  he  impress 
Pope  Conan  for  his  wisdom  and  sacred  learning,  that  he  sent  him 
to  evangelise  Franconia.  There  he  converted  Duke  Gosbert  and 
many  of  his  subjects.  But  because,  following  the  bold  example  of 
most  of  these  remarkable  Irish  missionaries,  whose  fearlessness 
in  attacking  both  ecclesiastics  and  kings  is  noted  by  Dr.  Wattenbach 
he  persisted  in  commanding  Gosbert  to  put  away  an  unlawful 
wife,  that  woman,  incensed,  had  him  martyred  on  8th  of  July, 
689.  Kilian's  bible  is  still  preserved,  and  on  his  feast-day  it  is 
exposed  on  the  high-altar  in  the  Cathedral  church  of  Wurtzburg. 

St.  Tuban,  an  Irish  bishop,  founded  a  monastery  on  an  island 
in  the  Rhine  at  Honau  in  720,  which  was  patronised  by  King  Pepin 
and  Charlemagne.  There  is  still  extant  the  confirmation  grant 
"ad  pauperis  et  pcregreno  gcntis  Scotorum"  attested  by  the  signa- 
tures of  the  abbot,  the  bishop  and  one  presbyter  of  this  monastery 
— all  of  them  Irish  names. 

Discnbcrg,  formerly  Mont  Disibod,  in  the  Lower  Palatinate 
takes  its  name  from  Disibod  "an  Irish  noble  of  profound  erudi- 


TUF.  IRISH   MISSIONARIES  ABROAD  251 

tion,"  who  preached  the  Gospel  for  seven  years,  in  different  parts 
of  Germany,  and  founded  a  monastery  on  Mont  Disibod. 

In  742  Albuin  (better  known  to  the  Germans  as  Wittan)  went 
to  Thuringia,  where  he  converted  great  numbers,  and  was  made 
bishop  of  Tritzlar  by  the  Pope — and  by  Arnold  W'ion  is  styled 
apostle  of  the  Thuringians. 

St.  Virgilius  (Fergal)  who  did  good  missionary  work  in  Ger- 
many, and  was  famous  for  hi^  schcjhirsliip,  was  made  bishop  of 
Salsburg,  in  the  late  seventh  or  early  eiglith  century.  More  will 
be  said  of  him  in  a  succeeding  chapter. 

St.  W'illibrord  who  was  apostle  of  the  Batavians  and  the  Fries- 
landers,  although  of  Saxon  descent,  was  educated  in  Ireland.  AI- 
cuin,  who  wrote  his  life,  says:  "BecaiAc  he  heard  that  scholastic 
erudition  flourished  in  Ireland,  and  was  roused  by  his  intercourse 
with  holy  men  who  had  been  taught  there,  he  studied  during 
twelve  years  among  Ireland's  most  pious  and  religious  masters 
that  he  might  become  a  preacher  to  many  people." 

St.  Finan  "of  the  Celestial  Visions"  founded  the  monastery 
of  Richenau,  at  the  end  of  the  eighth  or  beginning  of  the  ninth 
century.  He  was  son  of  a  Leinstcr  prince  and  had  been  captive 
of  the  Danes  in  Ireland  before  leaving  it  to  go  to  Rome — and 
thence  went  into  Germany,  where  he  preached  for  many  years. 

St.  Colman,  who  is  the  patron  saint  of  Lower  Austria  and 
whose  festival  is  on  October  thirteenth,  was  martyred  between 
two  robbers,  in  the  year  1012.  The  Mart)ToIogy  of  Donegal 
says  that  he  was  the  son  of  Malachi  Mor,  Ard-Righ  of  Ireland. 
This  is  uncorroborated  by  any  other  testimony. 

The  martyr,  John,  who  came  to  Germany  in  1057  accompany- 
ing Marianus  Scotus,  worked  among  the  Slavonians  at  the  re- 
quest of  Prince  Gothcscalc — and  was  martyred  by  them.  Five 
years  after  reaching  Germany  from  Ireland  he  became  bishop  of 
Mecklenburg. 

Marianus  Scotus,  the  author  of  The  Chronicles  of  the  World, 
lived  a  life  of  wonderful  holiness — first  at  Fulda  and  later  at 
Mayence,  and  won  great  fame  and"  esteem  among  the  German 
people.  He  produced  several  works,  but  his  Chronicle  of  the 
World  is  that  by  which  he  is  immortalised. 

In  a  book  entitled  Bavaria  Sancta  there  is  listed,  by  the  Bava- 
rian author,  a  bishop,  the  names  of  Irish  saints  who  contributed 
to  the  evangelisation  of  that  one  country'.  He  giv^es  them  as: 
Agilus,  Marinus,  Anianas,  Magnus,  Columbanus,  Frhardus.  Alto, 
Virgilius,    Marinus   the  Younger,   Theclanus,    Fridolinus,    Kilian, 


252  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

Colman,  Salust,  Amor,  Arno  (who  was  brother  to  Alculn,  the 
great  scholar),  Murcherel  (or,  as  some  call  him,  Muricheroda- 
chus),  Vimius,  Zimlus  and  Martinus. 

In  many  respects  one  of  the  most  remarkable  of  Irish  workers 
for  the  faith  in  Germany  was  the  Holy  Marianips  Scotus  of  Done- 
gal— whose  correct  name  was  Muiredach  MacRorty,  a  native  of 
Tyrhugh  in  Donegal — who  arrived  in  Germany  only  eleven  years 
after  Marianus  the  Chronicler,  and  who  in  1076  founded  a  mon- 
astery which  was  to  become  famous,  at  Ratisbon — from  which 
his  Irish  followers  (who  for  ages  after  continued  thronging  there 
from  Ireland)  branched  out  and  built  many  other  notable  monas- 
teries in  Germany  and  Austria — all  of  them  under  the  jurisdiction 
of  the  Irish  Monastery  at  Ratisbon.  Some  of  these  Irish  sister 
monasteries  were  the  monastery  of  Wurtzburg,  Nuremberg,  Con- 
stance, St.  George  in  Vienna,  Si.  Mary  in  Vienna  and  Eichstadt. 

The  Bavarian  annalist,  Aventinus,  talking  of  Marianus  and 
his  companions  and  successors,  says: 

"By  their  devotion  to  the  strictest  religious  exercises,  and  self- 
denial,  by  their  writing  and  teaching,  they  earned  unbounded  respect, 
and  became  well  approved  patterns  of  piety.  They  were  favourites 
of  everybody.  And  with  one  mouth  the  whole  people  spoke  loudly 
in  their  praise;  kings  and  nobles  built  nwnasteries  for  them,  and  in- 
vited them  east  and  west." 

Strange  to  say,  the  Irish  monastery  at  Ratisbon  came  to  have 
jurisdiction  over  not  only  the  many  other  Irish  monasteries  of 
Germany,  but  also  over  many  priories  in  Ireland,  as  is  proved  by 
two  briefs  on  the  subject  by  Innocent  the  Second.  No  less  than 
twelve  Irish  monasteries  in  Germany  were  formally  placed  under 
the  authority  of  the  St.  James'  Monastery  of  Ratisbon  by  the  Lat- 
eran  Council  of  1215. 

The  monastery  of  St.  Mary  of  Vienna  was  founded  by  Henry, 
Duke  of  Austria  in  1161.  In  the  charter  of  this  monastery  he 
makes  only  Scots  (Irish)  eligible  for  admission  "because  of  their 
long  and  acknowledged  piety." 

"Well  trained  in  all  human  and  divine  knowledge  was  Ma- 
rianus, when  he  came  from  Ireland,"  says  the  monk  of  St.  James 
who  was  his  biographer.  "He  was  a  poet  as  well  as  a  theologian." 
One  of  his  prized  works  is  his  Commentaries  on  the  Psalms;  his 
most  valued  one  is  his  Commentary  on  St.  Paul's  Epistles.  This, 
written  in  the  form  of  marginal  and  interlineary  notes  is  still  pre- 
served in  the  Imperial  Library  of  Vienna.  In  it  his  wide  reading 
is  shown  by  the  fact  that  he  quotes  Jerome,  Augustine,  Gregory, 


THE  IRISH  MISSIONARIES  ABROAD  253 

Origen,  Alcuin,  Cassian,  and  many  such.  Before  he  established 
his  own  monastery  at  Ratisbon,  and  while  he  still  occupied  a  cell 
there,  under  the  patronage  of  Abbess  Emma,  he  employed  himself 
constantly,  without  cease,  writing  and  giving  away  books;  these 
being  chiefly  copies  of  the  Scriptures,  and  of  various  religious 
works.  His  biographer  pictures  him  at  this  work  all  day  long, 
while  the  two  companions  who  had  journeyed  with  him  from  Ire- 
land, John  and  Candidus,  prepared  for  him  as  fast  as  they  could, 
parchment,  and  pens,  and  ink.  And  as  fast  as  he  turned  off  his 
books  he  gave  them  out  gratis  to  the  abbess,  to  her  nuns,  to  monks, 
to  poor  widows,  to  everybody!  This  Irishman  wanderer  who, 
for  sake  of  religion  and  learning,  had  exiled  himself  to  far,  strange 
lands,  a  man  of  brilliant  parts,  of  vast  reading,  and  deep  learning, 
toiled,  thus,  day  and  night  with  his  pen,  to  bestow  the  products  of 
it  upon  the  hundreds  of  these  people  who  so  hungered  for  what 
he  had  to  give !  What  wonder  that  when  this  man  decided  finally 
to  settle  down  In  Ratisbon,  "his  determination  was  hailed  with 
joy,  by  the  whole  population."  And  the  abbess  gave  him  the 
church  of  St.  Peter,  with  an  adjacent  plot. 

"This  holy  man  wrote  from  beginning  to  end,  with  his  outi  hand, 
the  Old  and  New  Testament,  with  explanatory  comments  on  the 
same;  and  that  not  once  or  twice,  but  over  and  over  again,  with  a 
view  to  the  eternal  reward — all  the  while  clad  in  sorr>'  garb,  living 
on  slender  diet,  attended  and  aided  by  his  brethren  both  in  the  upper 
and  lower  monasteries,  who  prepared  the  parchments  for  his  use;  be- 
sides, he  also  wrote  many  smaller  books  and  manuals,  psalters  for 
distressed  widows  and  poor  clerics  of  the  same  cit}',  towards  the 
health  of  his  soul  without  any  prospect  of  earthly  gain.  Further- 
more, through  the  grace  of  God,  many  congregations  of  the  monastic 
order,  which  in  faith  and  charity  and  imitation  of  the  blessed 
Marianus,  are  derived  from  the  aforesaid  Ireland,  and  inhabit  Ba- 
varia and  Franconia,  are  sustained  by  the  writings  of  the  blessed 
IVIarianus." 

He  died  on  the  ninth  of  February,  1088.  Marianus'  imme- 
diate successors  In  the  abbacy  built,  and  afterwards  enlarged  and 
beautitied,  the  new  monastery  of  St.  James  (first  founded  in  1090, 
two  years  after  Marianus'  death).  It  was  done  almost  entirely 
with  money  obtained  from  Irish  royalties,  especially  from  Conor 
O'Brien,  King  of  Munster,  and  again  from  King  Murtach  O'Brien. 
The  old  chronicle  of  Ratisbon  says: 

"Now  be  it  known,  that  neither  before  nor  since  was  there  a 
more  noble  monaster}',  such  magnificent  towers,  walls,   pillars,  and 


254  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

roofs,  so  rapidly  erected,  so  perfectly  finished,  as  in  this  monastery, 
because  of  the  wealth  and  money  sent  by  the  kings  and  princes  of 
Ireland." 

Yet  the  monks  sought  and  got  aid  for  their  monastery  from 
many  quarters.  One  of  these  Irishmen  penetrated  even  to  Kiev, 
and  from  thence  brought  back  a  load  of  furs,  contributed  by  the 
King  of  Russia. 

And  some  of  these  Irish  monks  were  signally  honoured  by 
royalty.  Gregory  and  Carus,  from  St.  Peter's,  became  chaplains 
for  the  Emperor  Conrad,  and  the  Empress  Gertrude,  v/ho  be- 
stowed on  them  the  church  of  St.  Aegedius  at  Nuremberg.  And 
Declan,  who  succeeded  them  there,  was  made  chaplain  to  the 
Emperor  Frederick. 

The  abbot  of  the  Irish  monastery  of  St.  James  was  granted, 
by  King  Henry  in  1225  the  right  of  bearing  in  his  coat  of  arms 
one-half  of  the  eagle — which  meant  that  he  was  elevated  to  the 
rank  of  one  of  the  princes  of  the  realm. 

Dr.  Wattenbach  In  his  Congregation  of  the  Monasteries  of 
the  Scots,  describes  for  us  how  the  bands  of  Irish  missionaries 
travelled  wide  over  Europe,  seeking  the  fresh  fields  to  which  God 
urged  them.  "In  this  way  we  find  them  always  wandering  in  large 
and  small  companies.  Their  outward  appearance  was  most  strik- 
ing, the  more  so  as  they  were  still  in  the  habit  of  painting  their 
eyelids.  Their  whole  outfit  consisted  of  a  pilgrim's  staff,  a 
leathern  water-bottle,  a  wallet,  and  a  case  of  some  relics.  In  this 
guise  they  appeared  before  the  people,  addressing  themselves  to 
them  ever^'where  with  the  whole  power  of  their  native  eloquence — 
some  (as  Gallus)  in  the  language  of  the  country — the  rest  employ- 
ing an  interpreter  before  the  people,  but  to  ecclesiastics  speaking 
in  the  common  language  of  the  Latin  Church. 

It  was  probably  because  of  their  Continental  reputation  for 
fearlessness  and  fight  that  the  Abbot  Sampson  of  St.  Edmund's, 
in  journeying  to  Pope  Alexander  in  1161 — when  Italy  was  ex- 
cited by  schism — being  attacked  and  mobbed  by  a  populace  who , 
were  against  Alexander,  acted  in  the  way  he  picturesquely  de- 
scribes: "I  pretended  to  be  a  Scot,  and  having  adopted  the  Scot- 
tish dress  and  behaviour,  I  shook  my  staff  at  those  who  scoffed 
at  me,  crying  aloud  at  them,  after  the  manner  of  the  Scots."  In 
this  account  it  is  also  interesting  to  note  that  he  says,  "I  carried 
my  old  shoes  on  my  shoulders  after  the  manner  of  the  Scots" — a 
custom  which  still  exists  among  the  mountains  of  Ireland.     The 


THE  IRISH  MISSIONARIES  ABROAD  255 

Abbot's  account  of  his  strange  experience  is  quoted  by  Watten- 
bach,  from  Cronica  Johanr.es  de  Brakclonda. 

Of  all  the  hundreds  of  holy  men  who  in  those  centuries  exiled 
themselves  from  Ireland  for  the  purpose  of  carr}'ing  Christ  to 
the  still  darkened  nations  and  peoples  of  Europe,  we,  joining  with 
the  Irish  monk  of  Ratisbon  who  wrote  the  life  of  Marianus,  may 
well  say: 

"And  now  my  brothers  if  you  ask  me  what  will  be  the  reward 
of  Marianus  and  the  pilgrims  like  him  who  left  the  sweet  soil  of 
their  native  land,  free  from  obnoxious  beast  and  worm,  with  its 
mountains  and  hills,  its  valleys  and  groves,  so  well  suited  for  the 
chase,  the  picturesque  expanses  of  its  rivers,  its  green  fields  and  its 
streams  swelling  up  from  purest  fountains,  and  like  children  of 
Abraham  the  Patriarch  came  without  hesitation  unto  the  land  God 
pointed  out  to  them,  this  is  my  answer:  They  will  dwell  in  the 
house  of  the  Lord  with  the  Angels  and  Archangels  forever:  the\- 
will  behold  in  Sion  the  God  of  Gods,  to  whom  be  honour  and  glory 
for  endless  ages." 

Concannon.  Helen :     Columbanus. 

Keller.  Dr.  Ferdinand:  Essay  on  "Illuminations  and  Facsimiles  from  An- 
cient Irish  MSS.  in  the  Libraries  of  Switzerland."  Translated  from 
German  with  Introductor>'  Remarks  by  the  Rev.  Wm.  Reeves,  D.D., 
in  Ulster  Joum.  of  Archjeol.  VIII. 

Wattenbach:  "Die  Kongregation  der  Schottenkloster  in  Deutschland." 
Translated  by  Dr.  Reeves,  with  notes,  in  the  Ulster  Journal  of  Arch- 
zeology,  vol.  VII. 

Stokes,  Miss  Margaret:  Three  Months  in  the  Forests  of  France:  A  Pil- 
grimage in  Search  of  Vestiges  of  Irish  Saints  in  France. 

Six  Months  in  the  Apennines:  A  Pilgrimage  in  Search  of  Vestiges 

of  Irish  Saints  in  Itah". 

Lightfoot,  Dr.  J.  B.,  Bishop  of  Durham:     Leaders  in  the  Northern  Church. 


CHAPTER  XXIX 

IRISH    SCHOLARS   ABROAD 

Learning,  like  religion,  had  Its  hosts  of  Irish  missionaries,  who 
spread  themselves  afar,  eager  to  lead  to  the  light  benighted  peo- 
ples over  the  Continent,  as  well  as  In  the  neighbouring  Isles.  When 
the  Saxon,  Aldhelm,  who,  it  will  be  remembered,  was  a  pupil  of 
the  Irishman  Maeldubh,  founder  of  the  school  of  Malmesbury, 
wrote  to  his  fellow-countryman,  Eadfrlde  ("who  had  given  six 
years  to  philosophy  In  Ireland,  and  enriched  his  mind  with  the 
treasures  of  the  Scotic  hive") — "Ireland  Is  a  fertile  and  blooming 
nursery  of  letters :  one  might  as  soon  reckon  the  stars  of  heaven, 
as  enumerate  her  students  and  literature" — many  of  these  Irish 
literary  men  were  then  eagerly  pursuing  their  task  of  love  among 
Aldhelm's  fellow  countrymen  In  all  corners  of  Britain.  But  many 
others,  too,  were  working  in  Continental  fields,  dispelling  the  dark- 
ness of  distant  lands  with  the  bright  torch  which  they  bore  from 
the  beacon-fires  of  learning  that  glowed  on  every  hill  In  EIrlnn. 

"These  Irish  torch-bearers  founded,"  says  John  D'Alton  in 
his  R.  I.  A.  Essay  on  Irish  History,  "the  most  flourishing  schools 
of  Christian  Europe.  And  to  them  the  world  is  indebted  for  the 
introduction  of  scholastic  divinity  and  the  application  of  philo- 
sophical reasoning  to  illustrate  the  doctrines  of  theology." 

And  ZImmer  testifies:  "They  laid  the  corner-stone  of  west- 
ern culture  on  the  Continent,  the  rich  result  of  which  Germany 
shares  and  enjoys  to-day.  In  common  with  all  other  civilised  na- 
tions." 

O'Halloran,  illustrating  their  feeling  of  superiority  over  the 
Continentals,  quotes  from  the  life  of  the  Irish  Killan,  apostle  of 
Franconia,  how  when  his  fellow  countryman,  St.  Fiacre,  encoun- 
tered him  in  Gaul,  he  asked  Kilian :  "Quid  te  charisslme  frater, 
ad  has  barbaras,  gentes  deduxit?"  ("What  has  brought  you, 
dearest  brother,  to  these  barbarous  people?")  And  Columbanus 
In  one  of  his  epistles  tells  the  Continental  scholars  that  the  Irish 
schoolmen  regarded  some  of  their  boasted  Continental  philosphers 
with  Indulgent  tolerance. 

256 


IRISH  SCHOLARS  ABROAD  257 

Of  Irish  scholars  on  tfie  Continent  we  have  already  referred 
to  the  brilliant  genius,  Celestius,  who  is  claimed  for  Ireland.  But 
the  claims  of  another  very  early  and  very  brilliant  genius,  Coelius 
Sedulius,  who,  as  was  mentioned,  flourished  in  the  time  of  Theodo- 
sius,  and  dedicated  a  book  to  him,  are  better  substantiated.  Arch- 
bishop Usher  quotes  from  Trithemius: 

"Sedulius,  a  presbyter,  a  native  of  Scotia  (Ireland),  was  a  dis- 
ciple from  his  earliest  youth  of  Heidelbertus,  Archbishop  of  the  Scots. 
He  was  conversant  in  divine  learning,  and  very  skilled  in  profane 
literature.  He  excelled  in  poetry  and  prose,  and  leaving  Scotia,  for 
the  sake  of  informing  himself,  came  to  France.  After  this  he  trav- 
ersed Italy,  Asia,  Achaia,  from  thence  he  proceeded  to  Rome,  where 
he  became  illustrious  for  his  erudition." 

Corroborative  proof  of  Sedulius  being  an  Irishman  is  adduced 
from  the  fact  that  the  celebrated  eighth  century  Irish  geographer, 
Dicuil,  refers  to  him  as  "noster  Sedulius." 

And  a  very  ancient  copy  of  Sedulius'  Pauline  commentaries, 
published  by  John  Sichard,  which  was  preserved  in  the  abbey  of 
Fulda,  shows  on  the  title  page,  "Sedulii  Scoti  Hiberniensis."  This 
occurs  also  in  another  edition  of  his  works  published  at  Basle. 

Sedulius'  works  were  many  and  varied.  Usher  enumerates 
them  thus — fourteen  books  on  the  epistles  of  Paul,  two  books  on 
the  miracles  of  Christ,  a  book  on  Priscianus,  a  book  on  Donatus, 
a  book  of  epistles  to  various  people,  four  volumes  dedicated  to 
the  abbot  of  Macedonia,  a  volume  dedicated  to  the  Emperor  Theo- 
dosius,  many  hymns,  and  his  famous  poem,  Carmen  Paschale.  Se- 
dulius composed  some  of  the  most  beautiful  hymns  in  the  Catholic 
service,  such  as  A  Soils  Otis  Cardine.  In  the  twelfth  century, 
seven  hundred  years  after  his  death,  a  council  of  seventy  bishops 
in  Rome  recommended  to  the  faithful  his  paschal  poem,  which 
had  won  him  the  title  of  the  Christian  Virgil. 

Another  very  remarkable  Irishman,  who,  in  distant  time,  and 
distant  field,  had  the  identity  of  his  nationality  almost  lost,  was 
Augustine,  a  monk  in  Carthage — already  referred  to — who,  in 
the  seventh  century,  was  the  author  of  the  remarkable  work  The 
Difficulties  of  Scripture.  This  is  a  book  in  which,  with  extraordi- 
nary Ingenuity  he  tried  to  reconcile  science  and  Scripture,  upon 
such  knotty  points  as  the  falling  of  the  walls  of  Jericho,  the  stand- 
ing of  the  sun  at  Joshua's  command,  the  speaking  of  Balaam's 
ass,  the  turning  of  Lot's  wife  Into  a  pillar  of  salt  and  so  forth. 
He  essays  In  each  case  with  astonishing  cleverness  to  demonstrate 
that  the  apparent  miracles  were,  In  reality,  developments  of  some 


258  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

pre-existing  natural  law.  Stokes  says  that  the  work  discloses  a 
scholar  deeply  versed  in  books,  and  widely  experienced  in  travel. 

And  Reeves,  in  an  article  on  Augustine  (in  Proc.  R.  I.  A.  1862) 
says  of  this  work  that  it  is  a  most  creditable  monument  of  learning 
and  religious  feeling,  at  a  period  when  the  Irish  church  was  notable 
for  its  learning. 

Augustine  mentions  the  death  in  Ireland  of  an  Irishman  of 
some  note,  Manicheas  the  Wise,  in  652.  And  in  this  he  is  borne 
out  by  the  evidence  of  the  Annals  of  Tighernach  and  the  Annals 
of  Ulster,  which  record  at  that  time  the  death  of  St.  Manchan  of 
Lemanchan.  In  the  book  he  enumerates  the  animals  of  Ireland, 
as  wolves,  deer,  wild  boars,  foxes,  badgers,  bears,  rabbits,  and 
offers  sound  geological  reason  for  their  existence  on  this  island, 
which  he  shows  had  been  an  integral  part  of  Europe,  in  a  remote 
age,  but  was  cut  off  from  it  by  a  cataclysm. 

The  period  of  most  marked  activity  of  Irish  scholars  on  the 
Continent  of  Europe  was  probably  during  the  Carlovingian  dynasty 
— ^when,  it  has  been  said,  almost  every  school  in  Europe  was  taught 
by  an  Irishman — and  furthermore  that  every  scholar  who  knew 
Greek  was  either  an  Irishman  or  the  pupil  of  an  Irishman.  In 
the  preceding  period,  that  is  during  the  Merovingian  time,  Co- 
lumbanus,  with  whom  we  have  dealt,  was  the  most  noted  example 
of  Irish  scholarship  in  Europe.  The  great  Charlemagne  and 
his  successors,  ardent  patrons  of  learning,  drew  to  them  the  choic- 
est flowers  of  Irish  scholarship,  and  then  bestowed  their  fragrance 
as  a  blessing  upon  many  lands. 

Usher  says:  "From  Ireland  Charles  transferred  the  wisdom 
of  Greece  and  of  Latium.  And  from  her  he  obtained  the  doctors 
and  instructors  of  the  uninstructed  youth." 

"In  schools  and  monasteries  all  over  France,"  says  Zimmer, 
"the  Carlovingian  king  employed  Irish  monks  as  teachers  of  writ- 
ing, grammar,  logic,  rhetoric,  astronomy,  and  arithmetic."  And 
in  another  place  the  same  authority  refers  to  "the  long  list  of  Irish 
scholars  who  laboured  under  Charlemagne,  his  son,  and  grand- 
son, on  French  and  German  soil.  A  knowledge  of  Christianity 
and  secular  science  emanated  at  that  time  from  Ireland  alone  of 
the  whole  western  world,  and  established  itself  at  many  different 
points:  Clement,  Dicuil,  Johannes,  and  Scotus  Erigina,  at  the 
court  school,  Dungall  at  Pavia,  Sedulius  Scotus  at  Liege,  Virgil 
at  Salsburg,  and  Moengal  at  St.  Gall."  And  he  quotes  from 
Hieric,  in  his  Biography  of  St.  Germanus,  where  in  his  dedication 
of  the  book  to  the  Emperor  Charles  the  Bald  this  ancient  writer 
(who  was  himself  probably  a  product  of  Irish  teaching)    says: 


IRISH  SCHOLARS  ABROAD  259 

"Need  I  remind  Ireland  that  she  sent  troops  of  philosophers  over 
land  and  sea,  to  our  distant  shores,  and  that  her  most  learned  sons 
offered  their  gifts  of  wisdom  of  their  own  free  will  in  the  service 
of  our  learned  king,  our  Solomon." 

A  quarter  of  a  century  earlier,  in  849,  we  have  in  the  writings 
of  Walahfred  Strabo  a  striking  illustration  of  the  fact  that  these 
Irish  wanderers  over  the  Continent,  were  everywhere  looked  up 
to  as  the  exponents  of  higher  learning.  Talking  of  Errebald,  a 
German  abbot  of  noble  birth,  who  recently  died,  Strabo  says, 
"After  being  instructed  in  theology  at  Reichenau  (St.  Finian's 
monastery)  he  was  afterwards  sent  in  the  company  of  some  learned 
men,  to  an  Irish  instructor  to  enjoy  the  privilege  of  his  training 
in  secular  branches  of  science  and  the  arts."  And  this  bears  out 
the  fact,  mentioned  by  O'Halloran  and  many  others,  that  it  became 
a  sort  of  proverb  on  the  Continent  to  say  of  any  ambitious  one 
who  was  for  a  time  missed  from  his  regular  haunts,  Amandatus 
est  ad  disciplinain  in  Hibeni'ia. 

About  the  year  800  Cambrai  was  a  celebrated  rallying  ground 
of  the  Irish.  "Not  only  Cambrai  but  also  Rheims,  Poissons,  Laon, 
and  Liege,  had  at  one  and  the  same  period  colonies  of  Irishmen," 
says  M.  Gougand  (Les  chretiennes  Celtiques).  "If  we  consult 
the  evidence  given  by  their  contemporaries  concerning  the  learned 
men  that  had  come  amongst  them  out  of  Ireland,  we  must  acknowl- 
edge that  they  all  show  they  are  conscious  of  being  greatly  in  their 
debt  for  the  progress  realised  in  their  studies.  Irish  knowledge 
is  in  their  eyes  something  apart  from  all  else,  and  worthy  of  their 
most  pompous  encomiums." 

At  this  same  time,  Zimmer  tells  us,  Ratgar,  abbot  of  Fulda, 
was  sending  scholarly  monks  to  the  Irish  Clement,  to  complete 
their  higher  secular  education.  This  Clement  is,  in  the  official 
roster  of  Charlemagne's  household,  set  down  as  "Instructor  to  the 
Imperial  Court." 

The  first  coming  of  Clement  and  of  another  noted  Irish  scholar 
of  the  time,  Albinus,  and  their  strange  introduction  to  the  Conti- 
nental world,  and  to  Charlemagne,  are  thus  set  down  by  Notker 
le  Begue  himself: 

"WHien  Charles  began  to  reign  alone  in  the  West,  and  that  learn- 
ing had  almost  everywhere  become  extinct,  it  happened  that  two 
Scots  from  Ireland  arrived  on  the  shores  of  Gaul,  with  some  Brit- 
ish merchants;  these  two  men  were  incomparably  skilled  in  sacred 
and  profane  learning.  \Vhile  they  displayed  nothing  for  sale,  they 
cried  out  to  those  who  came  to  purchase,  'If  any  one  be  desirous  of 
wisdom,   let  him  come  to  receive  it.'     Thev   were   invited   to   the 


26o  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

presence  of  Charles,  who  questioned  them,  and  was  overjoyed  after 
they  were  examined :  he  kept  them  for  some  time  with  him.  Charles, 
soon  after  this,  being  obliged  to  go  to  war,  ordered  the  one  named 
Clement  to  reside  in  Gaul.  He  recommended  to  them  some  very 
noble  youths,  some  of  the  middle  classes,  and  several  of  the  lowest 
ranks;  it  was  also  ordered  by  the  king,  that  everything  necessary  for 
their  support  should  be  supplied  to  them,  and  convenient  houses  for 
their  accommodation  were  provided.  The  other,  named  Albinus,  was 
sent  to  Italy,  where  the  monastery  of  St.  Augustin,  near  the  city  of 
Ticinus,  was  given  him,  that  all  who  wished  to  be  instructed  might 
come  to  learn." 

The  brilliancy  of  Clement  and  the  work  accomplished  by  him, 
caused  a  fourteenth  century  writer,  Luopoldus  Bebenburglus,  to 
say,  "The  French  may  be  compared  to  the  Romans  and  the  Athe- 
nians on  account  of  the  works  of  Clement,  an  Irishman." 

There  are  several  authorities  cited  by  Colgan,  including  Luo- 
poldus and  Vincent  Daubais,  who  hold  that  Clement,  not  Alcuin, 
founded  the  royal  school  of  Paris. 

Clement  died  at  Wurtzburg  in  826  on  a  pilgrimage  to  the  tomb 
of  his  fellow-countryman,  Kilian.  His  old  companion  Albinus 
died  in  Pavia — where  Charlemagne  had  sent  him  to  conduct  the 
important  school  there. 

Shortly  after  the  death  of  Albinus,  another  illustrious  Irish- 
man was  appointed  to  succeed  him,  by  Lothaire,  the  grandson  of 
Charlemagne.  This  was  the  astronomer  Dungall  who  is  believed 
to  have  studied  at  Bangor.  According  to  Mosheim  he  was  teach- 
ing philosophy  and  astronomy  in  a  French  monastery  when,  in 
811,  he  first  came  into  prominence  by  preparing  for  Charlemagne 
a  scientific  explanation  of  two  eclipses  of  the  sun,  which  had  oc- 
curred the  previous  year,  and  which  had  terrified  Charlemagne's 
subjects.  This  document,  still  In  existence,  betrays  the  hand  and 
the  mind  of  a  master.  Zimmer  tells  us  that  In  Pavia  pupils  came 
to  Dungall  from  Milan,  Brescia,  Lodi,  Bergamo,  Versalll,  Genoa, 
and  Como.  While  there  Dungall  won  for  himself  lasting  fame 
by  a  noted  controversy  on  Iconoclasm  in  which  he  engaged,  and, 
it  is  said,  defeated,  the  Spanish  Claudius.  It  was  a  controversy 
that  drew  world-wide  attention.  And  Zimmer  says  It  was  remark- 
able also  as  being  the  meeting  on  foreign  soil  of  two  learned  rep- 
resentatives of  the  only  two  countries  which  had  maintained  and 
fostered  Greco-Roman  culture  during  the  barbaric  cataclysm. 
Dungall  was  not  only  distinguished  as  astronomer  and  theologian, 
but  also  as  a  deep  classical  scholar.  To  end  his  days  Dungall  re- 
tired to  the  Irish  foundation  of  Bobbio,  among  the  Apennines,  to 


IRISH  SCHOLARS  ABROAD  261 

the  Library  of  which  monastery  he  presented  forty  of  his  books. 
The  handwriting  of  that  distinguished  man  is  still  to  be  seen  upon 
some  of  these  volumes — now  preserved  in  the  Ambrosian  Library 
at  Milan.' 

Another  of  the  many  distinguished  Irish  whom  Charlemagne 
had  gathered  around  him  was  Dicuil — a  grammarian,  geometri- 
cian, astronomer,  and  geographer.  In  the  year  816  he  published 
a  treatise  on  astronomy,  and  in  825  his  most  famous  work,  De 
Mensura  Provinciarum  Orbis   Tcrrae.^ 

This  remarkable  work,  which  was  evidently  a  standard  Con- 
tinental geographical  work  in  those  days,  was  discovered  by  M. 
Letronne,  the  Eg)'ptologist,  in  the  French  National  Library,  in 
1812,  and  was  then  published  in  Paris.  It  proved  Dicuil  to  be 
the  earliest  geographer  giving  account  of  the  Faroe  Islands,  and 
Iceland — of  which  latter  it  mentioned  that  during  a  great  portion 
of  the  year  its  sun  never  set. 

Letronne  was  delighted  to  find  in  this  ancient  work  "a  descrip- 
tion of  the  pyramids,  and  measurements  of  them  which  exactly 
tallied  with  his  own."  Dicuil  told,  moreover,  of  a  canal  connect- 
ing the  Nile  with  the  Red  Sea — which  was  at  first  believed  to  be 
a  grievous  slip  on  the  part  of  the  geographer — until  the  discovery 
of  the  fact  that  a  canal  long  since  filled  up,  and  lost  to  memory, 
had  actually  been  constructed  from  the  Nile  to  the  Red  Sea,  by 
Hadrian. 

In  his  work  Dicuil  quotes  Pomponlus  Mela,  Orosius,  Isadore 
of  Seville,  and  Priscian  the  grammarian.  And  Professor  Stokes, 
comparing  the  Irishman's  geography  with  that  of  John  Malalas 
of  Antioch,  says :  "Antioch  about  A.  D.  600  was  a  centre  of 
Greek  culture  and  erudition,  and  the  chronicle  of  Malalas  a  mine 
of  information  on  many  questions,  but  compared  with  the  Irish 
work  of  Dicuil,  its  mistakes  are  laughable." 

This  geography  of  Dicuil's  incidentally  affords  one  of  the  many 
evidences  of  the  far  wanderings  of  the  Irish  in  those  days,  inas- 
much as  he  states  that  he  got  his  information  about  Iceland  on  the 
one  hand,  and  the  Hadrian  canal  on  the  other,  from  Irish  monks 
who  witnessed  what  they  told  him.  His  Eg^'ptian  information  he 
got  from  a  Brother  Fidelis,  who  Dicuil  says  "told  in  my  presence 
to  my  master  Siubhne   (Sweeney)   that  he,  Fidelis,  was  one  of  an 

1  Many  manuscripts  of  the  Irish  monks  of  Bobbie  are  now  scattered  among 
the  libraries  of  Italy.  The  Ambrosian  library  in  Milan,  the  University  library  of 
Turin,  and  the  Real  Bibliotica  Borbonica  in  Naples,  are  all  enriched  by  some  of 
these  treasures. 

2  For  much  information  about  Dicuil  see  Reeve's  paper  in  the  Ulster  Journal 
of  Archaeology,  volume  seven. 


262  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

Irish  company  who  sailed  up  the  Nile  and  through  the  canal  into 
the  Red  Sea" — after  they  had  completed  a  Jerusalem  pilgrimage. 

Under  Charles  the  Bald,  Sedulius  Scotus  another  famous  Irish- 
man— who  is  not  to  be  confounded  with  the  older  (Coelius)  Sedu- 
lius— taught  the  school  at  Liege.  He  was  a  Scripturian,  theolo- 
gian, grammarian,  poet,  political  writer,  and  classical  scholar.  He 
seems  to  have  been  deeply  versed  in  Greek,  and  even  Plebrew. 
The  French  Thurot,  writing  about  the  works  of  Sedulius  which 
are  still  extant  (in  manuscript,  in  French  libraries)  says,  "he 
makes  a  parade  of  his  Greek  knowledge."  In  1825  a  work  of  his 
upon  the  Gospels  showing  his  Greek  and  Hebrew  scholarship, 
was  published  by  Cardinal  Mai — from  the  manuscript  in  the  Vati- 
can Library.  There  is  a  Greek  psalter  of  his  in  one  of  the  li- 
braries at  Paris — and  also  a  compilation  on  the  Gospel  of  St. 
Matthew.  One  of  his  poems  indicates  that  there  were  at  Liege 
at  the  same  time  as  himself,  other  Irishmen  who  were  learned 
grammarians — one  of  whom,  Cruinmel,  left  a  grammatical  trea- 
tise of  importance. 

Usher,  in  discussing  Sedulius'  Scripture  commentaries  says: 

"As  for  the  edition  of  the  Scriptures  used  in  Ireland  at  those 
times,  the  Latin  translation  was  so  received  into  common  use  by  the 
learned  that  the  principal  authority  was  still  reserved  to  the  original 
fountain.  The  efforts  of  Sedulius  in  the  Old  Testament  commend 
to  us  the  Hebrew  verity,  and  in  the  New,  correct  oftentimes  the 
vulgar  Latin  according  to  the  truth  of  the  Greek  copies" 

— a  remarkable  compliment  both  to  the  learning  of  the  man,  and 
the  learning  of  the  Irish  schools  of  that  age. 

In  poetry  Sedulius  was  versatile  as*  well  as  prolific — ranging 
from  humorous  verse,  through  idyllic,  up  to  stately  odes.  Of  one 
of  his  poems,  the  Contest  of  the  Rose  and  the  Lily,  Dr.  Sigerson 
says:  "It  might,  for  conception  and  treatment,  be  one  of  Moore's, 
it  is  so  light,  graceful,  and  harmonious.  It  leads  the  way  to  the 
lighter  poetic  literature  of  Europe.  Mingled  with  the  measured 
thread  of  its  hexameters,  one  hears  the  musical  Irish  chimes." 

Virgilius  (Fergal),  celebrated  as  a  pioneer  geometer  of  his 
day  and  who  was  noted  for  his  learning  before  he  left  Ireland, 
was  a  protege  of  King  Pepin,  through  whom  he  was,  in  772,  ap- 
pointed Bishop  of  Salsburg — while  his  Irish  companion  Dobda 
became  a  teacher  there.  In  that  city  he  rebuilt,  in  splendid  man- 
ner, the  monastery  of  St.  Peter.  For  Chetimar  the  Duke  of  Carin- 
thia,  he  penetrated  the  forest  wilds  of  that  country,  preaching  and 


IRISH  SCHOI^\RS  ABROAD  263 

converting,  and  ordaining  priests — as  far  as  the  junction  of  the 
Drave  and  the  l^anube. 

He  is  described  by  Gaspard  Bnischius  as  a  man  of  extraordi- 
nary piety  and  learning,  and  again  by  another  writer,  as  a  subtle 
philosopher  and  able  mathematician.  He  astonished  the  scholars 
by  teaching  that  the  earth  instead  of  being  flat  was  a  globe,  and 
that  human  beings  like  those  around  them  probably  lived  on  the 
opposite  side  of  it.  The  Saxon  Boniface,  who  was  then  converting 
Germany  and  who  quarrelled  with  Fergal  and  other  Irish  mission- 
aries, brought  complaint  to  Rome  against  him,  accusing  him  of 
heresy — evidently  misunderstanding  or  misinterpreting  Virgilius' 
doctrine.  Virgilius  had  previously  had  a  noted  theological  con- 
troversy over  infant  baptism  with  Boniface,  which  when  it  had 
been  referred  to  Pope  Zachary,  was  decided  in  Virgilius'  favour. 
On  this  new  dispute,  however,  Pope  Zachary  replied  to  Boniface: 
"If  Virgilius  maintains  that  there  is  another  world,  and  other 
men,  another  sun  and  another  moon,  he  must  be  suspended  from 
the  council,  the  church,  and  the  priesthood." 

It  is  significant,  however,  that  he  was  neither  excommunicated 
nor  suspended — from  which  it  may  be  inferred  that  he  explained 
his  doctrine  in  its  true  light  to  Zachary.  In  1233  Virgilius  was 
canonised  by  Gregory  the  Ninth. 

In  the  middle  of  the  ninth  century  it  was  that  Moengal,  return- 
ing from  Rome  with  the  Irish  Bishop  Marcus,  his  uncle,  settled 
at  the  Irish  foundation  of  St.  Gall  on  Lake  Constance — to  which 
monastery  his  uncle  bequeathed  his  books.  Moengal  by  his  learn- 
ing was  destined  to  make  still  more  famous  this  monastery  to 
which  many  of  his  countrymen  before  him  had  brought  fame.  It 
had  become,  it  is  said,  the  most  venerated  monastery  in  the  in- 
terior of  Europe,  and  for  three  hundred  years  was  looked  upon 
as  a  chief  nursery  of  lore.  Dr.  Ferdinand  Keller  says  that  it  was 
the  Irish  teachers  there  who  "by  their  instructions  in  Greek, 
rhetoric,  and  other  subjects  contributed  not  a  little  to  the  forma- 
tion of  the  scientific  character  which  distinguished  this  monastery." 

Moengal  here  taught  theology  and  sacred  science.  Zimmer 
says  he  excelled  in  these  subjects,  "as  well  as  in  every  other  branch 
of  knowledge."  He  furthermore  made  St.  Gall  famous  for  its 
musical  teaching,  to  which  Moengal  seems  to  have  devoted  special 
attention.  Three  famous  pupils  of  his  were  Notker  le  Begue, 
Rappert,  and  Tuotillo,  men  who  held  foremost  places  in  their 
century — famous  as  musicians,  and  famous  along  other  lines.  The 
versatile  Tuotillo  was  an  orator,  sculptor,  painter,  architect,  gold- 
smith, composer  and  player  on  all  kinds  of  instruments. 


264  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

Of  this  man  Moengal,  Zimmer  says:  "In  my  opinion  there 
were  few  men,  who,  in  the  middle  of  the  ninth  century,  exerted  a 
more  beneficent  influence  on  the  German  mind,  in  the  cultivation 
of  the  higher  arts  and  sciences,  than  Moengal  and  his  followers." 
And  Wattenbach  says  of  Moengal  and  the  other  Irish  teachers 
here:  *'We  may  judge  of  their  industry  by  the  study  of  Greek, 
the  love  of  music,  and  the  skill  in  various  arts,  which  distinguishes 
the  monastery  of  St.  Gall  above  all  others." 

It  is  practically  agreed  by  all  authorities  that  the  most  remark- 
able scholar  known  to  Europe  in  the  ninth  century,  whom  wor- 
shipping Continental  scholars  called  "the  Master,"  was  John  Sco- 
tus  Erigina  (John  the  Scot,  from  Eirinn),  philosopher,  theologian, 
linguist,  logician,  mathematician,  and  poet,  whom  King  Charles 
the  Bald  made  head  of  the  Royal  school  in  Paris.  He  was  a  genius 
of  such  brilliancy  as  dawns  upon  the  world  only  once  in  any  cen- 
tury. Zimmer  says  of  him:  "He  was  the  greatest  thinker  of  his 
age,  and  his  philosophic  works  mark  an  epoch  in  the  world's 
literature."  And  Archbishop  Healy,  talking  of  his  five  books,  De 
Divisione  Naturae,  which  he  pronounces  "profound,  original  and 
learned,"  says:  "No  other  scholar  of  western  Europe,  in  any  age, 
was  so  filled  with  the  spirit  of  the  philosophy  and  theology  of 
the  Greeks,  and  his  mind  was  closely  akin  to  the  mind  of  Greece." 

He  was  a  distinguished  controversialist.  And  on  the  two 
great  problems  which  were  agitating  and  dividing  the  theological 
world  at  that  time.  Predestination  and  the  Real  Presence,  he 
jumped  into  the  forefront  of  the  fight,  and  laid  about  him  with  true 
Irish  vim  and  skill.  His  book  on  Predestination  caused  a  sensa- 
tion which  could  hardly  be  said  to  be  allayed  for  generations.  The 
doctrine  which  he  expounded  on  the  Real  Presence,  which  he  held 
to  be  both  a  memorial  and  a  reality,  almost  brought  him  under  a 
cloud:  for  enemies  stressed  the  memorial  side  of  his  argument, 
and  gave  to  the  world  the  impression  that  he  taught  it  was  a 
memorial  only. 

The  cloud  darkened  his  career  later,  when,  without  getting 
the  usual  apostolic  sanction  required  in  such  cases,  he  translated 
from  the  Greek,  and  published,  the  writings  of  the  pseudo  Diony- 
sius,  who  was  alleged  to  have  preached  and  died  in  France.  The 
Pope  reprimanded  his  patron.  King  Charles  the  Bald,  and  ordered 
him  to  send  John  away.  He  must  have  recovered  his  standing 
though,  for,  only  some  years  later,  Anastasius,  the  Papal  librarian 
— who  had  declared  himself  amazed  by  the  brilliancy  with  which 
John  had  translated  Dionysius — says  In   a  letter  to   Charles  the 


IRISH  SCHOLARS  ABROAD  26<; 

Bald,  written  in  March,  875,  that  John  was  a  man  eminent  l'(jr 
his  sanctity,  holy,  learned,  and  humble.  And  he  says  he  must  have 
been  influenced  by  the  spirit  of  God  in  making  his  wonderful  trans- 
lation. 

D'Arbois  do  Jubainville  says  of  John: 

"He  was  a  disciple  of  Plato,  whose  Timaeus  he  appears  to  have 
read  in  tlie  original.  And  he  has  founded  on  the  doctrines  of  that 
celebrated  Greek  writer,  a  system  of  philosophy  as  astonishing  for 
its  time,  as  it  is  dangerous  for  its  temerity."  ^ 

Of  him  and  his  patron  Charles,  it  is  told  that  once,  at  the  royal 
dinner-table,  when  the  king  felt  prompted  to  dazzle  his  courtiers 
by  a  sharpening  of  his  wit  upon  the  Scot,  he  asked  John,  across 
the  table,  what  was  the  difference  between  a  Scot  and  a  sot — to 
which  Scotus  replied:     "Only  the  table,  sire." 

The  Cathedral  school  in  Wurtzburg  late  in  the  eleventh  cen- 
tury was  taught  by  the  Irish  savant,  David,  who  became  chaplain 
and  historian  to  the  Emperor  Henry  V  and  accompanied  the 
emperor  to  Rome  in  iioo. 

The  scholarship  of  holy  Marianus  Scotus  of  Donegal  has 
already  been  referred  to.  There  was  another  Irish  Marianus. 
tutor  of  Pope  Adrian,  who  taught  in  the  royal  school  in  Paris, 
about  the  same  time  that  Marianus  Scotus  was  doing  his  good 
work  in  Ratisbon.  And  this  latter  Marianus  only  accidentally  es- 
capes the  oblivion  to  which  hundreds  and  thousands  of  his  exiled 
learned  countrymen  were  consigned.  He  seems  to  have  retired  in 
his  old  age  to  the  monastery  of  his  namesake  at  Ratisbon.  And 
when  Abbot  Gregory,  who  was  a  successor  of  Holy  Marianus, 
visited  Adrian  in  Rome,  that  Pope  paid  a  wonderful  tribute  to 
Marianus  the  Master.  The  incident  is  set  down  in  the  Chronicles 
of  Ratisbon,  which  says:  "A  distinguished  Irish  ecclesiastic,  Ma- 
rianus, entered  St.  James's,  who  had  long  taught  the  seven  liberal 
and  other  arts  In  Paris.  When  Gregory  was  at  Rome,  Pope 
Adrian  inquired  about  his  old  preceptor,  and  Gregory  answered, 
'He  is  well,  and  with  us  at  Ratisbon.'  Said  Adrian:  'God  be 
praised!  I  know  not  in  the  Catholic  Church  another  abbot  [than 
you,  Gregory]  who  has  under  him  a  man  so  excellent  in  wisdom, 
discretion,  genius,  eloquence,  than  this  same  Marianus.'  " 


'Usher  says  that  Erigina  translated  the  ethics  of  Aristotle  into  Qialdaic, 
Arabic,  and  Latin — but  the  Continental  writers  who  have  written  upon  Erigiiu 
do  not  corroborate  him  in  recording  this  remarkable  feat. 


266  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

These  we  have  touched  on  are  but  a  few  of  the  galaxy  of  Irish 
scholars  whose  brilliancy  dispelled  the  darkness,  which,  in  those 
centuries  had  threatened  to  overwhelm  Europe. 

Same  books  as  for  preceding  two  chapters,  and: 

Reeves,  The  Rev.  Wm.,  D.D. :     On  Augustin,  an  Irish  Writer  of  the  Sev- 
enth Century.     Proc  R.  I.  A.,  1861. 


CHAPTER  XXX 

THE    VIKINGS    IN    IRELAND 

The  history  of  the  Viking  period,  which  began  in  the  eighth  cen- 
tury and  lasted  for  about  four  hundred  years,  reads  like  a  fairy 
tale.  There  were  two  impelling  motives  which  led  to  the  emigra- 
tion of  the  Vikings,  or  "men  of  the  bays,"  for  such  is  the  meaning 
of  the  name  by  which  they  have  made  themselves  famous.  These 
were  the  inadequate  economic  resources  of  their  country,  due  to 
over-population,  and  a  desire  to  seek  warmer  and  more  fruitful 
lands.     Coupled  with  this  was  a  spirit  of  adventure. 

At  first  the  Vikings  confined  themselves  to  their  native  fiords 
whence,  in  their  long  open  boats,  they  would  dart  out  and  pounce 
upon  some  passing  vessel.  But  they  soon  extended  the  field  of 
their  operations  and  undertook  expeditions  to  more  remote  and 
less  known  regions,  which  they  laid  waste  and  plundered.  Piracy 
in  those  days  was  not  regarded  as  an  ignoble  profession.  About 
the  year  850,  they  made  their  way  over  the  stormy  north  sea  to 
Iceland,  where,  intrepid  sailors  as  they  were,  they  learned  that 
Irish  monks  had  been  there  before  them.  Thence  they  sailed  to 
Greenland,  to  Vinland  the  Good  and  even  reached  the  coasts  of 
North  America.  In  the  east  and  south,  they  were  no  less  enter- 
prising and  successful. 

In  the  tenth  century  we  find  these  adventurous  sea-rovers  mak- 
ing permanent  settlements  on  the  continent  of  Europe.  Bands  of 
them  sailed  down  the  coast  and  forced  the  king  of  France  to  yield 
to  them  the  fair  province  ever  afterwards  known  by  their  name, 
the  Duchy  of  Normandy.  More  of  them  went  up  the  Rhine,  the 
Loire,  and  the  Gironde,  and  fought  the  Moors  on  the  banks  of 
the  Guadalquivir.  Others  of  them  pushed  on  past  the  Pillars  of 
Hercules  into  the  Mediterranean  and  built  a  powerful  kingdom 
in  Italy.  Still  others  even  found  their  way  to  Greece  and  the 
Black  Sea.  They  planted  colonies  on  the  coast  of  Prussia,  rounded 
the  North  Cape  and  discovered  a  route  by  water  to  the  White  Sea. 
By  way  of  the  Dnieper,  the  Dniester,  the  Volga  and  the  northern 
stretches  of  the  Dvina,  their  enterprising  hucksters  and  freebooters 

267 


268  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

penetrated  into  the  interior  of  Russia,  and  in  the  year  862  laid 
the  foundations,  at  Novgorod,  of  the  kingdom  out  of  which  has 
grown  the  modern  Russia.  Still  more  of  them  sailed  down  the 
Volga  to  the  Caspian  and,  by  the  Dnieper,  entered  the  Bosphorus 
and  nearly  succeeded  in  capturing  the  capital  of  the  Sultan. 

At  the  other  extreme  end  of  Europe  more  than  half  of  Britain 
was  already  in  their  power.  The  kingdom  of  Alfred  the  Great 
was  threatened  and  shaken  to  its  foundation,  and  the  outlying 
islands  were  entirely  occupied  by  them.  They  placed  a  Danish 
sovereign  on  the  throne  of  England.  Indeed  at  one  time,  that  is 
about  the  middle  of  the  ninth  century,  it  looked  as  if  the  Vikings 
were  on  the  point  of  becoming  masters  of  the  greater  part  of 
northern  and  western  Europe.  But  their  victorious  career  was 
stopped  for  all  time  and  the  western  world  saved  from  becoming 
Norse  by  the  final  defeat  which  they  met  with  in  Ireland. 

Intercourse  between  the  northern  lands  and  Ireland  must  have 
begun  at  a  very  early  date.  It  was  only  a  few  days'  journey,  and, 
as  the  Viking  vessels  were  galleys  propelled  by  oars  as  well  as 
by  sails,  they  were  independent  of  the  weather.  The  Irish  traded 
and  married  with  them  a  century  before  the  invasion.  Even  in 
the  old  Irish  epic  of  the  heroic  period,  there  is  mention  of  war- 
riors from  Norway,  "the  Northern  Way,"  and  of  Irish  chieftains 
who  were  levying  tribute  on  the  Shetlands,  the  Orkneys,  and  the 
Faroes.  The  first  acceptedly  correct  information  of  the  Norsemen 
in  "the  Isles  of  the  Foreigners,"  as  the  western  islands  were  called, 
dates  from  the  early  part  of  the  seventh  century.  In  the  year 
617  they  burned  the  cloister  of  Eig,  slew  the  Abbot  Donnan  and 
fifty-two  of  his  companions,  and,  using  the  western  islands  as  step- 
ping stones,  they  robbed  and  ravaged  their  way  down  as  far  as  the 
Isle  of  Man.  It  was  perhaps  in  the  same  year  that  they  laid 
waste  Tory  Island  off  the  coast  of  Donegal.  These  attacks  lasted 
some  four  or  five  years,  and  were  followed  by  more  than  a  cen- 
tury and  a  half  of  peace,  during  which  the  Norse  and  Irish  mingled 
and  settled  down  on  friendly  terms. 

In  the  year  794  occurred  the  first  powerful  Norse  attacks  in 
Irish  waters,  when  the  sea-robbers  landed  on  Rechru,  now  Lam- 
bay,  off  Howth,  which  they  devastated,  and  some  other  small 
islands  north  of  Dublin,  and  simultaneously  they  launched  attacks 
at  such  distant  points  as  the  Isle  of  Skye  and  Glamorganshire  in 
South  Wales.  These  Vikings  had  no  difficulty  in  landing,  plunder- 
ing, and  getting  away  to  their  ships,  but  they  brought  away  what 
was  still  more  valuable  to  those  who  followed  them  in  their  pro- 
fession, namely,  tales  of  bright  green  fields,   of  rich   fertile  soil, 


THE  VIKINGS  IN  IRELAND  269 

In  a  word,  of  a  land  that  was  well  worth  fighting  for.  Such  re- 
ports brought  Vikings  in  more  frequent  bands  and  in  greater  and 
greater  numbers  to  Ireland.  As  yet,  however,  they  were  only 
reconnoitring  parties  who  confined  themselves  to  tiie  islands  and 
forelands  and  did  not  interfere  with  the  internal  affairs  of  the 
country.  Sometimes  they  showed  poor  judgment  in  choosing  their 
points  of  attack,  as  in  the  year  823  when  they  scaled  the  almost 
inaccessible  Scellc  Michil  (the  Skelligs),  far  out  in  the  Atlantic, 
and  carried  off  the  hermit  Etgal,  perhaps  in  spite  at  finding  no 
treasure  on  that  barren,  wind-swept  rock.  During  the  next  two 
or  three  years,  among  other  misdeeds,  they  burned  Bangor,  an 
easy  prey  because  of  Its  proximity  to  the  sea,  murdered  Its  monks 
and  scholars  and  violated  the  sanctuary. 

At  the  confluence  of  the  LIffey  and  a  small  stream  called  the 
Poddle,  was  a  village  which  the  Irish  had  founded  at  least  two 
centuries  earlier  and  which  they  called,  and  still  call,  Ath  Cllath, 
"the  Ford  of  the  Hurdles."  It  was  also  named  Dubhllnn,  "Black- 
pool," from  the  dark  colour  of  the  water  under  the  bog.  The 
Norsemen  were  struck  by  the  excellent  location  of  the  village  and, 
consequently,  about  the  year  837,  they  threw  up  a  strong  earthen 
fort  on  the  hill  where  now  stands  the  Castle,  and  for  nearly  two 
hundred  years  Dublin  remained  an  exclusively  Norwegian  or  Dan- 
ish city  and  the  capital  and  headquarters  of  the  Vikings  in  west- 
ern Europe.  The  Irish,  however,  still  regarded  Armagh  as  their 
national  capital. 

When,  about  the  year  832,  the  Norse  felt  ready  to  make  their 
first  great  attack  on  Ireland  In  force,  they  had  the  advantage  of 
having  as  their  leader  one  of  the  most  extraordinary  and  capable 
figures  in  Nordic  history.  This  was  the  famous  Norwegian  war- 
rior Tuirgels.  Tulrgeis,  like  most  of  his  race  who  came  after 
him,  was  filled  with  ambition  to  establish  a  great  pagan  empire 
and  to  make  himself  lord  of  Ireland,  as  his  countrymen  had  made 
themselves  masters  of  England  and  Normandy.  He  came  with  a 
great  fleet  of  120  ships,  which  held  some  ten  thousand  or  twelve 
thousand  picked  men,  and  which  he  divided  Into  two  divisions. 
One  squadron  of  sixty  ships  entered  the  LIffey,  while  Turgels 
himself  with  the  other  sailed  up  the  Boyne.  From  these  points 
small  bands  of  Invaders  entered  Into  the  Interior  of  'the  country, 
carrying  their  boats  overland  with  them  when  necessary,  spread 
here  and  there  and  made  the  first  permanent  Norse  settlements  In 
Ireland.  Turgels  confined  his  operations  to  the  north.  He  pitched 
his  headquarters  at  the  southern  extremity  of  Lough  Ree,  near 
where  Athlone  now  stands,  and  threw  up  earthworks  along  the 


270  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

upper  courses  of  the  Shannon  and  a  line  of  forts  across  the  coun- 
try from  Carlingford  Bay  to  Connacht.  He  even  got  some  sup- 
port from  the^ Irish  and  for  a  time  it  looked  as  if  the  whole  north- 
ern portion  of  the  island  might  speedily  fall  under  his  sway. 

His  design  included  the  supplanting  of  Christianity  by  the 
heathenism  of  his  own  country.  With  that  end  in  view  he  took 
possession,  some  years  previously,  of  Armagh,  Ireland's  Holy  City, 
which  contained  the  staff  which  Christ  himself  was  said  to  have 
given  to  St.  Patrick,  and  where  the  Abbot,  who  was  regarded  as 
the  spiritual  head  of  Ireland,  resided.  Turgeis  drove  away  "the 
Follower  of  St.  Patrick,"  converted  the  church  into  a  pagan  temple 
and  made  himself  high  priest  of  the  new  religion.  As  if  that 
sacrilege  was  not  sufficient  to  arouse  the  special  anger  of  the  Irish, 
he  is  said  to  have  enthroned  his  wife  Otta  upon  the  high  altar  of 
the  principal  church  at  Clonmacnois,  the  next  most  holy  place  in 
Ireland,  situated  on  the  eastern  bank  of  the  Shannon  in  the  midst 
of  the  meadows.  From  that  sacred  seat  Otta,  who  seems  to  have 
been  a  sibyl  as  well  as  a  priestess,  delivered  oracles  in  magic 
strains  to  the  people. 

These  things  took  place  in  or  about  the  year  845,  and  for 
some  years  all  the  foreigners  in  Ireland  recognised  Turgeis  as 
their  sovereign,  though  it  could  hardly  be  said  that  he  had  founded 
a  kingdom.  His  ablest  opponent  among  the  native  chieftains  was 
Niall,  provincial  king  of  Ulster.  Shortly  afterwards,  or  about 
the  year  845,  he  was,  somehow,  taken  prisoner  by  Maelsechlainn 
(Malachy)  king  of  Meath,  and  drowned  in  Loch  Owel,  either  as 
a  criminal  or  by  the  miracles  of  the  saints,  or,  according  to  the 
legends,  through  a  stratagem  of  Maelsechlainn's  daughter  who, 
accompanied  by  fifteen  young  Irish  warriors  disguised  as  maidens, 
kept  tryst  with  him,  and  fifteen  of  his  captains.  After  his  death, 
the  Norsemen  abandoned  their  settlements  on  Lough  Ree,  moved 
up  the  Shannon  and  fought  their  way  along  the  rivers  and  lakes 
to  the  Sligo  coast  where  a  fleet  had  assembled  to  carry  them  home. 
Thereafter  the  tide  of  victory  turned  for  a  while  in  favour  of 
the  Irish,  and  a  new  epoch  began  in  the  history  of  the  Scandina- 
vian invasion  of  Ireland.  Hitherto  the  Vikings,  like  their  great 
leader  Turgeis,  were  all  of  Norwegian  stock,  but  with  a  few  Danes 
and  Swedes  among  them.  During  the  tenth  and  eleventh  cen- 
turies, however,  the  Danes,  a  people  of  distinct  origin,  who  at 
that  time  were  ravaging  the  southern  and  western  coasts  of  Eng- 
land, took  the  lead  in  Viking  activities.  They  were  better  organ- 
ised than  the  Norse  and  had  a  more  centralised  government,  and 
they  could  always   fall  back  on  their  kingdom  in  Northumbria, 


THE  VIKINGS  IN  IRELAND  271 

with  it3  capital  at  York.  They  were  jealous  of  the  successes  which 
the  Norwegians  had  met  with  in  Ireland  and  they  soon  proceeded 
to  deprive  them  of  the  fruits  of  their  victories,  so  that  it  was  not 
primarily  owinp;  to  a  desire  to  attack  the  Irish  but  purely  by  acci- 
dent that  the  Danes  came  to  Ireland  and  made  it  the  battleground 
on  which  to  settle  their  difterences  with  their  cousins  from  Nor- 
way. In  the  words  of  the  annalist  (847),  "they  disturbed  Ire- 
land between  them."  At  first  the  Irish  called  all  these  northern 
raiders  indiscriminately  Gcnti,  "the  heathen,"  or  Gaill  "the 
strangers,"  or  Lnchlannaigh.  Later,  however,  when  Irish  writers 
felt  the  need  of  making  a  clear  distinction  between  the  two  waves 
of  invasion,  they  either  limited  the  name  Lochlannaigh  to  the  Nor- 
wegians and  applied  the  name  Dana'ir  to  the  Danes,  or,  more 
commonly,  they  called  the  Vikings  of  Norwegian  descent  white 
heathens,  while  those  of  Danish  descent  they  called  black  heathens.* 
The  year  847  marks  the  first  sudden  descent  of  the  Danes, 
"in  seven  score  ships,"  upon  the  eastern  shores  of  Ireland.  They 
at  once  proceeded  to  attack  the  Norwegians  and  to  contest  the 
possession  of  the  coast  settlements  with  them.  In  that  year  the 
Norwegian  chieftain  Earl  Tomar  was  slain  in  the  battle  of  Sclath- 
Nechtln.  In  850  the  "Blacks"  seized  and  plundered  Dublin  and 
In  the  following  year  they  defeated  the  "Whites"  decisively  at 
Carllngford  Lough.  The  battle  was  a  fierce  one  and  is  said  to 
have  continued  three  days  and  three  nights.  At  first  the  Norwe- 
gians were  successful,  but  finally  the  Danes,  it  is  said,  by  calling 
upon  St.  Patrick  for  help,  were  victorious.  After  the  battle  they 
remembered  their  promise  and  sent  a  huge  vat  filled  with  silver 
and  gold  to  the  shrine  of  the  Apostle.  Maelsechlainn  (Malachy)  I, 
who  was  king  of  Ireland  at  that  time,  dispatched  an  embassy  to 

1  This  was  not  due  to  the  colour  of  the  hair  or  complexion,  for  the  overwhelm- 
ing mass  of  the  foreigners,  whether  Norwegians  or  Danes,  must  have  been  all 
fair  and  ruddy.  It  is  to  be  found  only  in  the  fact  that  the  Danes  were  clad  in 
body  armour.  The  Irish  themselves  fought  in  their  ordinary  dress  and  mantles, 
except  in  combats  of  special  danger  when  they  donned  breastplates  and  aprons  of 
leather.  They  used  light  javelins  for  throwing  and  longer  and  stouter  spears  for 
thrusting,  and  swords,  and  carried  a  shield  of  wicker  work  to  defend  the  body. 
The  first  comers  among  the  Norwegians  likewise  wore  only  a  tunic  of  leather, 
but  the  Danes  wore  dark  metal  coats  of  mail,  helmets  and  vizors,  and  were  partial 
to  the  battle-axe.  As  they  were  the  first  mail-clad  warriors  the  Irish  had  ever 
seen,  it  is  no  wonder  if  they  seemed  to  them  to  be  "dark  blue"  or  "blue-green," 
as  they  called  them.  There  are  many  references  in  the  old  Irish  chronicles  and 
sagas  to  the  mail-clad  armour  and  battle-axes  of  the  foreigners  and  to  the  black 
ships  in  which  they  came  to  Ireland.  "For  the  bodies  and  skins  and  hearts  of  the 
bright  champions  of  Munster  were  quickly  pierced  through  the  fine  linen  garments, 
and  their  very  sharp  blades  took  no  effect."  This  advantage  which  the  Danes  pos- 
sessed helps  to  explain  the  successes  which  they  met  with  in  the  early  years  of 
their  invasions.  But  the  Irish  soon  learned  in  the  hard  school  of  experience  how 
to  imitate  the  superior  weapons,  armour  and  science  of  warfare  of  the  enemy. 


272  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

the  victors.  Five  thousand  Norwegians  with  their  kings  lay  dead 
on  the  field.  The  messengers  arrived  just  as  the  Danes  were  pre- 
paring their  evening  meal.  They  had  their  kettles  set  up  on  stakes 
driven  into  the  bodies  of  the  slain  and  the  corpses  crackled  with 
the  heat.  The  Irish  envoys  expressed  their  horror  at  the  awful 
sight  and  reproached  the  Danes  for  their  barbarity,  but  the  Danes 
replied  that  the  Norwegians  would  have  treated  them  in  the  same 
manner  had  they  won  the  battle. 

The  next  year  (852),  the  Norwegians  rallied,  and  a  new 
warlord  arrived  to  take  command  over  them.  This  was  Olafr 
enn  hviti,  "Olaf  the  White,"  as  he  is  known  in  Icelandic  history, 
or  Amhlaobh,  in  the  Irish  records,  a  man  of  royal  descent  and 
belonging  to  the  same  race  as  the  famous  Turgeis.  In  the  follow- 
ing year  (853)  he  and  his  countryman  Ivar  assumed  joint  king- 
ship over  the  foreigners  in  Ireland  and  set  up  their  capital  at 
Dublin.  From  there  the  Norwegians  gradually  gained  ground 
and  established  vassal  states  and  a  string  of  trading  posts  and 
stations  for  their  fleets  along  the  coast.  Many  of  these  settle- 
ments bear  Scandinavian  names  from  fiords,  Strangford  and  Car- 
lingford,  in  the  north  and  Wexford  and  Waterford  in  the  south, 
for  example.  The  last  of  these  towns  was  originally  called  Port 
Lairge  (Portlaw),  by  the  Irish,  but  the  foreigners  renamed  it 
Vedrafiordhr,  "Weatherhaven." 

The  most  important  artery  reaching  into  the  heart  of  Ireland 
is  the  River  Shannon.  On  its  banks  the  Vikings,  who  were  most 
probably  Danes,  founded  and  fortified,  in  the  second  half  of  the 
ninth  century,  a  city  which  they  called  Limerick,  "Limerick  of  the 
mighty  ships,"  as  one  of  the  old  chroniclers  calls  it.  The  city 
flourished  and  exerted  an  influence  over  all  Munster.  There  was 
close  connection  between  It  and  the  distant  Hebrides,  and  it  was 
not  long  before  it  became  a  dangerous  rival  even  of  the  Norwe- 
gian kingdom  at  Dublin,  and  for  a  long  time  there  was  enmity 
between  them.  The  two  parties  engaged  in  raidings  and  hostings, 
just  like  the  native  clansmen.  Now  one  side  and  now  the  other 
invited  the  Irish  to  help  them,  and  Irish  chieftains  In  turn.  In  their 
Internecine  wars,  sought  the  aid  of  the  foreigners.  The  first  Irish 
king  who  is  said  to  have  made  such  an  alliance  was  Aed  Finn- 
liath,  father  of  Niall  Glundubh,  king  of  Ulster  In  the  middle  of 
the  ninth  century.  But,  Indeed,  from  the  time  of  the  first  coming 
of  the  Northmen  to  their  final  defeat,  there  probably  never  was 
a  war  in  which  they  and  the  Irish  were  not,  to  some  degree,  banded 
together. 

Irish  literature  of  a  thousand  years  ago  is  obsessed  with  the 


THE  VIKINGS  IN  IRELAND  273 

spectre  of  the  Norse  occupation  of  Ireland,  and,  if  we  are  to  be- 
lieve the  native  annalists,  a  night  of  misery  had  really  settled  down 
on  the  country  with  the  coming  of  the  Vikings.  On  the  occasion 
of  a  raid,  villages  were  burned  and  sacked  and  there  was  whole- 
sale slaughter  and  enslavement  of  men,  women  and  children.  The 
foreign  soldiers  were  billeted  on  the  Irish  farmers  and  a  heavy 
tax  was  laid  upon  all  the  people.  In  default  of  paying  the  tax, 
"nose-money"  (a  custom  which  they  had  brought  from  their  own 
country),  that  is,  the  loss  of  the  nose,  was  exacted.  In  the  words 
of  one  of  the  old  chroniclers,  "even  though  a  man  had  but  one 
cow,  he  might  not  milk  it  for  a  child  one  night  old,  nor  for  a  sick 
person,  but  he  had  to  keep  it  for  the  tax  collector  and  the  foreign 
soldiers." 

There  were  no  walled  towns  in  those  days  in  Ireland  and  but 
few  and  scattered  villages.  The  population  of  the  country  was 
comparatively  sparse.  Life,  except  at  the  courts  of  chiefs,  was 
simple  and  primitive.  The  people  were  mostly  engaged  in  cattle 
raising,  and  their  wealth  consisted  chiefly  of  flocks  and  herds  and 
wearing  apparel.  The  nation  was  broken  up  into  numerous  clans, 
which  of  course  stood  in  the  way  of  national  union. 

By  the  end  of  the  ninth  century  there  were  frequent  alliances 
by  marriage  between  the  two  peoples.  According  to  legendary 
history,  such  marriages  had  taken  place  as  early  as  the  second 
century.  Naturally  the  annalists  tell  of  such  marriages  only  in 
the  case  of  Irish  ladies  of  high  degree  and  Viking  chieftains  but 
they  must  have  been  even  more  common  among  the  people.  The 
first  historical  instance  of  such  marriages  was  that  of  larnkne  to 
Muirgel,  daughter  of  Maelsechlainn  (Malachy)  I,  Emperor  of 
Ireland  about  the  middle  of  the  ninth  century.  About  the  same 
time  Amhlaobh,  son  of  the  king  of  Norway,  married  the  daughter 
of  Aed  mac  Neill.  It  scarcely  ever  appears  that  the  wishes  of 
the  ladies  most  concerned  were  consulted  and,  as  an  old  Irish  poet 
remarks,  "by  no  means  was  it  happy  for  them."  Some  of  these 
womien  settled  down  with  their  husbands  in  Ireland.  Others  fol- 
lowed them  to  Norway  or  Iceland,  and  many  other  Irish  women, 
even  of  the  highest  class  of  society,  were  carried  away  as  slaves. 
Thus,  inter-marriage  and  the  adoption  of  Christianity  by  the  ma- 
jority of  the  Norsemen,  were  strong  helps  towards  the  assimila- 
tion of  the  invader. 

Another  help  was  the  custom  of  fosterage,  in  vogue  among 
both  peoples,  according  to  which  Irish  children  were  sometimes 
adopted  even  into  families  of  their  country's  enemies.  Some  of 
these  children,  who  had  been  adopted  at  the  most  impressionable 


274  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

age,  forsook  the  nationality  and  religion  of  their  parents  and  em- 
braced that  of  their  fosterers.  These  apostate  Irish,  together  with 
companies  of  mixed  Irish  and  foreigners  and  Gaelic  speaking 
Norsemen  from  the  Hebrides  and  other  western  islands,  became 
bandits,  scourged  the  country  and  plundered  the  Irish  and  Norse 
indiscriminately.  The  Chronicles  call  them  Gaill-Gaedhel,  "the 
foreign  Irish,"  but  the  people  knew  them  as  "the  sons  of  death," 
because  of  their  ferociousness.  They  were  especially  numerous 
and  active  about  the  middle  of  the  ninth  century  and  their  most 
conspicuous  leader  was  Caitill  Finn,  "Ketil  the  White,"  a  man  of 
Norse  descent.  Finally  the  Irish  chieftains  and  the  Norwegian 
kings  of  Dublin  joined  forces  to  destroy  them  and,  in  the  year 
857,  Ketil  was  killed  by  King  Amhlaobh  of  Dublin,  who  com- 
manded a  troop  of  independent  Norsemen  in  the  south  of  Ireland. 

As  in  some  other  countries,  France,  for  example,  up  to  the 
ninth  century,  the  warrior-churchman  was  a  conspicuous  figure  in 
Ireland  in  the  ninth-tenth  centuries.  The  most  celebrated  of  all 
the  priest-warriors  was  the  Abbot-Archbishop  Cormac  mac  Cuilen- 
nain,  who  reigned  as  king  of  Munster  from  901  to  908.  He  was 
also  an  accomplished  scribe  and  scholar.  Besides  his  native  Gaelic 
he  knew  Latin,  Welsh,  Anglo-Saxon,  Old  Norse,  and  some  Greek 
and  Hebrew,  and  he  compiled  the  Psalter  of  Cashel  and  the  Sanas 
Cormaic,  "Cormac's  Glossary,"  the  very  first  comparative  ver- 
nacular dictionary  in  any  language  in  modern  Europe.  In  the 
words  of  an  old  annalist,  "he  was  the  most  learned  of  all  who 
came  or  shall  come  of  the  men  of  Erin  forever."  Cormac  was  a 
man  of  peace  and  would,  no  doubt,  have  preferred  to  devote  him- 
self to  the  quiet  pursuits  of  the  student,  but,  unfortunately  for 
himself,  he  followed  the  advice  of  his  turbulent  and  warlike  coun- 
sellor, Flaithbhertach  (Flaherty),  Abbot  of  Scattery  Island  In 
the  Shannon,  who  instigated  the  king  to  go  to  war  with  the  men 
of  Leinster.  A  pitched  battle  was  fought  In  the  year  908  at  Belach 
Mugna  (Ballaghmoon),  In  Kildare,  a  couple  of  miles  north  of 
Carlow.  It  was  a  hopeless  attack  for  the  men  of  Munster  and 
ended  In  their  complete  rout  and  destruction.  Clergy  and  laity 
were  slaughtered  without  distinction.  Cormac  himself  was  thrown 
from  his  horse  which  slipped  on  the  blood  soaked  ground  and  his 
neck  broken.  The  enemy  thrust  spears  Into  his  body  and  cut  off 
his  head.  And  thus,  in  the  words  of  the  Four  Masters,  fell  "the 
bishop,  the  father  confessor,  the  renowned  Illustrious  doctor,  King 
of  Cashel,  King  of  larmumha;  O  God!     Alas  for  Cormac  1" 

A  son  of  the  romantic  Gormlaith — who  had  been  betrothed  to 
Cormac  before  he  became  a  religious — was  Muirchertach    ( Mur- 


THE  VIKINGS  IN  IRELAND  275 

togh),  a  soldier  of  the  first  rank  and  heir  to  the  throne  of  Ireland. 
He  seems  to  have  sworn  to  avenge  his  father's  death,  and  from 
918  to  943  he  carried  on  the  war  victoriously  against  the  Danes 
of  Dublin  and  attacked  their  oversea  settlements  in  the  Hebrides 
and  on  the  north  coast  of  Scotland.  In  the  depth  of  the  winter 
of  941,  when  he  was  least  expected  by  his  enemies,  he  made  a 
hostage-lev-ying  circuit  of  Ireland  at  the  head  of  a  thousand  picked 
men  whom  he  had  clad  in  leather  cloaks,  whence  he  is  known  as 
"Muirchertach  of  the  Leather  Cloaks."  He,  too,  was  finally  de- 
feated by  the  foreigners. 

During  the  first  half  of  the  tenth  century  the  Danes  gained 
possession  of  large  parts  of  the  interior  of  the  country.  In  914 
strong  reinforcements  arrived  at  Waterford.  They  again  sailed 
up  the  Shannon  in  a  great  fleet  and  into  Lough  Ree  where  they 
plundered  the  islands  and  burned  Clonmacnois.  Their  leader  this 
time  was  Tomrair,  king,  or  son  of  the  king,  of  Denmark,  who, 
in  the  words  of  the  annalist,  under  the  year  922,  is  reported  to 
have  gone  "to  hell  with  his  pains,  as  he  deserved."  By  the  middle 
of  the  century,  however,  fortune  again  turned  in  favour  of  the  Irish. 
They  had  learned  how  to  build  warships  and  to  employ  naval  tac- 
tics after  the  manner  of  the  Northmen.  The  most  celebrated  of 
the  naval  battles,  in  which  they  engaged  is  connected  with  the  name 
of  Cellachan  of  Cashel,  who  began  to  reign  in  934  and  who  won 
back  Cashel  and  most  of  Munster  from  the  Danes.  He  was  after- 
wards taken  prisoner  but  was  rescued  in  the  course  of  the  famous 
sea  fight,  which  took  place  in  950-951  in  the  bay  of  Dundalk,  the 
foreigners  being  under  the  command  of  Sitric,  who  was  drowned 
in  the  battle.  After  the  fight,  Cellachan  entered  Dublin,  collected 
great  stores  of  cattle,  gold,  silver  and  other  treasures,  burned  the 
town  and  departed. 

The  most  famous  hero  of  the  Danish  period  in  Ireland  and 
one  of  the  most  famous  in  all  Irish  history  was  the  celebrated 
Brian  mac  Cenneidigh,  son  of  Kennedy,  chief  of  Thomond,  in- 
cluding the  eastern  portion  of  the  present  county  of  Clare,  and 
hereditary  ruler  of  North  Munster.  He  was  born  probably  about 
the  year  941  and  is  known  to  history  as  Brian  Boru,  which  he 
took  from  the  name  of  the  town  of  Borime,  near  Killaloe,  on  the 
right  bank  of  the  Shannon.  He  was  the  youngest  of  twelve 
brothers,  all  of  whom  fell  in  battle,  except  Marcan  who  was  a 
religious  and  head  of  the  clergy  of  Munster,  and  Anluan  who  died 
of  a  severe  illness. 

Brian's  eldest  brother  was  Mathghamhain  (Mahon)  who  suc- 
ceeded his  father,  and  in  968  became  king  of  Munster.     Mahcn 


276  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

was  engaged  almost  constantly  in  war  with  the  Danes  and  with  the 
Leinstermen  who,  as  a  rule,  were  in  alliance  with  them,  "for  there 
were  many  Gael  who  stood  by  him  (Sitric  of  Limerick),  not  so 
much  through  love  of  him  as  through  hatred  of  the  Dal  Cais  (the 
Dalcassians,  the  family  to  which  Kennedy  belonged)."  In  959 
Mahon  and  the  Munstermen  plundered  Clonmacnois.  In  965  they 
destroyed  Limerick,  and  in  968  they  fought  a  decisive  battle  with 
the  Irish-Norse  at  Sulchoid,  about  two  and  a  half  miles  northwest 
of  Tipperary.  The  battle  lasted  from  sunrise  till  midday  and 
ended  in  the  complete  rout  of  the  allies.  The  prisoners  were  then 
collected  on  the  hill  of  Saingel,  near  Limerick,  and  "every  one 
that  was  fit  for  war  was  put  to  death  and  every  one  that  was  fit 
for  a  slave  was  enslaved."  In  976  Mahon  was  betrayed,  some 
say  by  an  Irish  prince,  and  treacherously  put  to  death  by  his  Norse 
and  Irish  enemies.  Brian,  then  thirty-five  years  of  age,  became 
king  of  Munster  and  took  quick  vengeance  on  the  assassins.  In 
three  years'  time  he  was  the  undisputed  king  of  the  southern  half 
of  Ireland. 

In  980  Maelsechlainn  (Malachy)  II,  surnamed  Mor,  "the 
Great,"  king  of  Meath,  became  emperor  of  Ireland,  and  in  the 
same  year  he  won  a  victory  over  the  Danes  at  the  battle  of  Tara. 
Somewhere  about  that  time  Brian  became  the  bitter  rival  of  Mal- 
achy and  made  up  his  mind  to  dispute  the  throne  with  him.  In 
985,  with  a  great  fleet,  he  sailed  up  the  Shannon  to  Lough  Ree, 
raided  Meath,  and  did  great  damage  to  Connacht.  For  a  few 
years  there  was  show  of  friendship  between  the  two  kings,  and 
in  998  they  came  to  an  understanding,  and  made  a  truce  accord- 
ing to  which,  on  certain  conditions,  Malachy  was  limited  as  sole 
sovereign  of  the  northern,  and  Brian,  of  the  southern  half,  of 
Ireland.  Thereupon  the  Leinstermen  allied  themselves  with  the 
Dublin  Danes  and  revolted.  Brian  and  Malachy  united  their 
forces,  "to  the  great  joy  of  the  Irish,"  as  the  Four  Masters  say, 
and,  in  999,  defeated  them  "with  red  slaughter"  at  Glenmama, 
near  Dunlavin,  County  Wicklow.  Seven  thousand  Danes  are  said 
to  have  fallen  in  the  battle.  The  Irish  then  marched  to  Dublin 
which  they  sacked  of  its  accumulated  treasures,  ravaged  Leinster 
and  expelled  King  Sitric,  with  whom  Brian  himself  was  afterwards 
to  make  peace  and  alliance. 

The  two  Irish  kings  soon  quarrelled  again,  and  in  the  year 
1002,  Malachy,  finding  that  there  was  defection  in  his  ranks,  was 
compelled  to  resign  his  supremacy  to  the  superior  force  of  Brian 
and  to  step  down  to  the  position  of  a  provincial  king.  The  fact 
is  Brian  violated  the  treaty.     As  Tighernach,  the  annalist,  says 


THE  VIKINGS  IN  IRELAND  277 

this  was  the  first  "treacherous  turning  of  Brian  against  Malachy." 

Both  Malachy  and  Brian  were  cxtrabrdinary  men  and  it  would 
seem  as  if  Ireland  was  not  big  enough  for  both  of  them.  Of  the 
two,  Malachy  played  the  nobler  part.  He  was  generous,  whole- 
hearted, and  loyal  to  his  promises,  and  Brian's  superior  in  un-« 
selfish  patriotism  and  in  readiness  to  sacrifice  personal  pride  and 
personal  rights  to  the  welfare  and  interests  of  his  country.  On 
the  other  hand,  Brian  was  the  more  forceful,  energetic  and  ca- 
pable. He  was  clearly  a  usurper  and  filled  with  ambition.  Yet 
had  he  not  done  what  he  did,  which,  after  all,  is  condoned  by  mod- 
ern statecraft  and  was  no  more  treacherous  than  what  has  hap- 
pened hundreds  of  times  in  the  history  of  other  countries,  Malachy 
or  some  other  rival  would  undoubtedly  have  attempted  to  over- 
reach him.  Had  he  begun  his  career  at  an  earlier  age  and  had  he 
not  had  to  contend  with  foreign  invasion,  he  would  no  doubt  have 
succeeded  in  welding  the  Irish  clans  into  a  strongly  centralised  and 
compact  empire.  That  design  probably  never  entered  into  his 
calculations.  As  it  was,  he  did  achieve  that  result  to  a  certain  ex- 
tent and  his  reign  was  remarkably  successful,  prosperous  and  happy. 

He  had  his  royal  seat  at  Kincora,  a  well  situated  place  near 
Killaloe,  on  the  Shannon,  where  he  ruled  with  a  steady  hand,  es- 
tablished his  power  and  authority  on  a  firm  basis,  enforced  law 
and  order,  imparted  rigid  and  impartial  justice,  and  dispensed  a 
royal  hospitality.  Though  much  of  his  time  was  given  to  prepara- 
tion for  war,  in  which,  whenever  occasion  offered,  he  always  proved 
himself  to  be  a  good  soldier,  a  brave  warrior  and  a  skilful  strate- 
gist, he  still  found  time  to  build  forts,  roads  and  churches.  He 
founded  schools  and  encouraged  learning,  dispatched  agents 
abroad  to  buy  books,  and  during  his  reign  the  bardic  schools  be- 
gan to  rise  again.  He  had  difficulties  with  his  own  people,  and 
indeed  his  title  as  emperor  was  never  admitted  by  the  north.  Nor 
were  the  Leinstermen  any  too  friendly  and  he  had  to  maintain 
permanent  garrisons  in  parts  of  Munster. 

On  one  of  several  royal  progresses  which  he  made  through 
the  country,  about  the  year  1004,  he  invaded  Ulster  and  visited 
Armagh  where  he  gave  alms  of  a  golden  ring  in  which  were  twenty 
ounces  of  gold  and  where  his  official  secretary  and  counsellor,  and 
former  instructor  Maelsuthaln  O  Cearbhaill  (O'Carroll),  of  Loch 
Lein,  reputed  to  be  the  best  scholar  in  Ireland,  inscribed  in  the 
Book  of  Armagh  these  words  in  Latin:  "I,  Maelsuthain,  write 
this  in  the  presence  of  Brian,  Emperor  of  the  Irish." 

Brian  even  attempted  to  extend  his  power  beyond  the  limits 
of  Ireland.     In  the  year   1005   he  fitted  out  a  fleet  manned  by 


278  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

Norsemen  from  Dublin,  Waterford,  and  Wexford  and  Irish  and 
pillaged  the  shores  and  levied  tribute  on  the  inhabitants  of  north- 
ern and  western  Britain.  He  did  not  extirpate  the  Danes  who 
were  domiciled  in  Ireland  or  banish  them  from  the  kingdom,  but 
treated  them  with  the  utmost  leniency,  and  recognised  the  element 
of  strength  they  would  add  to  promote  commerce  and  develop  the 
resources  of  the  country.  In  return  for  the  Dublin  Danes  bind- 
ing themselves  to  follow  him  in  his  wars,  he  was  obliged  to  guar- 
antee them  and  the  other  foreigners  possession  of  their  territory 
in  Ireland. 

In  furtherance  of  this  policy  or  of  his  personal  ambition,  he 
found  it  to  his  interest  to  bind  this  peace  by  ties  of  marriage  even 
with  those  who  so  lately  were  his  bitterest  enemies.  A  few  months 
after  Glenmama  he  gave  his  own  daughter  by  his  first  wife  in  mar- 
riage to  Sigtryggr  (Sitric),  his  former  opponent  and  king  of  Dub- 
lin, while  he  himself,  Brian,  married,  as  his  second  wife,  Sitric's 
mother,  Gormlaith,  a  beautiful,  powerful  and  intriguing  Irish 
woman.  Like  her  namesake,  the  gentle  and  unfortunate  poet- 
Queen  who  lived  sixty  years  before  her,  Gormlaith  had  a  stormy 
life  and  her  marriage  to  Brian  was  her  third  matrimonial  venture. 
She  was  first  married  to  Malachy  the  Great,  then  to  Olafr  kvaran 
(Amhlaobh  "the  Shoe"),  Danish  king  of  Dublin  (celebrated  in 
the  history  of  England),  by  whom  she  had  a  son,  the  Sitric  men- 
tioned above;  and  finally  she  was  married  to  Brian  Boru,  and 
was  prepared  to  marry,  if  one  can  speak  of  these  connections  as 
legal  matrimony,  for  the  fourth  time,  as  we  shall  see  later.  In 
the  words  of  the  sagaman,  "Gormlaith  was  the  fairest  of  all 
women,  and  15est  gifted  in  everything  that  was  not  in  her  own 
power,  but  it  was  the  talk  of  men  that  she  did  all  things  ill  over 
which  she  had  any  power." 

It  was  through  Gormlaith's  machinations  and  deadly  hatred 
that  Brian  lost  his  life,  and  the  last  act  in  the  long  Dano-Irish 
drama  was  effected.  A  series  of  petty  family  quarrels  precipitated 
the  denouement.  One  day,  it  was  in  the  year  1013,  the  Leinster 
prince  Maolmordha  (MoUoy),  who  was  Gormlaith's  brother  and 
consequently  Brian's  brother-in-law,  and  in  alliance  with  the  Dub- 
lin Danes,  was  bringing  three  large  pine  masts  for  shipping,  prob- 
ably as  a  tribute,  to  Brian  at  Kincora.  As  his  men  were  climbing 
a  boggy  hill  near  Roscrea  a  quarrel  broke  out  between  them  and 
other  clansmen,  and  Maolmordha,  giving  a  hand  .to  support  one 
of  the  masts,  tore  a  silver  button  from  a  tunic  which  Brian  had 
given  him.  On  arriving  at  Kincora  he  asked  his  sister  to  mend 
the  tunic  for  him,  but  instead  she  threw  it  into  the  fire,  saying  he 


THE  VIKINGS  IN  IRELAND  279 

ought  to  be  ashamed  to  accept  any  gift  from  Brian  and  thus  admit 
his  subjection  to  him,  an  indignity,  she  said,  which  neither  his 
father  nor  grandfather  would  ever  have  suffered.  The  taunt  left 
a  rankling  wound  in  the  heart  of  Maolmordha.  On  another  day 
Maolmordha,  looking  on  while  Brian's  eldest  son,  Murchadli 
(Morrough)  and  his  cousin  Conang  were  playing  chess  at  Kin- 
cora,  suggested  a  move  which  lost  Murchadh  the  game.  Then 
Murchadh  angrily  exclaimed,  "That  was  like  the  advice  you  gave 
the  Danes  which  lost  them  the  battle  of  Glenmdma" — to  which 
Maolmordha  replied,  "Yes,  and  I  will  give  them  advice  again, 
and  this  time  they  will  not  be  defeated." 

One  word  led  to  another,  and  the  men  parted  in  anger.  When 
Brian  heard  of  the  altercation,  he  sent  a  man  post-haste  after 
Maolmordha  with  gifts  to  appease  him  and  to  invite  him  back 
to  Kincora.  The  messenger  overtook  him  on  the  bridge  of  Killa- 
loe,  but  Maolmordha  broke  the  man's  head  and  kept  on  his  way 
till  he  reached  home  where  he  made  known  to  his  people  the  great 
insult  he  had  received  from  Brian's  son.  He  then  joined  forces 
with  O'Neill,  O'Ruarc,  Sitric  of  Dublin  and  others  and  attacked 
Brian's  ally,  Malachy,  near  Sord  (Swords)  a  few  miles  north  of 
Dublin,  and  defeated  him.  Malachy  appealed  to  Brian  to  come 
to  his  aid,  but  Brian  was  short  of  supplies  and  could  furnish  no 
assistance. 

In  the  meantime  Brian  had  put  away  Gormlaith,  who  was  then 
free  to  vent  all  her  spleen  on  him.  She  was  especially  anxious  to 
win  the  help  of  Sigurd,  Earl  of  the  Orkneys.  Sigurd,  who  was 
Irish  on  his  mother's  side,  promised  to  come,  provided,  in  case 
of  success,  he  should  be  king  of  Ireland  and  have  the  hand  of 
Gormlaith.  For  he  had  ambition  to  establish  a  Danish  dynasty 
similar  to  the  one  which  his  countrymen,  Svein,  and  his  son,  Cnut, 
had  shortly  before  founded  in  England.  Though  his  mother  wove 
for  him  a  "raven  banner"  with  mighty  spells  which  was  to  bring 
victory  to  the  host  before  whom  it  was  flown  but  death  to  the 
man  who  bore  It,  it  was  against  his  own  forebodings  and  those 
of  his  men  that  Sigurd  was  induced  to  take  part  In  the  expedition. 
Sitric  next  sought  help  from  two  Viking  brothers  who  lived  on 
the  west  coast  of  the  Isle  of  Man.  Ospak  was  a  heathen  and 
Brodar  had  been  a  Christian  but  apostatised,  and  was  regarded 
as  a  kind  of  magician.  He  was  a  very  tall  man  with  long  black 
hair  which  he  wore  tucked  In  under  his  belt,  and  he  was  clad  in  a 
coat  of  mail  "which  no  steel  could  bite."  He  too  stipulated  thr.t 
he  would  come  with  twenty  ships  provided  he  should  wed  Gorm- 
laith and  become  king  of  Ireland.    As  Sitric  was  under  Instructions 


28o  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

to  get  help  at  any  price,  he  made  no  scruple  to  accept  the  terms 
on  condition  that  the  agreement  was  to  be  kept  secret.  Ospak, 
who  was  dissatisfied  with  the  arrangement,  escaped  from  his 
brother  during  the  night  with  his  ten  ships,  sailed  round  Ireland 
and  up  the  Shannon  where  he  joined  Brian  and  became  his  ally. 

By  Palm  Sunday  in  the  year  1014,  a  great  host  of  the  massed 
forces  of  the  Norselands  assembled  on  the  shore  of  Clontarf,  a 
few  miles  north  of  Dublin,  It  consisted  of  1,000  mail-clad  Norse- 
men under  Brodar,  Vikings  from  Normandy,  Flanders,  England 
and  Cornwall,  and,  above  all,  fierce  fighting  men  from  the  Ork- 
neys, Shetlands,  Hebrides,  and  other  islands  off  the  west  coast 
of  Scotland,  all  picked  men  and  most  conspicuous  for  valour  of 
the  men  of  their  time.  With  them  also  were  the  men  of  their  race 
who  had  settled  in  and  around  Dublin,  and  the  Ui  Cinnselaigh 
(Kinsellas)  from  Wexford  and  the  men  of  Leinster.  These  lat- 
ter were  under  the  command  of  their  king  Maolmordha.  On  the 
side  of  Brian  and  Ireland  were,  besides  his  own  people  from 
Munster,  the  men  of  Connacht  and  Meath  and  the  Christianised 
Norsemen  He  also  had  an  auxiliary  force  from  Scotland  under 
Domhnall,  Great  Steward  of  Mar,  but  he  got  no  help  from  Ulster. 

In  spite  of  his  seventy-three  years  of  age,  Brian  wished  to  lead 
his  army  in  person,  but  his  advisers  persuaded  him  to  retire  to  a 
tent  not  far  from  the  field  and  there  to  await  the  Issue.  The  real 
commander  of  the  Irish  forces  was  Brian's  son,  Murchadh,  a 
captain  of  outstanding  ability,  who  stationed  himself  with  a  select 
corps  of  troops  from  Desmond  and  Thomond  facing  Brodar's 
mail-clad  warriors. 

On  the  night  before  the  battle,  the  Norse  said,  their  old  god 
of  war,  Woden  himself,  rode  up  through  the  dusk  on  a  dapple- 
grey  horse,  halberd  in  hand,  to  take  counsel  with  his  champions; 
and  there  were  other  portents.  Brian  was  unwilling  to  fight  on 
Good  Friday,  but  it  had  been  prophesied  to  the  Danes  that  if  the 
battle  was  fought  on  that  day  Brian  would  certainly  be  slain,  but, 
If  they  fought  on  any  other  day,  all  would  fall  who  were  against 
him.  So  they  forced  the  battle  on  Good  Friday,  w^hich  fell  that 
year  on  April  23.  The  combat  began  at  sunrise,  when  the  tide 
was  at  full,  and  raged  till  sunset.  This  celebrated  battle  is  known 
as  the  Battle  of  Brian,  or  the  Battle  of  the  Weir  of  Clontarf. 
But,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  scene  of  the  battle  was  not  at  Clon- 
tarf at  all,  but  near  Clonliffe,  between  the  Liffey  and  the  Tolka, 
in  what  are  now  the  outlying  districts  of  Dublin  north  of  the  Lif- 
fey. In  those  days  the  tide  flowed  over  the  plain  now  occupied 
by  Merrion  Square,  College  Green  and  up  to  the  very  walls  of 


THE  VIKIXGS  IN  IRELAND  281 

the  Castle.  The  Norse  battle-line  extended  roughly  from  the 
Four  Courts,  Rutland  Square  and  Montjoy  Square.  It  was  a 
faulty  position,  for  all  retreat  was  cut  oti  by  I'omar's  Wood,  a 
part  of  which  is  the  Phoenix  Park,  stretching  from  Drumcondra 
towards  the  Liffey.  The  Irish  lay  to  the  north,  their  right  flank 
at  Drumcondra  and  their  left  in  Clontarf.  Both  armies  are  esti- 
mated at  about  20,000  men,  but  the  Danes  were  the  better  armed, 
many  of  them  being  clad  in  shirts  of  mail,  while  most  of  the  Irish 
fought  in  tunics.  Before  the  battle,  Brian  is  said  to  have  mounted 
his  charger  and,  with  a  goldcn-hilted  sword  in  one  hand  and  a 
crucifix  in  the  other,  urged  on  his  men  to  meet  the  enemy. 

Sitric  does  not  appear  to  have  taken  part  in  the  battle,  but  to 
have  held  the  garrison  in  reserve  behind  the  walls  on  the  hill  of 
the  city,  where  the  Danish  women,  among  them  Brian's  daughter, 
looked  on  from  the  battlements;  and  it  appeared  to  them  "that 
not  more  numerous  would  be  the  sheaves  floating  over  a  great 
company  reaping  a  field  of  oats,  even  though  two  or  three  battal- 
ions were  working  at  it,  than  the  hair  flying  with  the  wind  from 
them,  cut  away  by  heavy  gleaming  axes  and  by  bright  flaming 
swords." 

At  the  first  onset,  Brian's  men  came  in  contact  with  the  mail- 
clad  men  in  the  Danish  centre  and  were  cut  to  pieces.  But  the 
enemy's  success  was  not  lasting,  and  towards  evening  the  efforts 
of  the  Irish  were  crowned  with  success  and  the  day  was  saved  by 
the  arrival  of  Malachy's  men  who  were  fresh  and  unwearied. 

Part  of  the  enemy  fled  to  their  ships  at  Clontarf,  but  the  re- 
turning tide  had  carried  away  the  boats  and  prevented  the  escape 
of  most  of  them.  Great  numbers  were  drowned  in  the  sea  and 
heaps  of  them  lay  dead  on  the  ground.  Four  thousand  of  them 
are  said  to  have  fallen  on  Brian's  side  and  7,000  on  his  oppo- 
nent's. Both  parties  lost  most  of  their  leaders,  including  the  brave 
Earl  Sigurd. 

During  the  battle  Brian  was  guarded  in  his  tent  at  Magduma, 
near  Tomar's  wood,  by  a  "fence  of  shields,"  or  "skjaldborg,"  as 
the  Danes  called  it,  composed  of  chosen  warriors  who  sur- 
rounded him  with  their  shields  locked  together.  The  king  is  said 
to  have  knelt  on  a  cushion  with  his  psalm-book  open  before  him. 
News  was  falsely  brought  to  him  that  his  son  had  fallen.  Then  a 
spy  or  traitor  in  the  Irish  camp,  said  to  be  Tadhg  O  Ceallaigh 
(O'Kelly),  king  of  Ui  Maine  (Hy-many,  counties  Galway  and 
Roscommon),  who  afterwards  fell  in  the  battle,  pointed  out  Brian's 
position  to  Brodar.  The  guard  was  overcome  and,  according  to 
one  account,  Brian  took  his  sword,  slew  the  Norse  invader  and 


282  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

then  killed  himself;  but  the  Norse  account  is  that  Brian  was  slain 
by  a  blow  from  Brodar  who  was  slain  in  turn  by  an  unknown  hand. 

It  was  a  costly  victory  for  the  Irish;  the  king  himself,  the 
heir-apparent  (his  brave  son  Murchadh),  and  the  heir  apparent's 
heir  (Turlough),  all  fell  in  the  battle.  The  bodies  of  the  two 
former  were  brought  to  Armagh  and  Interred  honourably  in  a 
tomb  nearby  the  sanctuary  of  Saint  Patrick.  On  the  conclusion 
of  the  battle  the  troops  disbanded,  each  clan  going  to  its  own  ter- 
ritory, and  Donchadh,  Brian's  son,  who  had  been  away  on  a  forag- 
ing expedition  and  had  taken  no  part  in  the  battle,  took  command. 

But  the  days  of  Ireland's  glory  were  departed.  In  the  words 
of  his  eulogist,  "Brian  was  the  last  man  in  Erin  who  was  a  match 
for  a  hundred.  He  was  the  last  man  who  killed  a  hundred  in  one 
day.  His  was  the  last  step  that  true  valour  ever  took  in  Erin!" 
He  was  a  sovereign  of  whom  any  nation  might  justly  be  proud 
and  one  of  the  world's  greatest  monarchs.  Had  he  or  his  family 
lived,  the  chance  is  that  with  the  prestige  of  his  name  and  the 
great  victory  at  Clontarf,  they  would  have  founded  an  hereditary 
monarchy  which  would  have  put  an  end  to  disunion  and  demoral- 
isation and  provided  one  of  the  strongest  bulwarks  against  the 
Norman  invasion  which  was  soon  to  fall  upon  the  country. 

But  his  death  and  that  of  his  eldest  son  brought  about  the 
displacement  of  the  Dalcassians  and  the  restoration  of  Malachy 
to  the  throne.  In  the  year  after  Clontarf,  1015,  Malachy  led  an 
army  against  Dublin  and  suppressed  the  last  attempts  of  the  for- 
eigners. He  reigned  eight  years  and  died  in  1022.  Brave,  mag- 
nanimous, and  inspired  by  a  lofty  patriotism  and  chivalry,  he  was 
the  last  Irish  king  to  reign  without  opposition. 

After  him,  as  a  consequence  of  Brian's  unfortunate  violation 
of  the  law  of  the  realm,  there  were  few  Irish  kings  who  had  not 
to  fight  for  the  throne  instead  of  being  chosen  to  it  according  to 
custom.  Frequently  two  or  more  claimants  assumed  the  title  at 
the  same  time  and  desolated  and  distracted  the  country.  These 
men,  who  are  known  for  the  most  part  as  "kings  with  opposition," 
because  they  were  unable  to  secure  general  obedience  to  their  ad- 
ministration of  affairs,  were  weaker  than  their  predecessors  and 
their  worthless  and  futile  careers  only  emphasise  the  greatness  of 
Brian  and  Malachy.  For  twenty  years  after  Malachy's  death, 
the  chief  government  was  vested  in  the  hands  of  two  men,  neither 
of  whom  was  a  king,  one  being  Cuan  O  Lochan,  the  king's  chief 
poet,  and  the  other  a  religious  of  Lismore  named  Corcran. 

The  battle  of  the  Weir  of  Clontarf  was  one  of  the  decisive 
battles  of  history,  for  It  not  only  warded  off  Danish  rule  from 


THE  VIKINGS  IN  IRELAND  283 

Ireland  but  it  probably  even  altered  the  whole  subsequent  history 
of  Europe,  Had  the  Danes  been  victorious  and  gotten  possession 
of  Ireland,  they  would  doubtless  have  founded  there  a  kingdom 
which  would  have  been  the  greatest  step  towards  the  formation 
of  a  far-flung  northern  empire,  with  its  centre  at  London.  For 
three  centuries  they  strove  desperately  for  possession  of  the  prize, 
but  they  were  unable  to  accomplish  in  those  three  hundred  years 
in  Ireland  as  much  as  they  had  accomplished  in  one  year  in  north- 
ern France  and  in  England. 

After  Clontarf  the  Danes  who  were  left  in  Ireland  settled 
down  and  became  as  Irish  as  the  Irish  themselves,  but  nearly  100 
years  after  the  battle  the  foreigners  made  a  final  attempt  to  get 
control  of  Ireland.  In  the  year  1098  the  famous  Norwegian  king 
Magnus  Barelegs,  so  called  because  he  dressed  in  the  Irish  fash- 
ion, who  fills  a  large  place  in  the  romantic  history  of  the  period, 
came  to  Ireland  with  a  mighty  force.  He  had  conquered  the  Heb- 
rides and  Man  and  had  already  made  many  visits  to  Ireland,  and 
was  more  than  half  Irish  in  feeling  and  culture.  He  used  Irish 
in  his  poems  and  was  in  love,  as  he  says,  with  "the  Irish  girl  whom 
I  love  better  than  myself."  According  to  the  Manx  Chronicle,  he 
sent  his  shoes  to  Muirchertach,  Emperor  of  Ireland,  and  ordered 
him  to  wear  them  on  his  shoulders  on  Christmas  day  in  the  pres- 
ence of  his  ambassador,  as  a  token  of  submission,  and  Muircher- 
tach obeyed  the  command.  Other  old  chronicles  say  that  Magnus 
married  Muirchertach's  daughter  and  that  afterwards  he  sent  her 
back  to  her  father.  When  he  was  killed  in  battle  in  Ulster,  in  the 
year  1103,  he  left  a  son,  afterwards  King  Harald  Gille,  who  was 
born,  either  in  Ireland  or  the  Hebrides,  of  an  Irish  mother. 

The  Viking  age  was  by  no  means  a  starless  night  in  Ireland, 
nor  was  society  so  horribly  disorganised  as  is  generally  believed. 
It  was  a  period  marked  by  the  lives  of  Irish  chiefs  of  outstanding 
ability,  of  some  of  the  greatest  figures  In  Nordic  history,  and  of 
women  of  unusual  personality.  Even  in  those  days  of  terror  and 
danger  from  foreign  invasion,  when  an  enemy  fleet  stood  in  every 
port  and  soldiers  were  encamped  In  many  parts  of  the  country, 
Ireland  was  still  in  the  full  current  of  European  life.  Though 
internecine  feuds  and  battles  with  the  Danes  took  up  much  of  the 
chieftains'  time,  other  things  besides  spears  and  swords  were  ex- 
changed between  the  Irish  and  the  Invader.  In  no  other  land  In 
which  these  two  peoples  of  such  different  culture  came  together 
did  each  learn  so  much  from  the  other  as  in  Ireland.  In  matters 
of  agriculture  and  cattle  raising  the  Irish  were  the  teachers  of 
the  Norsemen,  but  in  other  purely  material  pursuits  the  civilisation 


284  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

of  the  Norse  was  superior  to  that  of  the  Irish.  Though  by  the 
middle  of  the  seventh  century,  in  the  pre-Viking  period,  Ireland 
had  made  considerable  progress  in  the  art  of  ship  construction,  it 
was  above  all  from  the  hardy  sailors  of  the  north  that  they  learned 
to  build  and  sail  great  ships  and  to  organise  fleets,  to  use  iron 
armour,  to  fight  on  horseback  and  no  longer  from  chariots  or  on 
foot,  to  build  stone  forts  and  bridges,  and  to  live  in  fortified  cities 
surrounded  by  walls.  By  the  middle  of  the  tenth  century,  Dublin, 
Limerick,  Cork,  Waterford,  all  Viking  estabhshments,  were  strong 
walled  places. 

Nor  were  the  Vikings  mere  sea  robbers;  they  were  merchants 
as  well.  Since  they  controlled  the  seas,  for  a  long  time  all  trade 
and  shipping  between  Limerick  and  other  Irish  ports  and  the  west 
of  France  and  Spain  was  in  their  hands.  They  exported  Ireland's 
products  and  imported  all  that  Ireland  wanted,  as  wheat,  wine, 
costly  silks,  and  fine  leather,  and  they  helped  to  introduce  foreign 
fashions  into  Ireland.  The  first  Irish  coins  that  were  struck  in 
Ireland  were  minted  by  Norse  kings  who  held  court  in  Dublin; 
they  have  been  found  in  Norway  and  elsewhere,  and  point  to  the 
trade  carried  on  between  the  two  countries.  The  Irish  probably 
also  adopted  the  northern  system  of  weights  and  measures. 

How  much  Irish  society  and  domestic  life  were  influenced  by 
Norse  occupation  is  seen  in  the  Irish  language  itself,  in  which  there 
is  scarcely  a  word  meaning  a  large  ship  or  its  parts  or  markets 
or  trade  that  is  not  borrowed  from  the  Norse,  if  it  is  not  from 
the  Latin.  Even  the  name  by  which,  in  English,  we  call  Erin,  is 
from  the  Old  Norse  Iraland,  and  the  English  names  of  three  of 
the  present-day  provinces,  Munster,  Leinster  and  Ulster,  have  a 
Norse  termination,  stadr,  "place,"  added  to  the  Gaelic  stem.  Don- 
egal (Dun  na  Gall),  "the  Fort  of  the  Foreigners,"  got  its  name 
from  a  fort  built  by  the  Vikings.  But  these  are  the  exceptions. 
There  are  scarcely  more  than  a  dozen  Norse  place  names  on  the 
whole  map  of  Ireland  and  these  are  mostly  on  or  near  the  sea 
coast,  while  there  are  over  a  thousand  in  middle  and  northern 
England.  This  is  one  of  the  surest  signs  that  there  was  no  real 
conquest  or  occupation  of  the  country.  The  Norse  and  the  Irish 
had  to  understand  each  other  to  some  appreciable  extent,  and  it 
was  the  language  of  the  invader  that  gave  way  to  that  of  the  in- 
vaded. 

As  a  result  of  intermarriage,  there  was  an  exchange  of  Irish 
and  Scandinavian  personal  names,  and  such  typical  Irish  names 
as  Cormac,  Patrick,  Dubthach  (Duffy),  are  found  in  Norse  sagas. 


THE  VIKINGS  IN  IRELAND  285 

The  children  of  these  marriages  were  called  Mael-Muire,  Gilla 
Patraic,  and  other  Christian  names.  On  the  other  hand,  some 
Norse  personal  names  such  as  Somhairle  (MacSorley),  Raghnall 
(MacRanald),  Amhlaobh  (MacAuliffe),  Dubhghall  (Doyle), 
Maghnus  (MacManus),  lomhar  (Maclvors),  have  become  popu- 
lar and  important  surnames. 

Though  the  Viking  invasions  checked  the  normal  development 
of  Irish  civilisation,  undid  what  the  efforts  of  successive  centuries 
had  realised,  and  gave  Ireland  such  a  shock  that  learning  scarcely 
ever  fully  recovered  from  it,  a  brilliant  intellectual  life  prevailed 
during  that  period  and,  in  all  the  things  that  pertained  to  the  mind, 
the  Irish  were  far  superior  to  their  invaders  and  Irish  genius  made 
itself  felt  upon  them.  The  names  of  Norse  students  are  found 
among  those  who  attended  Ireland's  most  celebrated  university, 
Clonmacnois,  in  the  first  half  of  the  eleventh  century.  Streams 
of  professors,  students  and  missionaries  continued  to  flow  to  the 
continent,  some  of  them  no  doubt  fleeing  from  the  Vikings. 

Irish  sculpture,  building,  metal  work,  art,  and  ornament,  flour- 
ished and  influenced  the  art  of  the  Scandinavians.  The  most  im- 
portant and  most  beautifully  illuminated  manuscripts,  both  in  Latin 
and  Irish,  date  from  that  period,  and  some  of  the  greatest  poets 
in  Irish  literature,  such  as  Flann  MacLonain,  "the  Vergil  of  the 
Gael,"  Cinded  ua  Hartacain,  Eochaid  O  Flinn,  Cormacan  Eces, 
MacLiag,  the  court  bard  of  Brian  Boru,  and  many  others  flour- 
ished in  it.  It  was  Irish  scholars  who  introduced  the  literature  of 
Greece  and  Rome  to  the  men  of  the  north.  At  the  Norwegian 
court  of  "Dublin  of  the  Festal  Drinking  Horns,"  Icelandic  skalds 
and  Irish  bards  composed  and  sang  their  poems,  and  Irish  and 
Icelandic  sagamen,  the  best  story  tellers  in  the  world,  told  their 
stories.  The  Irish  influence  on  the  early  literature  of  Iceland  is 
unmistakable.  Indeed,  the  Norse  were  the  imitators  of  the  Irish, 
and  certain  northern  types,  motives  and  forms  of  style  are  clearly 
of  Irish  origin  or  have  been  developed  through  Irish  influence. 
The  Irish  were  also  of  considerable  influence  In  softening  the  wild 
manners  of  the  Norsemen  with  whom  they  came  In  contact,  and, 
above  all,  it  is  to  the  Irish  that  they  owe  their  Christianity.  For 
at  least  two  generations  before  Clontarf,  Christianity  had  taken 
deep  root  among  the  Norse  In  Ireland,  and,  by  the  end  of  the 
tenth  or  beginning  of  the  eleventh  century,  Dublin  was  a  complete 
Christian  city  with  churdies  and  cloisters  and  was  known  as  Ath 
Cliath  na  cloc,  "Dublin,  rich  in  bells,"  Ath  Cliath  na  land  's  na 
lecht,  "Dublin  the  city  of  churches  and  graveyards." 


286  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

Besides  the  general  histories  of  Ireland  and  works  in  German  and  the 

Scandinavian  languages    (which   give   the  best  account   of   the   period),    the 

following  books  are  recommended: 

C.  F.  Kear}-:     The  Vikings  in  Western  Christendom,  London,  1891. 

George  Henderson:     The  Norse  Influence  on  Celtic  Scotland,  Glasgow,  1910. 

Eleanor  Hull :  Irish  Episodes  of  Icelandic  Historj",  Saga  Book  of  the  Viking 
Club,  Vol.  Ill,  1908. 

Alice  Stopford  Green:     Irish  Nationality,  Chap.  IV,  New  York,  1911. 

Eoin  MacNeill:     Phases  of  Irish  History-,  Chap.  IX,  Dublin,  1919. 

Alexander  Bugge:  Contributions  to  the  History  of  the  Norsemen  in  Ireland, 
Christianla,  1900. 

Charles  Haliday:     The  Scandinavian  Kingdom  of  Dublm,  Dublin,  1884. 

James  H.  Todd:  Edit.,  The  War  of  the  Gaedhil  and  the  Gaill,  or  the  In- 
vasions of  Ireland  by  the  Danes  and  other  Norsemen,  London,  Rolls 
Series,  1867. 

The  New  Ireland  Review,  Vols.  XXIII.  XXIV,  XXXIII. 

The  Ivernian  Journal,  Vol.  IV,  pp.  73-87. 


CHAPTER  XXXI 


HOSPITALITY    IN   ANCIENT    IRELAND 

A  CHARACTERISTIC  of  the  Irish  race  for  which  it  has  been  noted 
through  the  ages  is  its  hospitality.  In  pre-Christian  days  this  qual- 
ity shone  as  much  as  it  did  in  later  time.  But  in  later  time  the 
virtue  was  given  a  sublimely  Christian  turn.  "Christ  is  in  the 
person  of  every  guest,"  and  "every  stranger  is  Christ,"  were  the 
sentiments  that  came  to  consecrate  hospitality.  The  attitude  of 
the  Irish  people  on  the  subject  is  well  expressed  in  one  of  their 
ancient  poems   (translated  by  Kuno  INJeyer)  : 

Oh  King  of  stars! 

Whether  my  house  be  dark  or  bright, 
Never  shall  it  be  closed  against  any  one. 
Lest  Christ  close  His  house  against  me. 

If  there  be  a  guest  in  your  house 

And  j'ou  conceal  aught  from  him, 

'Tis  not  the  guest  that  will  be  without  it, 

But  Jesus,  Mary's  Son. 

As  with  the  Arab,  so  with  the  Irish,  any  one  who  had  partaken 
of  food  in  one's  house,  was  thereby  sacred  against  harm  or  hurt 
from  all  members  of  the  family.  A  person  of  rank  had  to  enter- 
tain any  stranger  without  enquiring  who  or  what  he  was  or  the 
wherefore  of  his  coming.  Against  the  coming  of  unknown  guests 
his  door  must  be  open,^  and  his  fire  must  always  have  on  it  the 
coire  ainsec,  undry  cauldron. 

A  guest  came  when  he  liked,  stayed  while  he  would,  and  left 

1  When,  in  comparatively  recent  days,  the  Connaught  princess  Grainne  O'Malley 
was  returning  from  the  state  visit  which  she  paid  Elizabeth  of  England,  she  landed 
at  Howth,  and  finding  Lord  Howth's  castle-gate  closed — as  the  family  and  house- 
hold were  at  dinner — she.  incensed  by  such  Saxon  churlishness  picked  up  from  a 
nurse  outside  the  gates  and  carried  off  with  her  to  Connaught  Lord  Houth's  child. 
The  Howth  family  had  to  pay  a  goodly  ransom  for  their  child — and  thereby  taught 
a  proper  lesson  in  Irish  hospitaHt>'.  Ever  after,  when  they  went  to  dinner  their 
gates  and  doors  were  thrown  wide  open. 

287 


288  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

when  he  wished.  No  matter  how  many  the  guests  that  thronged 
one's  house,  or  how  lengthy  their  sojourn,  under  no  conceivable 
circumstances  could  it  be  intimated  to  them  that  they  should  de- 
part. And,  furthermore,  under  no  circumstances,  in  those  times, 
could  or  would  a  guest,  departing  from  any  house  howsoever  poor, 
so  far  forget  the  respect  due  his  host,  as  to  offer  any  kind  of  com- 
pensation. There  is  a  Munster  story  of  a  rude,  wild  mountaineer, 
who  visited  England,  four  or  five  centuries  ago,  and  who,  among 
the  many  wonderful  tales  of  Saxonland  which,  on  his  return,  he 
had  to  tell,  had  none  more  extraordinary,  more  unbelievable,  than 
that  the  English  people  actually  charged  for  the  food,  liquor,  and 
bed,  which  they  provided  for  a  stranger! 

The  Irishman,  who,  on  the  arrival  of  travellers,  discovered 
that  he  had  not  food  and  drink  in  the  house  with  which  instantly 
to  regale  them,  suffered  keen  disgrace.  This  applied  to  all  ranks, 
including  royalty  itself.  If  the  disgrace  was  incurred,  not  through 
wilful  negligence  on  the  part  of  the  host,  but  by  the  defection  of 
one  who  had  contracted  to  supply  him  with  provisions,  the  latter 
was,  then,  rendered  liable  by  law  to  pay  to  the  disgraced  one  a 
blush  fine,  enech-riiice. 

In  the  old  Irish  poets  and  writers  we  find  a  man  reckoned 
wealthy  not  by  what  he  has  but  by  what  he  gives.  And  the  right 
hand  of  the  generous  man  was  often  said  to  have  grown  longer 
than  his  left. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  in  the  time  of  the  Tuatha  De  Da- 
nann,  their  king,  Breas,  was  deposed  because  he  lacked  the  first 
essential,  hospitality:  "Breas  did  not  grease  their  knives.  In 
vain  they  came  to  visit  Breas.  Their  breath  did  not  smell  of  ale 
at  the  banquet." 

In  the  early  days,  because  in  many  districts  people  might  be 
too  poor,  or  travellers  too  many,  for  satisfactory  private  hospital- 
ity, there  were,  at  various  points  throughout  the  land,  public  houses 
of  hospitality  called  bruideans  (breens).  And  the  honoured  offi- 
cials who  were  entrusted  with  these  houses  were  called  brughaids 
(brewys).  A  bruidean  was  always  set  at  the  junction  of  several 
roads,  frequently  the  junction  of  six.     It  had  open  doors  facing 

A  century  or  so  ago  the  MacSweeneys  of  Cork  had  a  stone  erected  on  the 
highway  near  their  home  to  notify  all  travellers  that  they  were  expected  to  call  at 
the  MacSweeney  home  for  entertainment. 

In  the  last  century  the  famous  Dick  Martin  of  Connemara  (who,  by  the  way, 
was  the  first  man  to  promote  a  law  against  cruelty  to  animals)  used  to  have  a 
servant  awaiting  the  coming  of  the  long-car  to  the  village  some  miles  off  (which 
was  the  end  of  the  public  conveyance  route)  whose  duty  it  was  to  extend  tlie 
hospitality  of  his  master's  house  to  strangers  who  arrived  on  the  car. 


HOSPITALITY  IN  ANCIENT  IRELAND  289 

every  road — and  a  man  stationed  on  each  road  to  make  sure  that 
no  one  passed  uncntertained.  It  had  a  light  burning  on  the  lawn 
all  night.  A  full  cauldron  was  always  boiling  on  the  fire.  It  was 
stocked  with  provisions  of  all  kinds  in  plenty. 

The  esteem  in  which  was  held  the  virtue  of  hospitality  is  ex- 
emplitied  by  the  fact  that  the  public  brughaid  was,  by  law,  per- 
mitted the  same  number  of  attendants,  and  given  the  same  pro- 
tection, as  the  king  of  a  territory.  His  hospice  was  endowed  with 
land,  and  with  other  allowances.  The  brughaid  had  a  magistrate's 
jurisdiction  for  arbitration  of  agrarian  cases.  His  house,  too,  was 
the  house  of  assembly  for  election  of  officers  of  the  territory. 

As  the  brughaid  was  required  to  welcome,  at  all  times,  every 
company  and  every  face,  his  bruidean  must  always  be  stocked  with 
three  boiled  fleshes,  three  red  fleshes  (1.  e.,  uncooked)  and  three 
living  fleshes.  The  three  flesiies  were  those  of  an  ox,  a  wether, 
and  a  hog.  The  three  living  fleshes  must  be  at  hand,  fattened, 
and  ready  for  immediate  killing;  the  three  red  fleshes  dressing  in 
the  kitchen;  the  three  boiled  fleshes  in  the  boilers,  ready  for  in- 
stant serving. 

Every  brughaid  was  required  to  have  at  least  a  hundred  of 
each  kind  of  animal  grazing  on  his  fields — and  a  hundred  servants 
in  his  house.  He  was  called  a  brughaid  ceadach,  meaning  a  hun- 
dred brughaid.  There  was  a  brughaid  leitech,  two  hundred  bru- 
ghaid, who  had  tw^o  hundred  of  each  kind  of  cattle,  and  a  hundred 
beds  for  guests.  The  good  brughaid  was  expected  to  have  in  his 
house  the  three  miachs  (sacks) — a  miach  of  malt  to  make  refresh- 
ment for  wayfarers,  a  miach  of  wheat  to  give  them  food,  and  a 
miach  of  salt,  to  improve  the  food's  taste.  Also  the  three  cheers, 
the  cheer  of  the  strainers  straining  ale,  the  cheer  of  the  servitors 
over  the  cauldron,  and  the  cheer  of  the  young  men  over  the  chess- 
board, winning  games  from  one  another. 

The  six  chief  bruideans  of  Ireland  were  asylums  of  refuge  for 
homicides — like  the  six  Jewish  cities  of  refuge,  Keating  estimated 
the  total  number  of  such  houses  of  hospitality  in  Ireland,  as  being 
over  four  hundred.  He  says  there  were  ninety  in  Connaught, 
ninety  in  Ulster,  ninety-three  in  Leinster,  and  a  hundred  and  thirty 
in  Munster. 

The  Small  Primer  (Brehon  Laws)  says: 

"He  is  no  brughaid  who  is  not  possessed  of  hundreds.  He  warns 
ofF  no  individual  of  whatever  shape.  He  refuses  not  any  company. 
He  keeps  no  account  against  a  person,  though  often  he  come.  Such 
is  the  brughaid  who  has  dire  with  the  king  of  a  territory." 


290  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

The  Irish  monks  and  missionaries  on  the  Continent  carried 
with  them  to  Europe  the  Irish  idea  of  the  House  of  Hospitality — 
and  established  regular  lines  of  these  in  France,  and  through  Ger- 
many, for  entertaining  the  crowds  of  pilgrims  who  journeyed  to 
Rome  on  the  one  hand,  and  to  Jerusalem  on  the  other"  including, 
of  course,  the  crusaders. 

The  same  idea  of  providing  for  those  who  needed  it  material- 
ised in  other  directions — as  in  the  case  of  the  very  old  and  de- 
pendent. In  each  territory  was  an  officer  called  uaithne  (signify- 
ing pillar),  whose  duty  it  was  to  provide  for  such  as  had  not  any 
of  their  own  kin  to  do  so.  The  law  provided  the  uaithne  with 
power  to  levy  a  rate  for  the  maintenance  of  these  dependent  ones. 
He  was  called  uaithne  because  the  law  tract  describes  him  as  "a 
pillar  of  endurance  and  attendance." 

If  the  dependent  did  have  kin  but  did  not  choose  to  live  as 
one  of  them,  the  uaithne  was  to  see  that  a  house  was  provided  for 
him  that  must  be  at  least  seventeen  feet  long,  have  two  doors,  a 
chest  at  one  side,  a  bed  at  the  other,  and  a  kitchen  or  storehouse. 
Also  that  he  was  supplied  with  a  prescribed  amount  of  food,  of 
milk,  and  of  attendance.  His  head  was  to  be  washed  every  Satur- 
day, and  his  body  every  twentieth  night.  There  is  displayed  a 
true  knowledge  of  human  nature,  and  a  praiseworthy  indulgence 
of  the  crankiness  and  abusiveness  of  the  old  and  dependent,  in  the 
wise  provision  of  this  law  which  rules  that,  contrary  to  universal 
custom,  the  uaithne  can  suffer  the  reddening  of  his  face  without 
disgrace  to  himself  or  to  his  kin. 

The  stories  told  of  a  certain  seventh  century  king  of  Con- 
naught,  Guaire  the  Hospitable,  illustrate  the  very  high  regard  in 
which  hospitality  and  generosity  were  held.  Once,  being  beaten 
in  battle  by  one  of  the  kings  Diarmuid,  Guaire,  in  token  of  sub- 
mission, had  to  kneel  in  front  of  Diarmuid  and  take  in  his  teeth 
the  point  of  the  victor's  sword.  When  he  was  in  this  humiliating 
position,  Diarmuid,  to  test  whether  his  famed  generosity  was  sin- 
cere or  ostentatious,  had,  first,  one  of  his  Druids  ask  of  Guaire  a 
gift  in  honour  of  learning — to  which  request  the  humiliated  Guaire 
paid  no  heed:  and  then  a  leper  ask  an  alms  for  God's  sake,  to 
whom  Guaire,  with  teeth  still  closed  upon  the  sword  point,  gave 
the  gold  brooch  from  his  mantle.  At  the  secret  instigation  of  the 
king,  one  of  his  people  forced  the  brooch  from  the  leper,  who  at 

2  Throughout  early  Irish  history  and  story,  the  several  references  to  pilgrims 
to  Jerusalem  are  made  so  casually  as  to  suggest  the  confident  inference  that  great 
numbers  were  constantly  going.  The  pilgrimage  to  Rome  seems  to  have  been  very 
common. 


HOSPITALITY  IN  ANXIExXT  IRELAND  291 

once  complained  of  his  loss  to  the  kneeling  one.  Guaire  imme- 
diately unlinked  the  golden  girdle  that  bound  his  waist,  and  reached 
it  to  the  leper.  This  gift  was  instantly  also  taken  from  the  poor 
man,  when,  with  sore  complaint  the  leper  came  a  third  time  to 
Guaire.  Realising  the  poor  man's  distress,  and  knowing  that  he 
had  nothing  more  to  giv'e,  Guaire's  tears  ran  from  his  eyes  in  a 
stream. 

"Arise,  Guaire,"  said  Diarmuid,  "and  do  homage  only  to 
God!" 

Diarmuid  then  brought  his  late  foe  with  him  to  the  great  fair 
of  Taillte.  As  was  usual  with  him,  Guaire  brought  to  the  gather- 
ing a  sack  of  silver  to  make  presents  to  the  men  of  Ireland.  Diar- 
muid, however,  had  secretly  ordered  that  none  should  ask  or  ac- 
cept a  gift  from  his  royal  guest.  When  he  had  been  two  days  at 
the  fair,  he  sent  for  a  bishop  to  give  him  the  last  rites  of  the 
church.  Diarmuid  and  his  friends,  alarmed,  asked  why  he  sought 
the  last  rites.  "Because,"  answered  Guaire,  "I  have  seen  the  men 
of  Ireland  for  two  days  assembled  together  in  one  spot,  without 
any  of  them  asking  me  for  a  bounty.     Surely  it  is  the  end." 

Then  Diarmuid  lifted  the  ban,  and  Guaire  was  happy  once 
more.  In  the  presence  of  the  men  of  Ireland,  the  peace  was  rati- 
fied between  the  two  kings,  who  kept  it  ever  after. 

If  Guaire  was  generous,  his  enemy,  Diarmuid,  was  considerate. 
For  when  the  latter,  marching  to  give  battle,  was  met  by  a  mes- 
senger with  the  request  that  as  Guaire  was  not  yet  fully  prepared 
to  give  him  battle,  he  should  not  cross  the  river  for  another  twen- 
ty-four hours — "I  gladly  grant  his  request,"  said  Diarmuid,  "and 
would  have  granted  him  a  much  greater,  had  he  asked  it."' 

*  The  ancient  historical  and  poetic  accounts  are  full  of  instances  of  this  kind 
of  battle  chivalry — showing  that  usually  a  leader  considered  it  disgraceful  to  attack 
an  unprepared  foe. 

It  will  be  recalled  that  Gol  MacMorna  could  not  be  induced  to  surprise  an 
enemy  by  attacking  before  daybreak. 

We  have  a  fine  sample  of  this  chivalry  in  the  Agallam  na  Seanorach.  When 
Caoilte,  with  the  lute  player  and  the  man  of  beauty,  was  visiting  Bo-bind  of  the 
Tuatha  de  Danann  at  Assaroe,  to  get  cured  of  a  spear-thrust  in  the  calf  of  his 
leg,  on  a  night  of  revelry  there,  the  alarm  was  raised  that  a  fleet  of  marauding 
foreigners  (Fomorians)  had  sailed  into  the  harbour.  Caoilte  was  appealed  to 
for  his  advice  in  the  face  of  impending  disaster,  and  answered:  Let  them  be 
asked  for  a  truce  till  the  Tuatha  de  Danann  make  a  gathering  and  a  muster.  "And 
thus  it  was  done,"  adds  the  poet  narrator,  with  naive  simplicity. 

The  most  notable  historical  instance  of  this  kind  of  chivalry  occurred  in  the 
year  1001  or  1002  when  Brian  Boru  demanded  from  the  then  Ard  Righ,  Malachi, 
submission  and  hostages — "The  latter  replied  to  Brian's  ambassadors,"  says  Keat- 
ing, "by  saying  that  if  Brian  would  grant  him  a  respite  of  one  month  in  order 
that  he  might  have  time  to  summon  around  him  the  army  of  Leth-Cuin,  he  would, 
at  the  end  of  the  period,  either  give  battle  or  send  hostages  to  the  king  of  Leth- 
Mogha."  But  when  Aod  O'Neill,  king  of  Ailech,  refused  to  support  him,  Malachi, 
at  the  end  of  the  month  journeyed  to  Brian,  and  told  him  frankly  that  he  was  not 


292  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

Furthermore,  Guaire's  messenger,  having  thoroughly  viewed 
Diarmuid's  army,  disparaged  it  to  the  king  for  the  smallness  of 
their  numbers  and  the  poorness  of  their  appearance — to  which 
Diarmuid  answered:  "Knowest  thou  not  that  neither  by  num- 
bers nor  by  brave  apparel  is  a  battle  won,  but  by  the  will  of  God, 
and  a  truthful  cause.  And  though  thou  sayest  our  host  is  mean  to 
look  upon  it  is  not  fair  forms  but  hardy  hearts  that  win  a  fight."* 

Joyce,  P.  W. :     Social  History  of  Ancient  Ireland. 
O'Curry,  Eugene:     Manuscript  Materials  of  Irish  History. 

Manners  and  Customs  of  the  Ancient  Irish. 

Hyde,  Douglas,  LL.D. :     A  Literary  History  of  Ireland,  from  the  earliest 

times  to  the  present  day. 
Keating's  History  of  Ireland. 

able  to  get  the  backing  he  wished,  and  consequently  regretted  he  would  have  to 
give  hostages  and  submit.  Brian,  however,  instead  of  at  once  accepting,  entreated 
Malachi  to  take  a  respite  of  one  year  to  see  if  in  that  time  he  might  not  do  better. 
In  the  meantime  he  himself  would  ask  the  submission  of  Aod  O'Neill — and  also 
of  the  King  of  Ulidia — "that  I  may  learn  what  kind  of  answer  they  make  to  me; 
and  then,  should  they  give  me  battle,  thou  mayest  help  them  against  me  if  thou 
wilt."  But  Malachi  refused,  declaring  that  he  would  not  fight  against  him  after 
any  such  manner. 

Let  us  imagine,  if  we  can,  some  of  our  noble  kings  and  generals  in  this  twen- 
tieth century  civilisation  emulating  in  chivalry  the  old  Irish  "barbarians." 

*  While  considering  signal  virtues  of  men  in  those  days,  it  is  not  inappropriate 
to  set  down  here  a  sample  of  the  chivalry  and  the  great  boldness  of  another  king 
of  Connaught,  Ailill.  Ailill  was  a  wanton  and  a  sinful  king,  who  often  and  reck- 
lessly warred  upon  his  enemies.  But  there  came  at  length  a  battle  in  which  he 
was  overwhelmingly  defeated.  As  he  fled  afar  from  the  bloody  field,  he  called 
upon  his  charioteer: 

"Look  behind  and  see  whether  the  slaying  is  great,  and  are  the  slayers  near  us." 

The  charioteer  looked  behind  him,  and  what  he  said  was :  "The  slaying  with 
which  your  people  are  slain  is  unendurable." 

"Not  then  their  own  guilt  falls  on  them,  but  the  guilt  of  my  pride  and  un- 
truthfulness," said  the  king.  "Turn  thou  the  chariot  toward  the  enemy,  for  my 
slaying  will  be  the  saving  of  a  multitude." 

And  he  faced  the  pursuers  and  gave  his  life  to  stay  the  slaughter.  And  King 
Ailill,  a  monster  of  wickedness  living,  in  dying  won  the  peace  of  God. 


CHAPTER  XXXII 

THE    TRIBE 

There  were  nearly  two  hundred  tuaths  or  territories,  in  Ireland, 
each  occupied  by  a  tribe,  under  its  chief  who  was  oftentimes  desig- 
nated king  of  a  tuath. 

The  subdivisions  of  a  tuath  were  ballybetaighs  of  which  there 
were  usually  thirty  to  each  tuath.  The  ballybetaigh  was  again 
subdivided  into  twelve  seasreachs,  each  of  one  ploughland  or  about 
one  hundred  and  twenty  acres.  The  ballybetaigh  was  supposed 
to  be  of  extent  to  supply  grazing  for  four  herds  of  seventy-five 
cows  each,  "without  one  cow  touching  another." 

In  general,  the  whole  of  the  lands  of  the  territory  belonged 
to  all  the  tribe.  But  there  was  a  limited  circle,  including  the  king, 
the  nobles,  and  a  few  of  the  leading  professional  men,  each  of 
whom  had  private  rights  in  a  certain  portion  of  the  land — the 
right  to  use  those  lands  for  the  benefit  of  himself  and  family,  but 
not  to  transfer  them  to  any  person  outside  the  tribe. 

The  foregoing  refers  only  to  special  portions  of  the  tribal  land. 
The  greater  part  of  the  tribal  land  was  free  for  the  use  of  all  the 
people  of  the  tribe. 

These  privileged  ones  who  had  exclusive  rights  to  the  use  of 
certain  lands,  usually  rented  large  portion  in  parcels  to  the  ceiles 
(tenants) — who  formed  the  feine,  or  general  body  of  the  people. 
The  privileged  person  usually  also  rented  to  the  ceile  cattle 
for  stocking  the  land.  The  ceile  who  owned  his  own  stock,  or  who 
had  to  borrow  but  little,  was  of  much  higher  standing  than  the 
ceile  who  had  to  borrow  or  rent  all  his  stock.  The  former  wasy 
called  a  free  ceile,  and  the  latter  an  unfree  because  he  was  bound 
to  those  above  him  by  so  many  obligations. 

The  stock  borrowed  from  a  noble    (or  from  a  certain  class 

between  the  noble  and  the  ceile  called  bo-aire,  who  had  stock  to 

rent)  was  returned,  it  or  its  equivalent,  at  the  end  of  seven  years. 

Below  the  ceiles — the  feine,  or  general  body  of  the  people  of 

the  tribe — were  two  classes  usually  rated  as  non-free.     One  of 

293 


294  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

them  was  the  bothach  and  sencleithe,  who  were  labourers,  horse- 
boys, herdsmen,  and  hangers-on,  supported  by  particular  families 
to  which  they  were  attached,  and  who  were  considered  members 
of  the  tribe,  but  had  neither  property  rights  nor  any  voice  In  the 
tribal  council.  The  other,  the  fu'idir,  were  strangers,  fugitives, 
war  captives,  condemned  criminals  or  people  who  had  to  give  up 
their  freedom  in  order  to  work  out  a  debt  or  fine  that  they  could 
not  pay.  These  latter,  were  not  of  the  tribe,  only  belonged  to  it, 
and  were  serfs,  pure  and  simple.  Only,  they  had  the  right  of 
renting  a  little  land  and  gradually  acquiring  property — till,  in  the 
course  of  a  certain  number  of  years,  having  accumulated  some 
substance,  and  having  proved  to  the  tribe  that  they  were  people 
of  character,  they  could,  by  the  general  voice  of  the  tribe,  be  re- 
ceived into  the  fold,  and  become  of  the  feine.  Of  course  the 
bothach  and  sencleithe  were  privileged  to  raise  themselves  even 
more  easily  than  the  fiiidir.  The  very  humblest  might,  by  inherent 
worth,  work  his  way  up  to  be  eventually  among  the  noblest.  So, 
the  class  system  in  Ireland  was  not  a  caste  system. 

It  was  only  the  fuidir,  the  mere  flotsam  and  jetsam  of  the  na- 
tion, who  were  in  the  state  of  semi-servitude.  The  feudal  system, 
the  system  of  the  lord  and  the  serf,  which  was  the  rule  through- 
out almost  all  the  countries  of  Europe  then,  wzs  never  known  in 
Ireland — at  least  not  until  the  English,  after  they  had  established 
footing  there,  endeavoured  to  introduce  from  their  own  country 
a  form  of  it.  The  system  in  Ireland  was  something  more  like  the 
patriarchal  system  of  the  east.  The  tribe  resolved  itself  into  fam- 
ily groups  called  derb-fine  ^  centring  around  one  leading  family 
from  whom  the  chief  was  always  chosen. 

The  law  of  inheritance  in  ancient  Ireland  was  not  that  of 
primogeniture,  but  of  gavel-kind — that  is,  instead  of  the  eldest  son 
inheriting  all  the  father's  property,  it  was  divided,  cattle  and  land, 
among  all  the  sons.  But  the  eldest  son  got,  with  his  share,  the 
house  and  offices  and  household  effects.  Special  responsibilities 
fell  to  him  as  guardian  of  his  sisters,  and  of  his  brothers  under 
age,  and  as  the  representative  of  the  family  in  all  cases  of  stress 
or  need. 

The  laws  protected  every  one,  including  the  base  fuidir.  They 
were  especially  framed  to  protect  the  weak  against  the  strong. 
"No  person,"  says  the  law,  "shall  be  oppressed  in  his  difficulty." 
And  the  law  forbade  the  rent-payer  to  give  service  or  rent  to  one 

1  Four  generations  sprung  from  one  man  usually  went  to  each  derb-fine — so 
that  in  each  succeeding  generation  the  groups  had  to  be  re-arranged. 


THE  TRIBE  295 

who  would  exact  unjustly.  The  greedy  oppressor  had  to  repent 
and  pay  a  fine  before  his  ceile  should  resume  giving  him  either 
rent  or  service. 

The  ceile  contributed  to  the  head  of  the  tribe  a  certain  amount 
of  labour,  a  portion  of  the  household  needs,  and  a  certain  number 
of  days  military  service,  which  was  demanded  when  the  need  arose. 

But  the  chief,  or  king  of  the  territory — as  well  as  the  provin- 
cial king  and  the  Ard-Righ — kept  about  him  a  number  of  paid 
permanent  troops — his  household  troops  composed  of  his  own 
people,  and  a  small  standing  army  usually  composed  of  merce- 
naries. And  the  strongest,  most  powerful  man  was  chosen  as  the 
king's  airechta,  champion  or  avenger. 

The  king  of  the  tuath  paid  tribute  to  the  provincial  king,  who 
in  turn  paid  tribute  to  the  Ard-Righ.  And  on  the  other  hand, 
each  of  the  higher  kings  paid  back  to  his  tributary  a  small  courtesy 
tribute  called  tuarastal.  The  Book  of  Rights  specifies  in  full,  and 
curious  detail,  the  cis,  or  amounts  of  the  tribute  in  cattle,  in  cloaks, 
in  swords,  etc.,  due  from  each  inferior  king  to  his  superior — and 
likewise  the  tuarastal  from  the  superior  to  his  inferior. 

The  headship  (v/hether  chief  or  king)  was  hereditary  only  to 
the  extent  that  the  ruler  was  always  chosen  by  the  people,  from 
within  one  family.  From  the  r'lgh-davuia  (king  material)  that  is, 
the  royal  uncles,  brothers,  sons,  nephews,  grand-sons  and  grand- 
nephews,  the  people  chose  whatever  male  member  of  the  fam- 
ily would  make  the  wisest,  bravest,  and  best  ruler.  In  later  cen- 
turies, in  order  to  avoid  the  evils  of  disputed  succession,  the  king's 
successor  was  always  chosen  during  the  king's  lifetime — and  this 
king-elect  was  called  tanaiste.  He  had  to  be  without  physical 
blemish  or  deformity.  When  elected  he  had  to  swear  to  observe 
the  law,  and  to  govern  In  accordance  with  the  law  and  the  ancient 
customs.  At  the  inauguration  the  ollam,  In  presence  of  the  people, 
read  to  him  the  laws  that  he  must  swear  to  observe,  and  the  an- 
cient customs  that  he  must  swear  to  maintain.  And  for  non-ob- 
servance of  these,  he  was  liable  to  be,  at  any  time,  deposed. 

Same  books  as  for  preceding  chapter,  together  with: 

Sullivan,  W.  K.,  Ph.D. :     Introduction  to  O'Curry's  Manners  and  Customs 
of  the  Ancient  Irish. 


CHAPTER  XXXIII 

MANNER    OF    LIVING    IN    ANCIENT    IRELAND 

In  very  early  Ireland  practically  all  residences  were  of  wood  or 
of  wicker-work,  and  most  of  them  were  in  circular  form.  They 
were  usually  thatched  with  straw,  rushes,  or  sedge.  Stone  was 
very  seldom  used  in  building  residences  before  the  eighth  century. 
The  wooden  and  wicker-work  houses  were  washed  with  lime  on 
the  outside — lime  in  its  natural  white  state,  or  coloured  with  pig- 
ments. The  older  stories  and  poems  show  that  houses  of  the  bet- 
ter kind  had  windows  that  were  shuttered.  These  early  resi- 
dences were  seldorn  divided  into  apartments — though  the  stories 
show  that  compartments  for  sleepers  were  often  made  along  the 
walls  of  a  large  building. 

Linen  sheets  and  ornamented  coverlets  were  in  use.  Small 
low  tables  for  serving  meals  were  supplied  with  knives  (no  forks), 
with  cups,  jugs,  drinking  horns,  methers,  sometimes  with  goblets 
of  glass  (a  precious  rarity,  however),  goblets  of  silver,  flagons 
of  bronze  or  copper — and  occasionally  napkins.  Cooks  wore  flat 
white  caps  and  linen  aprons.  Wheat  meal,  oat-meal,  eggs,  meat, 
milk  and  honey,  with  some  vegetables  and  a  very  few  fruits,  sup- 
plied the  table.  Light  was  furnished  by  candles  of  tallow  or  of 
beeswax,  rushlights,  spails  of  bog  fir,  and  sometimes  oil  lamps. 
The  lights  were  stuck  on  the  walls,  stood  on  the  tables,  were  held 
by  attendants,  or  hung  from  above. 

The  residence  of  one  of  the  higher  ranks  was  either  on  a  lios 
(a  raised  mound  of  earth),  or  a  rath  (a  lios  protected  by  a  sur- 
rounding wall,  usually  of  earth),  or,  in  case  of  a  chief  or  king,  a 
dun,  which  was  a  fortified  rath  having  a  couple  of  surrounding 
walls  with  a  water-filled  ditch  between. 

All  of  the  better  class  houses  had  basins  for  bathing.  And 
the  select  few  had  scented  oils  and  fragrant  herbs,  as  accompani- 
ments of  the  bath.  After  their  day's  exertion,  and  before  taking 
their  evening  meal,  hunters  and  warriors  treated  themselves  to  a 

296 


MANNER  OF  LIVING  IN  ANCIENT  IRELAND   297 

bath.  And  a  bath  was  always  a  common  courtesy  to  which  to 
treat  a  newly  arrived  guest. 

The  women  had  mirrors  made  of  highly  polished  metal.  They 
used  cosmetics,  and  had  combs  which  were  often  beautifully 
wrought,  and  embossed  cior-bolgs  (comb  bags)  in  which  they  car- 
ried comb,  veil,  and  personal  ornaments.  Both  sexes  devoted  the 
greatest  attention  to  the  care  of  their  hair,  which  was  often  elabo- 
rately curled,  and  often  also  plaited  in  several  long  plaits  the 
ends  of  which  were  fastened  by  little  golden  balls — one  or  two 
large  ones  on  the  heads  of  the  men,  and  six  or  seven  small  ones  on 
women's  heads.  Both  women  and  men  (of  noble  rank)  wore  beau- 
tifully wrought  brooches,  for  fastening  their  mantle,  and  beauti- 
fully wrought  girdles,  also.  Other  ornaments  were  bracelets, 
rings,  neck  torques,  diadems,  crescents,  of  gold  and  silver — beau- 
tiful specimens  of  all  which  may  be  seen  in  the  National  Museum 
in  Dublin  and  in  the  British  Museum.  Veils  and  gloves  were  in 
use — and  sandals  likewise. 

The  chief  articles  of  dress  were,  in  the  case  of  the  women,  one 
long  robe  that  reached  to  the  ankles,  and  of  the  men  a  short  jacket 
combined  with  a  sort  of  kilt.  Over  these  both  sexes  frequently 
wore  a  cloak  or  mantle.  The  substance  of  the  dress  was  usually 
either  of  linen  or  wool.  But  sometimes  it  was  of  silk  or  satin, 
imported. 

The  cloak  or  mantle  was  a  distinctive  and  prized  article  of 
dress,  the  one  to  which  most  thought  was  given,  and  on  which 
most  value  was  expended.  In  details  of  gifts  and  tributes  told  of 
in  the  old  stories,  and  in  accounts  of  beautiful  cavalcades,  the 
mantle  gets  prominent  place.  For  instance,  the  Book  of  Rights 
detailing  the  tuarastal  payable  from  the  king  to  subordinate  kings 
says: 

"Seven  mantles  with  wreaths  of  gold, 
And  seven  cups  for  social  drinking, 
Seven  steeds  not  accustomed  to  falter, 
To  the  king  of  Kerry  of  the  combats. 

"The  prosperous  king  of  Rathlenn  is  entitled 
To  the  stipend  of  a  brave  great  man ; 
Ten  swords,  and  ten  drinking  horns, 
Ten  red  cloaks,  ten  blue  cloaks. 

'.'The  king  of  Ara  of  beaut>^  is  entitled 

From  the  king  of  Eire  of  the  comely  face, 
To  six  swords,  six  praised  shields. 
And  six  mantles  of  deep  crimson." 


298  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

In  the  poem  of  the  Bruidean  da  Derga,  the  Saxon  chief  Ing- 
cel,  in  describing  King  Conaire  Mor  as  he  saw  him  in  the  Bruidean, 
gives  a  glorified  description  of  a  king's  dress  in  the  early  days: 

"I  saw  his  many-hued  red  cloak  of  lustrous  silk, 

With  its  gorgeous  ornamentation  of  precious  gold  bespangled 

upon  its  surface, 
With  its  flowing  capes  dexterously  embroidered. 

"I  saw  in  it  a  great  large  brooch, 

The  long  pin  was  of  pure  gold; 

Bright  shining  like  a  full-moon 

Was  its  ring,  all  around — a  crimson  gemmed  circlet 

Of  round  sparkling  pebbles — 

Filling  the  fine  front  of  his  noble  breast 

Atwixt  his  well  proportioned  fair  shoulders. 

"I  saw  his  splendid  linen  kilt. 

With  its  striped  silken  borders, — 
A  face-reflecting  mirror  of  various  hues, 
The  coveted  of  the  eyes  of  many, — 
Embracing  his  noble  neck — enriching  its  beauty. 
An  embroidery  of  gold  upon  the  lustrous  silk — 
(Extended)  from  his  bosom  to  his  noble  knees." 

The  law  prescribed  that  sons  of  kings  in  fosterage  were  to 
have  satin  mantles,  of  scarlet,  purple,  or  blue;  scabbards  for  their 
little  swords,  ornamented  with  silver.  Sons  of  the  higher  kings 
were  to  have  their  mantles  fastened  with  a  brooch  ornamented 
with  gold.  A  son  of  a  king  of  a  tuath,  a  brooch  ornamented  with 
silver. 

Mantles  and  capes  were  sometimes  trimmed  with  furs  of  na- 
tive animals,  seals,  badgers,  otters  and  foxes. 

In  welcoming  a  guest  the  usual  courtesy  was  for  the  house- 
hold to  arise  to  their  feet.  Sometimes  also  the  host  greeted  him 
with  a  kiss  on  each  cheek.  At  larger  assemblies,  as  for  instance 
at  the  king's  court,  the  visitor  v/as  sometimes  received  "with  clap- 
ping of  hands."  The  custom  of  the  hand-shake  was  not  used  or 
known. 

The  guest  was  feasted  with  the  best  that  could  be  had,  and 
he  was  entertained  with  story  and  with  poem,  with  music  of  the 
harp,  the  pipe,  or  the  tympan.  Chess  was  the  game  always  pro- 
vided— the  great  and  universal  game,  in  wlwch  the  Irish  were 
highly  skilled. 

Another  entertainment,  which  however  was  peculiar  to  Courts, 


MANNER  OF  LIVING  IN  ANCIENT  IRELAND   299 

was  that  provided  by  professional  jesters  and  jugglers,  buffoons 
and  druiths.  The  same  Ingcel  whom  we  just  quoted  describes 
Conari  Mor's  three  court  jesters : 

"I  saw  there,"  said  he,  "three  jesters  at  the  fire.  They  wore 
three  dark  grey  cloaks;  and  if  all  the  men  of  Eirinn  were  in  one 
place,  and  though  the  body  of  the  father  or  the  mother  of  each  man 
was  lying  dead  before  him,  not  one  could  refrain  from  laughing  at 
them." 

And  of  Tultinne,  the  king's  juggler,  Ingcel  says: 

"He  had  ear-clasps  of  gold  in  his  cars;  and  a  speckled  white  cloak 
upon  him.  He  had  nine  swords  in  his  hand,  and  nine  silvery  shields, 
and  nine  balls  of  gold.  He  throws  every  one  of  them  up  (into  the 
air),  and  none  of  them  falls  to  the  ground,  and  there  is  but  one  of 
them  at  a  time  upon  his  palm;  and  like  the  buzzing  of  bees  on  a 
beautiful  day,  was  the  motion  of  each  passing  the  other." 

The  druith  is  often  interpreted  to  be  a  buffoon — but  he  must 
have  been  of  an  entirely  different  and  indeed  far  superior  order, 
when  we  recall  the  druith  Ua  Maighlinne  (who  belonged  to  the 
court,  at  Ailech,  of  Fergal  the  son  of  Maelduin,  in  the  begin- 
ning of  the  eighth  century).  On  the  eve  of  the  great  battle  of 
Almain  (Allen)  he  entertained  the  northern  warriors  by  narrating 
the  battles  and  triumphs  of  these  northmen,  and  also  of  their 
enemies  the  Leinstermen,  from  the  earliest  time  down  to  the  time 
that  was  then  present.  And  this  Ua  Maighlinne,  taken  prisoner 
in  the  battle  and  about  to  be  beheaded,  was  asked  to  give  the  Geim 
Driiath,  or  druith's  cry,  before  he  died.  And  so  loud,  beautiful, 
and  melodious  was  this  peculiar  cry  that  for  three  days  and  three 
nights  after  his  death  the  enchanting  soft  echoes  of  it  were  still 
reverberating  about  the  spot. 

The  description  given  of  that  other  wonderful  and  versatile 
entertainer,  Donnbo,  who  went  on  the  same  expedition,  and  lost 
his  life  in  the  same  battle,  may  well  describe  the  druith.  And, 
because  of  its  dramatic  beauty,  we  shall  make  room  for  it  here: 

"And  there  was  not  in  all  Eirinn  one  more  comely,  or  of  better 
shape  or  face,  or  more  graceful  symmetr>%  than  he;  he  was  the  best 
at  singing  amusing  verses  and  telling  of  royal  stories  in  the  world ; 
he  was  the  best  to  equip  horses,  and  to  mount  spears,  and  to  plait 
hair;  and  his  was  the  best  mind  in  acuteness  of  intellect  and  in 
honour." 


300  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

So  famed  and  so  popular  was  the  clever  and  witty  Donnbo 
that  when  Fergal  summoned  the  men  of  Leth  Cuinn  to  go  with 
him  upon  this  expedition,  what  each  of  them  answered  was:  "If 
Donnbo  go  upon  the  expedition,  I  will." 

And  on  the  night  that  was  the  eve  of  the  battle,  on  the  hill  of 
Allen,  when  Ua  Maighlinne  told  them  the  stories,  it  was  Donnbo 
who  had  been  asked  to  amuse  them,  but  had  refused  because  his 
heart  was  weighted  with  sad  prescience  of  the  morrow's  disaster. 
But  he  promised  that  if  Ua  Maighlinne  amused  them  to-night  he 
would  make  amusement  for  his  royal  master,  wheresoever  he 
should  be,  on  the  next  night.  On  the  next  night  his  royal  master 
and  thousands  of  his  devoted  ones,  not  only  warriors,  but  pipers 
and  trumpeters,  and  harpers,  were  dead  upon  the  field  of  carnage. 
And  Donnbo,  like  his  royal  master,  had  had  his  head  severed  from 
his  body.  A  warrior  of  Murchad,  the  victorious  King  of  Leinster, 
who,  on  a  dare  from  his  king  came  alone  to  the  battlefield  at  dead 
of  night  to  bear  from  it  a  trophy,  heard  a  voice  in  the  air  above 
the  battlefield,  calling  upon  Donnbo,  In  the  name  of  the  King  of 
the  Seven  Heavens  to  make  amusement  to-night,  as  he  had  prom- 
ised, for  Fergal  the  son  of  Maelduin.  And  in  answer  the  warrior 
first  heard  the  dead  singers  and  trumpeters  and  harpers  make 
music  the  like  of  which  he  never  heard  before  or  after.  And 
next,  from  a  cluster  of  rushes,  he  heard  the  head  of  Donnbo  raise 
the  dord-fiansa,  the  sweetest  of  all  the  world's  music:  for  Donnbo 
was  keeping  his  promise  to  amuse  the  king.  The  warrior  wished 
to  take  back  the  head  of  Donnbo  to  amuse  the  Leinster  king,  but 
Donnbo's  head  said:  "I  prefer  that  nothing  whatever  should 
carry  me  away  unless  Christ,  the  son  of  God,  should  take  me. 
And  thou  must  give  the  guarantee  of  Christ  that  thou  wilt  bring 
me  back  to  my  body  again."  The  warrior,  giving  the  guarantee, 
carried  to  his  king's  camp  the  head  of  Donnbo. 

"Pity  thy  fate,  O  Donnbo,"  said  Murchad  and  his  company, 
"comely  was  thy  face.  Make  amusement  for  us,  this  night,  the  same 
as  thou  didst  for  thy  lord,  yesterday."  That  it  should  be  the  darker 
for  him  Donnbo  turned  his  face  to  the  wall,  and  raised  the  dord- 
fiansa  on  high.  "And  it  was  the  sweetest  of  all  music  ever  heard 
on  all  the  surface  of  the  earth!  So  that  the  host  were  all  crying 
and  lamenting  with  the  plaintiveness  and  softness  of  the  melody." 

Same  books  as  for  preceding  chapter,  together  with: 
Carbery,  Ethna:     In  the  Celtic  Past. 


cil\pti-:r  XXXIV 

STRUCTURAL   ANTIQUITIES 

The  structural  antiquities  which  we  can  still  observe  in  Ireland 
arrange  themseh^es  under  five  heads :  cromlechs,  tumuli,  the  great 
duns  of  the  west,  ancient  churches,  and  round  towers. 

The  cromlechs,  sometimes  called  dolmen,  are  each  composed 
of  three  great  standing  stones,  ten  or  twelve  feet  high  with  a  great 
flat  slab  resting  on  top  of  them,  and  always  inclined  toward  the 
east.  Sometimes  these  are  surrounded  by  a  wide  circle  of  stand- 
ing stones.  The  cromlechs  are  of  such  very  remote  antiquity — 
ancient,  at  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  era — that  all  legends 
of  them  are  lost.  The  invariable  inclination  to  the  east  of  the 
covering  slab  suggests  altars  dedicated  to  sun-worship.  The  name 
cromlech  may  mean  either  bent  slab  or  the  slab  of  the  god  Crom. 
And  this  latter  derivation  suggests  to  some  that  they  were  sacri- 
ficial altars  used  in  the  very  ancient  worship  of  that  god. 

But  some  of  the  best  authorities  have  concluded  that  they  were 
tombstones — because  beneath  every  one  of  them  under  which  ex- 
cavations were  made,  were  found  the  bones,  or  the  urns  and  dust, 
of  the  dead.  Prom  this,  however,  we  cannot  necessarily  conclude 
that  they  were  erected  as  tombstones — any  more  than  we  should 
conclude  that  the  various  Christian  temples  and  altars  under  which 
honoured  ones  have  been  interred  were  only  intended  as  monu- 
ments to  the  dead  beneath  them. 

Excavations  made  beneath  many  cromlechs  have  turned  up, 
besides  urns  and  bones  of  the  dead,  tools  of  flint  and  stone,  axes, 
hammers,  chisels,  spear-heads,  knives,  and  also  rings  of  shale  and 
jet — thus  showing  that  the  cromlechs  were  erected  in  the  far-away 
Stone  Age.  And,  as  Miss  Margaret  Stokes  points  out,  an  ad- 
vanced religious  condition  for  such  age  is  evidenced  by  the  fact 
that  they  then  celebrated  funeral  rights  in  tombs  of  imposing 
grandeur,  with  cremation,  and  sometimes  urn  burial. 

The  tumuli  or  enormous  burial  mounds  found  in  the  Boyne 
section  of  eastern  Ireland  show  the  race  in  a  much  more  advanced 
stage  of  civilisation.     These  tumuli,  as  proved  by  the  decorative 

301 


302  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

designs  carved  upon  their  walls,  were  erected  at  least  before  the 
Christian  era — and  maybe  many  centuries  before  it.  They  are 
great  stone  roofed  royal  sepulchres,  buried  under  vast  regularly 
shaped,  artificial  mounds.  Every  one  of  the  tumuli  so  far  explored 
has  shown  urn  burial.  These  urns  of  the  tumuli  are  a  marked 
advance  upon  those  of  the  cromlechs.  Some  of  them  are  beauti- 
fully formed,  and  delicately  ornamented.  Many  urns  may  be 
found  in  the  same  tumulus.  Sometimes  they  are  set  with  one 
large  one  in  the  centre  and  other  small  ones  circling  around  it. 
The  walls  of  the  sepulchral  chamber,  in  the  interior  of  these 
mounds,  are  oftentimes  decorated  with  carvings,  made  with  chisel 
or  punch,  and  scraper.  The  patterns  are  the  circle,  semi-circle, 
half-moon,  concentric  circle,  spiral,  zig-zag,  stars,  and  leaves. 
The  double  divergent  spiral  or  trumpet  pattern,  which  was  intro- 
duced into  Celtic  ornament  just  prior  to  the  Christian  era,  has 
not  yet  appeared  in  the  tumuli. 

The  greatest,  most  beautiful,  of  these  wonderful  royal  tombs 
are  those  at  Knowth,  Dowth,  and  New  Grange,  on  the  Boyne. 

After  the  tumuli,  the  next  structures  in  order  of  time  are  the 
great  duns  of  the  west  coast,  such  as  Dun  Angus,  and  Dun  Conor, 
on  the  Aran  islands  in  Galway  Bay.  The  great  duns  were  erected 
sometime  during  the  first  three  centuries  of  the  Christian  era. 
They  consist  of  enormously  thick  walls,  of  stone,  which,  though 
built  before  the  discovery  of  any  kind  of  cement,  are  of  marvel- 
lously fine,  firm,  and  Impregnable  construction.  These  great  walls, 
in  the  Interior  of  which  are  sometimes  chambers  and  passages, 
surround  an  amphitheatre  of  about  a  thousand  feet  In  diameter. 
In  the  amphitheatre  are  stone  huts,  the  residences  of  the  dun — 
some  of  them  of  bee-hive  shape,  some  of  them  of  the  shape  of  an 
upturned  boat.  Tradition  says  that  these  great  duns  were  erected 
by  the  Firbolgs  who  maintained  themselves  along  the  western 
fringe  for  long  centuries  after  the  Milesians  possessed  themselves 
of  the  land.  Moreover,  In  the  second  century  of  the  Christian 
era  a  new  colony  of  Firbolgs  Is  said  to  have  arrived  In  Aran;  a 
tribe  led  by  Angus,  who,  in  that  century,  coming  from  the  western 
Islands  of  Scotland  (to  which  they  had  been  driven  long  centuries 
before)  first  settled  In  Meath,  but,  fleeing  from  an  exacting  king 
there,  went  westward,  and  finally  settled  In  Aran  and  on  adjoining 
portions  of  the  mainland. 

About  the  round  towers,  their  origin  and  use,  a  more  bitter 
controversy  has  waged  than  about  any  other  ancient  Irish  remains. 
It  had  been  the  opinion  of  many,  sustained  by  the  researches  of 


STRUCTURAL  ANTIQUITIES  303 

some  noted  antiquarians,  that  the  round  towers  were  of  oriental 
origin,  that  they  were  temples  of  the  sun-worship  of  ancient  Ire- 
land, and  that  they  were  erected  long  before  the  introduction  of 
Christianity.  But  the  antiquarians  now  are  pretty  generally  agreed 
that  they  are  of  Christian  origin  always  built  as  adjuncts  to 
churches,  and  erected  after  the  marauding  Danes  had  shown  the 
harassed  ecclesiastics  the  need  of  some  immediate,  strong,  and 
easily  defended,  place  of  refuge  for  themselves,  and  of  safety  for 
the  sacred  objects,  and  the  rich  objects  of  church  art  which  the 
Northmen  constantly  sought.  The  round  towers  of  Ireland  range 
In  height  from  about  a  hundred  to  a  hundred  and  twenty  feet;  they 
are  from  twelve  to  twenty  feet  in  external  diameter  at  the  base, 
and  a  little  narrower  at  the  top.  They  are  of  six  or  seven  storeys 
high;  with  one  window  usually  to  each  story — except  in  the  upper- 
most story  v/hich  has  four.  The  lowermost  of  these  openings  Is 
always  about  ten  feet  or  more  from  the  ground — giving  good  ad' 
vantage  over  attackers.  The  walls  are  usually  three  and  a  half 
to  four  feet  thick. 

There  are  still  eighty  round  towers  in  Ireland,  twenty  of  them 
perfect.  They  are  always  found  in  connection  with  churches — 
and  almost  Invariably  situated  about  twenty  feet  from  the  north- 
west corner  of  the  church — and  with  the  door  or  lowermost  win- 
dow facing  the  church  entrance. 

The  antiquarians  to-day  conclude  that  round  towers  began  to 
be  erected  at  the  end  of  the  ninth  and  beginning  of  the  tenth  cen- 
tury— in  the  period  of  peace  that  followed  the  death  of  the  Dan- 
ish king  Turgesius,  and  the  temporary  loss  of  the  Danish  grip 
upon  Ireland.  The  first  reference  in  the  annals  to  a  round  tower 
Is  In  the  year  950.  It  Is  upon  the  Inference  to  be  derived  from 
this  fact,  taken  in  connection  with  the  activities  of  the  Danes — 
and  that  to  be  derived  from  the  relation  of  the  round  towers  to 
the  churches — that  Is  built  the  now  accepted  theory  of  the  Danish- 
time  origin  of  the  round  towers,  as  places  of  ecclesiastical  refuge. 

Almost  all  of  the  earliest  Irish  churches  were  of  wood.  The 
Venerable  Bede  talks  of  the  Irishman,  St.  Finan,  erecting  on  the 
English  island  of  LIndisfarne,  "a  church  entirely  of  wood,  after 
the  manner  of  the  Scots."  Rarely  Indeed  In  the  first  few  centuries 
of  Christianity  in  Ireland  was  any  such  building  erected  of  stone — 
the  exceptions  being  the  cases  of  small  oratories  or  chapels,  which, 
like  the  oratory  of  Gallerus  (in  Kerry)  were  built  of  uncemented 
stone  with  side  walls  gradually  converging  till  they  were  joined  by 
a  single  stone  at  the  top.    It  is  in  the  seventh  and  eighth  centuries 


304  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

that  the  use  of  mortar  and  of  dressed  or  partly  dressed  stone 
shows  in  the  erection  of  the  occasional  small  chapels  for  which 
stone  was  yet  used. 

It  was  practically  in  the  tenth  century  that  the  use  of  stone  for 
building  the  large  churches  began.  And  it  was  only  in  the  eleventh 
and  twelfth  centuries  that  it  became  general.  In  these  last-named 
centuries  the  Romanesque  style  was  introduced,  and  some  beauti- 
ful churches  erected,  like  that  of  St.  Caimin  at  Inniscaltra  by  Brian 
Boru,  and  Cormac's  chapel  at  Cashel. 

In  the  Life  of  St.  Malachy,  written  by  his  friend,  the  conti- 
nental St.  Bernard,  we  incidentally  learn  how  rare,  in  some  parts 
of  the  island,  were  stone  churches  even  then,  in  the  twelfth  cen- 
tury. After  Malachy  had  taken  charge  of  Bangor — the  old  foun- 
dation of  St.  Comgall — he  first  built  a  chapel  "made  indeed  of 
planed  timber,"  says  St.  Bernard,  "but  well-jointed  and  compactly 
put  together,  and  for  a  Scottish  work  elegant  enough."  And  later, 
more  ambitious,  he  astounded  the  territory  by  starting  to  build 
a  stone  church.  The  ubiquitous  pessimist  was  there  to  help  Ma- 
lachy along.  St.  Bernard  describes  the  rude  country-fellow  turn- 
ing up  to  laugh  to  scorn  the  idea  of  building  a  church  of  stone ! 
"What  has  come  over  you,"  says  the  fellow,  "to  undertake  such 
a  novelty  in  this  country?  We  are  Scots,  not  Gauls.  How  are 
you,  a  poor  man,  to  finish  it?  Who  will  live  to  see  it  perfected?" 
And  so  on,  in  the  usual  strain  of  the  helpful  hurler  on  the  fence. 

The  handsome  stone  churches  which  began  to  be  erected  in 
the  early  eleventh  century — as  soon  as  the  country  had  been  freed 
from  the  scourging  Danes — and  which  engrafted  the  Roman 
arched  style  upon  the  Irish  horizontal  form,  with  the  primitive 
Irish  inclined  jambs,  was  well  established  when  the  Anglo-Nor- 
mans invaded  the  country  in  the  late  twelfth  centur3^  And  from 
that  time  forward,  for  some  centuries  (till  the  Reformation  be- 
gan to  make  itself  felt  in  Ireland)  the  Anglo-Norman  barons  and 
the  Irish  chieftains  vied  v/ith  each  other  in  the  erection  of  many 
magnificent  churches  and  abbeys,  the  ruins  of  which  are  impres- 
sive. 

In  the  decorating  of  doorways  and  windows^  sculpture  began 
to  show  in  the  churches  of  the  tenth  century.  But  Irish  sculpture 
is  best  exemplified  probably  on  the  high  crosses  of  the  tenth, 
eleventh,  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries.  There  are  some  forty- 
five  of  these  high  crosses  still  remaining,  most  of  them  very  beau- 
tiful. There  was  an  Irish  cross,  now  called  the  Celtic  cross,  de- 
veloped about  the  tenth  century,  a  compromise  between  the  Latin 
cross  and  the  Greek  cross,  having  the  circle  of  the  Greek  cross 


STRUCTURAL  ANTIQUITIES  305 

placed  upon  the  shafts  of  the  Latin.  The  sculpture  on  the  high 
crosses  included  carvings  of  the  saints,  scriptural  scenes,  judgment 
scenes,  royal  processions,  hunting  scenes,  stags  at  bay,  horsemen, 
chariots,  etc. 

The  sculpture  of  the  Irish  at  this  period  was  infinitely  superior 
to  that  produced  by  their  neighbours,  the  Welsh,  the  Anglo-Saxons, 
and  the  Scottish.  With  these  sculpture  was  a  mere  harsh,  me- 
chanical imitation.  But  the  soul  of  the  artist  breathed  through 
the  work  of  the  Irish  sculptor.  Miss  Margaret  Stokes  well  de- 
fines the  difference: 

"So  total  a  dissimilarity  of  spirit  and  feeling  for  Art  exists  in  the 
works  of  these  different  countries,  that  it  becomes  impossible  to  con- 
ceive their  productions  as  belonging  to  the  same  school.  It  would 
be  difficult  to  find  two  works  of  Art  more  different  in  character  than 
the  simple  form  of  the  Cross  of  Ualla  in  Clonmacnois,  and  the  bar- 
barous extravagance  of  the  Scotch  slab  at  Halkirk  in  Caithness, 
Something  more  than  archaeology  is  required  to  perceive  this,  and 
to  perceive  the  qualities  which  form  the  essential  elements  of  the 
individuality  of  Irish  Art.  It  is  not  in  the  quantity,  it  is  not  even 
in  the  nature  of  ornamental  detail,  that  true  merit  lies;  it  is  in  its 
use,  and  in  that  indefinable  quality  which,  for  want  of  better  word, 
we  term  feeling.  It  is  unreasonable  to  call  sculpture,  however  perfect, 
which  is  merely  encrusted  on  any  object,  ornament.  Decoration  is 
beautiful  only  when  found  in  its  right  place,  when  adding  to  the 
effect  of  the  fundamental  form  to  be  adorned ;  and  when  held  in 
subordination  and  subjection  to  the  primary  idea,  a  noble  reserve  of 
power  is  felt  to  exist,  which  comes  forth  at  the  right  time,  and  in 
the  right  place,  to  aid  in  the  expression  of  the  essential  elements  of 
the  subject,  emphasising  its  important  points,  and  adding  clearness 
to  the  beauty  of  its  outline. 

"It  is  in  such  qualities  that  the  IManx,  Welsh,  and  some  of  the 
Scottish  stones  are  so  deficient,  as  compared  with  the  work  upon  the 
sepulchral  slabs  of  Clonmacnois,  and  Durrow,  and  other  Christian 
cemeteries  in  Ireland ;  and  the  conclusion  our  experience  would  point 
to  is  that  such  Art  out  of  Ireland  belongs  to  much  the  same  date  as 
that  seen  in  this  country,  but  is  in  no  essential  element  Irish,  and 
merely  belongs  to  a  style  which  overspread  the  three  countries  in 
the  ninth  and  tenth  centuries,  and  which  attained  a  more  beautiful 
result  in  Ireland,  because  in  the  hands  of  a  people  possessed  of  a  fine 
artistic  instinct." 

Petrie,  Geo.,  LL.D. :     The  Origin  and  Uses  of  the  Round  Towers  of  Ire- 
land. 

Ecclesiastical  Arch,  of  Ireland. 

Stokes,  Miss  Margt. :     Early  Christian  Art  in  Ireland. 


3o6  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

Early  Christian  Architecture  in  Ireland. 


Joyce,  P.  W. :     Social  History  of  Ancient  Ireland. 
O'Curry,  Eugene:     Manuscript  Materials  of  Irish  History. 

Manners  and  Customs  of  the  Ancient  Irish. 

Wakeman,  Wm.  F.:     Handbook  of  Irish  Antiquities,  Pagan  and  Christian. 
Ware's  Works. 


CHAPTER  XXXV 

VARIOUS    ARTS    OF    ANCIENT    IRELAND 

Save  that  of  the  scribe,  there  was  no  other  art  in  ancient  Ire- 
land carried  to  such  beautiful  perfection  as  that  of  the  metal 
worker.  And  we  have,  still  remaining,  hundreds  of  beautiful  pieces 
of  this  work. 

Those  remaining  are  In  gold,  silver,  copper,  bronze,  findruine 
(a  kind  of  white  bronze)  and  brass.  Of  Irish  gold-wrought  ob- 
jects alone,  there  are  in  the  National  Museum  of  Dublin  twelve 
times  the  weight  of  all  the  ancient  gold  objects  from.  England, 
Scotland  and  Wales,  collected  in  the  British  Museum. 

These  ancient  objects  are  of  various  kinds;  articles  of  personal 
adornment,  bell-shrines,  cumdachs  or  shrines  for  books,  croziers, 
etc. 

Among  the  personal  ornaments  we  have  brooches,  bracelets, 
rings,  necklaces,  torques  (twisted  ribbons  of  gold  or  silver)  for 
wearing  around  the  neck,  minns  or  diadems,  crowns,  amulets,  ear- 
rings, beads,  balls,  crescents,  gorgets,  the  niam-lann  (a  flexible 
plate  of  burnished  gold,  silver,  or  findruine  worn  around  the  fore- 
head), et  cetera — a  lavish  wealth  of  beautiful  ornaments  exqui- 
sitely wrought,  which,  after  a  long  count  of  centuries,  in  some  cases 
thirteen,  fifteen  and  twenty,  tell  us  the  story  of  the  rarely  skilled, 
noble  artificers  of  Ireland,  whose  genius  in  metal  was  not  only 
unsurpassed,  but  even  unequalled,  in  western  Europe.  Of  a  bronze 
ornament  two  thousand  years  old  and  of  which  there  are  some 
fragments  in  the  Petrie  Museum,  Kemble  (in  Horae  Ferales) 
says:  "For  beauty  of  design  and  execution  they  may  challenge 
comparison  with  any  specimen  of  cast  bronze  work  that  it  has 
ever  been  my  fortune  to  see."  We  have  many  beautiful  bronzes 
of  the  pre-Christian  period,  which,  in  their  way,  rival  the  beauty 
of  the  gold  and  silver  work  of  several  centuries  later. 

And  of  the  very  ancient  gorgets  wrought  in  gold,  Dr.  Joyce 
says:  "They  are  so  astonishingly  fine,  and  show  such  extraordi- 
nary skill  of  manipulation,  that  it  is  diflicult  to  understand  how 
they  could  have  been  produced  by  mere  handwork,   by  moulds, 

307 


3o8  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

hammers,   and  punches.     Yet  they  must  have  been   done  in  that 
way."     He  quotes  Sir  WiUiam  Wilde  as  pronouncing  of  them: 

"It  may  safely  be  asserted  that  for  both  design  and  execution,  they 
are  undoubtedly  the  most  gorgeous  and  magnificent  specimens  of  gold 
work  discovered  in  any  part  of  the  world." 

In  a  country  in  which,  in  faraway  pre-Christian  times,  such 
rarely  beautiful  ornaments  were  wrought,  surely  it  needed  little 
poetic  license  for  the  old  file,  when  describing  Maine,  the  son  of 
Ailill  and  Medb,  setting  out  to  seek  the  hand  of  the  beautiful  Ferb 
of  Ulster,  thus  to  picture  it: 

"There  were  seven  greyhounds  attending  his  (Prince  Maine's) 
chariot,  in  chains  of  silver,  with  balls  of  gold  upon  each  chain,  so 
that  the  tingling  of  the  balls  against  the  chains  would  be  music  suf- 
ficient (for  the  march).  There  was  no  known  colour  that  was  not 
to  be  seen  upon  these  greyhounds.  There  were  seven  Cornaire 
(trumpeters),  with  corna  (horns)  of  gold  and  of  silver,  wearing 
clothes  of  many  colours,  and  all  having  fair-yellow  hair.  Three 
druids  also  went  in  front  of  them,  who  wore  minda  (diadems)  of 
silver  upon  their  heads  and  speckled  cloaks  over  their  dresses,  and 
who  carried  shields  of  bronze  ornamented  with  red  copper.  Three 
Cruitire  (harpers)  accompanied  them;  each  of  kingly  aspect,  and 
arrayed  in  a  crimson  cloak.  It  was  so  they  arrived  on  the  green 
of  Cruachan." 

Or  for  the  ancient  seanachie,  telling  us  that  in  Tara  there 
were  "one  hundred  and  fifty  drinking  vessels,  ornamented  with 
gold,  silver,  and  carmogal"   (possibly  enamel). 

After  studying  the  wonderful  specimens  of  the  ancient  metal- 
work  which  we  possess,  we  can  well  understand  why  it  was  that 
nobles  and  saints  oftentimes  devoted  themselves  to  the  profession 
of  metal-working,  and  also  why  it  was  that  the  laws  rank  all  fol- 
lowers of  the  profession  with  nobles.  And,  it  is  worth  noting  in 
this  connection,  that  it  was  from  Irish  ideas,  springing  from  Irish 
minds,  and  by  Irish  hands  in  Ireland,  that  the  rare  articles  in  gold 
and  silver  were  rarely  wrought.  In  corroboration  of  their  native 
conception  and  origin.  Dr.  Joyce  in  his  Social  History  of  Ireland 
quotes  the  decision  of  a  Continental  expert,  M.  Solomon  Reinach, 
who  had  studied  the  Irish  gold  ornaments  in  the  National  Mu- 
seum: "Of  objects  of  gold,  attesting  imitation  of  Greek  and 
Roman  models,  there  is  no  trace.'* 

The  objects  that  are  of  pre-Christian  origin  are  in  general 


VARIOUS  ARTS  OF  ANCIENT  IRELAND        309 

easily  distinguished  from  those  of  Christian  Ireland  by  the  dif- 
ference in  pattern.  The  ornamentation  in  pagan  days  consisted 
chiefly  of  the  circle,  spiral,  lozenge,  and  parallels.  Under  the 
hand  of  the  Christian  artist  there  developed  new  patterns  the  most 
characteristic  being  the  divergent  spiral  or  trumpet  pattern,  knot- 
ting and  interlacing. 

Of  all  the  many  beautiful  articles  of  personal  adornment  that 
remain  to  us  from  those  ancient  times  in  Ireland,  probably  the 
most  luxurious,  and  very  frequently  the  most  beautiful  (though 
far  from  being  the  most  ancient)  are  the  delgs,  or  brooches — the 
size  and  costliness  of  some  of  which  may  be  judged  from  the  Dal 
Riada  brooch,  which,  accidentally  dug  up  in  an  Antrim  field  in  the 
middle  of  the  last  century,  contained  two  and  one-third  ounces  of 
pure  gold,  was  five  inches  long,  and  two  and  an  eighth  inches  in 
diameter. 

But  for  beauty,  none  of  them  all  equals  the  Tara  brooch.  This 
brooch,  found  by  a  child  on  the  strand  near  Drogheda,  is  of  white 
bronze.  Both  the  face  of  the  brooch  and  the  back  are  overlaid 
with  beautiful  patterns,  wrought  In  an  Irish  filigree  or  formed  by 
amber,  glass  and  enamel.  These  patterns  of  which  there  are  no 
less  than  seventy-six  different  kinds  in  this  single  article  are 
wrought  in  such  minute  perfection  that  a  powerful  lens  is  needed 
to  perceive  and  appreciate  the  wonderful  perfection  of  detail.  All 
of  the  many  designs  are  in  perfect  harmony;  and  the  beauty  of 
the  whole  can  only  be  realised  by  actual  sight  and  study  of  the 
remarkable  object  itself.  There  are  many  other  handsome  an- 
cient brooches,  such  as  the  Ardagh  brooch,  the  Roscrea  brooch, 
et  cetera — each  with  peculiar  beauties  of  its  own,  showing  some 
point  or  points  of  superiority  to  the  Tara  brooch,  but  none  of  them 
equalling  it  in  total  effect. 

Only  by  a  very  different  kind  of  object,  the  celebrated  Ardagh 
chalice,  is  the  Tara  brooch  surpassed  in  richness  and  beauty  of 
workmanship.  A  partial  description  of  this  celebrated  chalice  is 
here  extracted  from  Miss  Stokes'  detailed  description  in  her 
"Early  Christian  Art  in  Ireland": 

"This  Irish  chalice  combines  classic  beauty  of  form  with  the 
most  exquisite  examples  of  almost  every  variety  of  Celtic  ornamenta- 
tion. The  cup  is  composed  of  the  following  metals:  gold,  silver, 
bronze,  brass,  copper,  and  lead.  The  ornaments  cut  on  the  silver 
bowl  consist  of  an  inscription,  interlaced  patterns  terminating  in 
dogs'  heads,  and  at  the  bottom  a  circular  band  of  the  Greek  pat- 
tern. The  mode  of  ornamentation  is  pecuh'ar  to  this  cup,  being  done 
with  a  chisel  and  hammer,  as  indicated  by  the  lines  being  raised  at 


3IO  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

each  side,  which  could  only  be  produced  in  the  manner  described. 
Round  the  cup  runs  a  band  composed  of  two  semi-cylindrical  rings 
of  silver,  ornamented  with  small  annular  dots  punched  out  with  a 
hollow  punch.  The  space  between  the  rings  is  filled  by  twelve 
plaques  of  gold  repousse  work,  with  a  very  beautiful  ornamentation 
of  fine  filigree  wire-work  wrought  on  the  front  of  the  repousse 
ground,  and  carrying  out,  in  its  most  delicate  execution,  the  inter- 
laced pattern  associated  with  the  art  of  this  country.  Between  the 
plaques  are  twelve  round  enamelled  beads. 

"The  handles  of  this  chalice  are  composed  of  enamels  (similar  to 
those  in  the  borders)  and  plaques  of  gold  filigree  work  of  the  same 
style,  but  different  in  design.  Each  handle  has  four  circular  pieces 
of  blue  glass,  underneath  which  the  rivets  are  secured  which  fasten 
the  handles  to  the  bowl.  Round  the  enamels  was  a  circle  of  amber, 
divided  into  eight  spaces  by  pieces  of  bronze,  which  has  been  eaten 
away.  One  of  the  enamels  has  a  circle  of  gold  grains  at  the  top, 
which  has  been  pressed  in  while  the  glass  was  in  fusion.  The  two 
circular  ornaments  on  the  side  of  the  bowl  are  of  gold  filigree  work 
of  the  very  finest  kind,  with  an  enamelled  boss  in  the  centre;  the 
frames  which  hold  them  are  of  silver.  There  are  four  settings  at 
equal  distances,  which  are  receivers  of  the  rivets  that  secure  it  to 
the  bowl.  In  the  settings  were  two  pieces  of  blue  glass  (the  same 
as  in  the  handles),  and  two  pieces  of  amber,  which  have  fallen  out. 

"The  stem  and  supports  of  the  bowl  are  of  bronze  metal,  gilt, 
beautifully  carved  in  interlaced  and  knotted  patterns.  They  are  at- 
tached to  the  bowl  by  a  bronze  gilt  ball,  with  a  strong  square  tang, 
and  most  ingeniously  fastened  by  an  iron  bolt,  which  secures  all  to- 
gether. 

"The  foot  is  of  silver,  circular,  with  a  framework  on  the  outer 
rim,  having  eight  spaces,  which  are  filled  alternately  with  gold  and 
bronze  gilt  plaques  of  open  work;  behind  them  pieces  of  mica  are 
inserted,  which  throw  out  more  clearly  the  very  beautiful  pierced 
designs  with  which  these  plaques  are  ornamented.  The  interme- 
diate spaces  contain  enamels  (inferior  to  those  in  the  upper  part  of 
the  bowl),  set  in  bronze. 

"In  the  inside  of  the  foot  of  the  bowl  is  a  circular  crystal,  round 
which  there  has  been  a  circle  of  amber,  divided  into  twelve  tablets, 
with  a  bronze  division  between  each  tablet;  surrounding  this  is  a 
circle  in  gold  filigree  of  the  same  style  and  workmanship  as  those 
already  described.  The  next  circle  had  tablets  of  amber,  but  they 
have  all  fallen  out.  In  the  space  between  this  and  the  silver  is  a 
circular  bronze  plate,  highly  carved  and  gilt,  in  which  are  fine 
enamels  in  green. 

"The  extreme  outer  edge,  like  the  reverse  side,  is  divided  into 
eight  spaces,  in  which  are  pieces  somewhat  similar  to  the  gold  plaques 
on  the  opposite  side,  with  this  difference,  that  six  are  in  silver,  and 
two  in  copper;  two  of  the  silver  pieces  are  of  the  most  beautiful 


VARIOUS  ARTS  OF  ANCIENT  IRELAND        311 

plated  wire-work  I  have  ever  met  with.  Between  those  spaces  are 
square  pieces  of  blue  glass,  underneath  which  are  ornamented  pieces 
of  wrought  silver,  which  give  them  a  brilliant  appearance  when  in 
strong  light.  Between  the  circles  which  form  the  upper  and  under 
surfaces  of  the  rim  of  the  foot  are  plates  of  lead  to  secure  and  give 
weight  to  the  wliole.  The  enamels  on  the  foot  of  the  cup  are  of  a 
coarse  kind,  the  pattern  being  impressed  in  the  glass,  and  the  enamel 
melted  into  it.  The  number  of  pieces  of  which  the  cup  is  composed 
amounts  to  354,  including  20  rivets. 

"The  ornamental  designs  upon  this  cup  belong  to  the  Celtic 
School  of  Art,  which,  according  to  Dr.  Petrie,  reached  its  highest 
perfection  as  regards  metal-work  in  this  country  in  the  tenth  and 
eleventh  centuries.  Of  these  designs  there  are  about  forty  different 
varieties,  all  showing  a  freedom  of  inventive  power  and  play  of  fancy 
only  to  be  equalled  by  the  work  upon  the  so-called  Tara  brooch. 

"There  are  two  varieties  of  birds,  with  heads,  necks,  and  legs 
elongated,  and  interlaced ;  and  also  animal  forms  interlaced.  There 
are  four  dragons'  heads,  with  sharp  teeth  which  bear  a  strong  re- 
semblance to  drawings  of  similar  objects  in  the  'Book  of  Armagh': 
also  dogs,  whose  long  protruding  tongues  form  a  knot  above  their 
heads. 

"Besides  these  ornamental  designs  there  are  two  pieces  of  plaited 
silver  wire,  bearing  a  strong  resemblance  to  Trichinopoli  work." 

In  the  remains  of  beautiful  metal  work  which  we  have,  rep- 
resentative of  various  parts  of  the  early  ages,  there  seems  to  be, 
strange  to  say,  a  gap,  when  we  come  to  the  early  Christian  cen- 
turies of  Irish  history.  We  have  the  magnificent  bronzes  of  the 
various  pre-Christian  ages,  and  again  the  truly  extraordinary  work, 
the  brooches,  et  cetera,  of  the  gold  and  silver  smiths  of  the  tenth  to 
the  twelfth  centuries — but  little  or  nothing  between.  Dr.  Petrie, 
in  considering  the  absence  of  ecclesiastical  shrines,  representative 
of  those  early  Christian  centuries,  concludes — and  other  author- 
ities agree  with  him — that  the  raiding  of  the  Danes  may  account 
for  this.  Before  the  coming  of  the  raiders  he  thinks  there  were 
few  of  the  churches  without  beautiful  shrines.  Both  directly  and 
indirectly  the  Danish  raiding  might  also  account  for  the  lack  of 
profane  objects  of  art,  representative  of  those  centuries — the  tran- 
sition period  between  that  which  is  distinctively  of  the  pagan  time 
and  that  which  is  distinctively  of  the  Christian.  During  the  Dan- 
ish time  the  annals  are  filled  with  such  suggestive  references  as, 
for  Instance,  they  "devastated  Clonmacnols  and  took  therefrom 
great  spoil  of  gold  and  silver,  and  many  precious  ornaments." 
^(Annals  of  Ulster.) 

Of  the  latter  span  there  are  In  existence  many  wonderful  bell 


312  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

shrines,  like  that  of  St.  Patrick's  bell,  St.  Cualanus'  bell — and 
shrines  like  the  shrine  of  St.  Mogue,  the  cross  of^  Cong,  the  crozier 
of  St.  Dympna,  the  crozier  of  Liosmor,  the  crozier  of  Clonmac- 
nois,  et  cetera,  all  of  them  exquisitely  displaying  the  extraordinarily 
beautiful  work  of  the  artists  of  those  days.  The  shrine  of  the 
bell  of  St.  Patrick,  studded  with  gems,  has  silver  plates  ornamented 
with  scrolls,  and  has  handsome  golden  filigree  knot-work.  Animal 
forms  on  the  sides  are  drawn  out  fantastically  and  doubled  and 
twisted  into  interlaced  scrolls. 

The  making  of  beautiful  shrines  called  cumdachs,  for  prized 
books,  rarely  occurred  in  any  part  of  the  world  except  Ireland, 
where  it  was  comparatively  common. 

These  book  shrines,  made  for  particularly  prized  and  valu- 
able books  which  had  sacred  association,  were  tastefully  wrought, 
and  richly  ornamented — usually  by  saintly  artificers.  In  the  Mar- 
tyrology  of  Donegal,  for  instance,  it  is  said  of  St.  Ernin  whose 
festival  Is  on  August  i8th:  "Ernin,  I.  e.,  Mernog,  of  Fotharta  of 
Leinster,  a  celebrated  artificer.  It  was  he  who  made  150  bells, 
100  crozlers,  and  cumdachs  for  60  gospels." 

The  cumdachs  were  being  made  from  the  eighth  century  to 
the  late  twelfth,  and  even  later.  Some  of  the  finest  and  most 
celebrated  cumdachs  are  those  of  the  Book  of  Kells,  the  Book 
of  Armagh,  the  Book  of  Durrow,  the  Domnach  Alrgid  (contain- 
ing St.  Patrick's  Gospels),  the  Cathach  or  Battlebook  of  the 
O'Donnells  (containing  St.  Colm  Cille's  Psalter),  Dimma's  book, 
the  Book  of  St.  Moling,  the  Stowe  Missal,  and  of  St.  Molalse's 
Gospels. 

Ordinarily  the  books  of  those  days  were  carefully  kept  in 
leathern  satchels  upon  the  embossing  of  which,  in  rare  patterns, 
the  plentiful  artists  of  those  days  bestowed  much  thought  and 
time  and  skill. 

But  the  first  of  the  artists  and  probably  the  rarest  of  them,  the 
man  who  blazed  the  way  for  both  the  leather  worker  and  the 
metal  artificer,  was  the  scribe,  who,  in  copying  the  sacred  books 
was  In  the  habit  of  ornamenting  their  pages  and  decorating  their 
mp.rglns  with  the  Irish  knotted  and  interlaced  patterns,  and  also 
of  beginning  the  chapters  with  an  Initial  of  elaborate  and  Intricate 
design,  frequently  illuminated  In  colours  that  time  does  not  fade. 
In  decorating  and  illuminating  the  old  manuscript  books  of  Ire- 
land he  exhibited  skill  and  genius  unparalleled  in  the  world  else- 
where. 

The  work  of  these  artist  scribes  was  such  as  to  compel  GIraldus 
Cambrensis — who  would  rather  libel  Ireland  than   luud  her — to 


VARIOUS  ARTS  OF  ANCIENT  IRELAND        313 

write  of  an  Irish  manuscript  volume  which  he  saw  in  Kildarc,  that 
it  seemed  to  iiim  more  hi^e  the  work  of  angels  than  of  men.  He 
says : 

"If  you  look  closely  with  all  acuteness  of  sight  you  can  command, 
and  examine  the  inmost  secrets  of  that  wondrous  art,  you  discover 
such  subtle,  such  fine  and  closely  wrought  lines,  twisted  and  inter- 
woven in  such  intricate  knots,  and  adorned  with  such  fresh  and 
brilliant  colours,  that  you  will  readily  acknowledge  the  whole  to  be 
result  of  angelic  rather  than  human  skill.  The  more  frequently  I 
behold  it,  the  more  diligently  I  examine  it,  the  more  numerous  are 
the  beauties  I  discover  in  it,  the  more  I  am  lost  in  renewed  admira- 
tion of  it.  Neither  could  Apelles  himself  execute  the  like:  and  in- 
deed they  rather  seem  formed  and  painted  by  a  hand  not  mortal." 

The  Irish  scribes  in  the  sixth,  the  seventh,  and  the  eighth  cen- 
turies carried  their  art  to  a  perfection  which  to-day  surprises,  and 
sometimes  amazes,  artists,  scholars  and  critics  of  all  nations.  An 
eminent  German  authority  upon  such  work,  Dr.  Waagen,  Con- 
servator of  the  Royal  Museum  of  Berlin,  speaking  of  the  old 
seventh  century  Irish  Book  of  Kells  says: 

"The  ornamental  pages,  borders,  and  initial  letters  exhibit  such 
a  rich  variety  of  beautiful  and  peculiar  designs,  so  admirable  a  taste 
in  the  arrangement  of  the  colours,  and  such  an  uncommon  perfec- 
tion of  detail,  that  one  feels  absolutely  struck  with  amazement." 

And  the  English  authority,  Westwood,  in  his  Palaeographia 
Sacra  Pictoria  says  of  this  Irish  art: 

"At  a  period  when  the  pictorial  art  may  be  said  to  have  been 
almost  extinct  in  Italy  and  Greece,  and  indeed  scarcely  to  have  existed 
in  other  parts  .of  Europe — namely,  from  the  fifth  to  the  end  of  the 
eighth  century — a  style  of  art  had  been  originated,  cultivated,  and 
brought  to  a  marvellous  state  of  perfection,  in  these  islands,  absolutely 
distinct  from  that  of  any  other  part  of  the  civilised  world — and 
which  having  been  carried  abroad  by  numerous  Irish  and  Anglo- 
Saxon  missionaries — was  adopted  and  imitated  in  the  schools  founded 
by  Charlemagne  and  in  the  monasteries  established  or  visited  by  the 
former,  many  of  which  in  after  ages  were  the  most  famous  seats  of 
learning." 

Furthermore,  Westwood  quotes  on  the  same  subject  the  words 
of  Digby  Watt  (whom  he  styles  "one  of  the  most  accomplished 
living  artists")  : 


314  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

"In  delicacy  of  handling  and  minute  but  faultless  execution  the 
whole  range  of  palaeography  offers  nothing  comparable  to  these  early 
Irish  manuscripts  and  those  produced  in  the  same  style  in  England — 
the  latter  being  the  work  of  Irish  monks,  or  Saxon  pupils  of  those 
monks." 

The  Irish  manuscript  books  of  the  early  ages — both  those  in 
Ireland  and  the  many  treasured  in  a  score  of  the  great  libraries 
of  Europe — eloquently  tell  to  these  late  ages  not  merely  the  mar- 
vellous skill  of  the  Irish  scribes,  at  home  in  Ireland  and  wander- 
ing everywhere  over  the  Continent,  but  likewise  tell  of  the  highly 
advanced  state  of  culture  (of  which  this  was  the  flowering)  that 
obtained  in  Ireland  fourteen  hundred  years  ago.  And  they,  fur- 
thermore, prove  the  certainty  of  preceding  centuries  of  culture 
needful  to  account  for  such  perfect  efflorescence. 

Great  were  the  numbers  of  learned  and  pious  men  who  de- 
voted their  lives  then  to  the  making  of  beautiful  books,  copying 
them  in  that  penmanship  whose  perfection  was,  not  merely  un- 
equalled, but  even  unapproached,  by  any  other  people — and  which 
throughout  foreign  countries  made  Ireland,  already  remarkable, 
for  her  learning,  pre-eminently  so  for  her  caligraphy('  For  sev- 
eral centuries  it  was  the  Irish  style  of  caligraphy,  introduced  by 
the  Irish  teachers,  which  obtained  throughout  the  European 
countries. 

Ferdinand  Keller  says  that  the  high  degree  of  cultivation  at- 
tained in  Irish  penmanship  was  not  the  result  of  mere  individual 
excellence,  but  of  the  emulation  of  numerous  schools  of  writing, 
backed  by  the  improvements  of  many  generations. 

The  activity  in  copying  books  then,  and  the  number  of  scribes 
engaged  in  the  work,  must  have  been  enormous.  When  we  find 
recorded  in  the  Four  Masters'  chronicle  of  one  century  (the  eighth) 
the  deaths  of  no  less  than  forty  scribes  so  pre-eminent  as  to  find 
place  in  a  nation's  annals  nine  hundred  years  later,  we  may  in 
some  measure  imagine  how  vast  must  have  been  the  ranks  of  ordi- 
nary workers.  And  as  a  corollary  from  that  we  may,  to  some 
extent,  conceive  of  the  multitude  of  the  books  of  ancient  Eirinn. 

Miss  Stokes  accounts  for  the  style  of  ornamentation  and  illu- 
mination of  these  books  by  an  art  wave  which  she  says  originally 
came  out  of  the  southeast  of  Europe,  and  swept  over  the  Continent 
northwestward,  finally  breaking  upon  the  shores  of  Ireland — and 
remaining  with  Ireland  when  all  traces  of  it  had  vanished  in  the 
countries  over  which  it  had  passed.  And  in  the  Carlovingian 
period,  when  Irish  monks  and  teachers  were  thronging  abroad, 
the  wave,  reversing  itself,  rolled  backward  over  its  former  course. 


VARIOUS  ARTS  OF  ANCIENT  IRELAND        315 

Traces  of  this  peculiar  Irish  art,  knotwork,  and  interlaced  pat- 
terns, most  suggestive  of  the  Irish  designs,  may  be  found  in  the 
very  oldest  churches  in  Lonibardy,  she  says,  and  in  the  second  and 
third  century  churches  of  Syria  and  Georgia.  She  acknowledges, 
however,  that  if  her  theory  be  correct,  Ireland  so  modified  the 
character  of  this  eastern  wave  of  art,  as  to  evolve  from  it  some- 
thing distinctively  Irish. 

Dr.  Ferdinand  Keller  as  a  result  of  his  study  of  the  subject 
came  to  the  conclusion  that  because  of  striking  similarity  of  tech- 
nique and  peculiarities  of  colouring,  Egypt  was  the  cradle  of  Irish 
art.  We  know  that  early  Irish  holy  men  were  in  Egypt,  and  some 
of  the  old  records  show  that  Egyptian  monks  came  to  Ireland;  the 
Irish  monasteries,  Keller  says,  were  framed  precisely  after  the 
model  of  the  Eg^^^tian  ones,  even  the  habit  of  the  hermits  dwell- 
ing in  caves  was  brought  therefrom.  The  productions  of  Alexan- 
drian artists,  he  says,  found  their  way  to  Irish  monasteries.  And 
the  serpentine  band  found  in  this  Irish  art  work  appears  in  the 
very  oldest  Egyptian  and  Ethiopian  manuscripts,  "with  similarity 
of  colour  and  combination,  truly  astonishing."  He  finds,  more- 
over, that  the  spirit  of  the  Irish  work  is  not  the  spirit  of  the  west: 
"In  all  these  ornaments  there  breathes  a  peculiar  spirit  foreign 
to  the  people  of  the  west:  in  them  is  something  mysterious  which 
imparts  to  the  eye  a  certain  feeling  of  uneasiness  and  suspense 
which  must  have  originated  in  the  east  and  could  not  possibly 
have  been  the  creation  of  a  fancy  w^hich  derived  its  nourishment 
and  stimulus  from  natural  objects  so  devoid  of  colour  and  form 
as  present  themselves  in  northern  Ireland  and  the  rocky  isles  of 
western  Scotland. 

Romilly  Allen's  opinion  (in  his  work  on  Celtic  Art)  would 
sustain  Miss  Stokes  and  Dr.  Keller  in  their  theory  that  Irish  Art, 
so  called,  did  not  originate  in  Ireland.  He  holds  that  the  Celt 
never  originated  his  art  ideas,  but  had  a  genius  for  attaching  the 
ideas  of  others,  and  giving  them  such  a  strong  Celtic  tinge  as  en- 
tirely changed  the  outward  character  and  produced  something 
apparently  original. 

Though  many  of  the  ancient  Irish  manuscripts  are  lit  up  with 
truly  wonderful  examples  of  the  illuminating  art,  there  is  not  in 
all  of  them,  anything  finer  or  more  wonderful,  nor  is  there  to  be 
found  in  any  of  the  ancient  books  of  the  v/orld  anything  more 
beautiful,  than  the  famous  monogram  of  Christ  in  the  Book  of 
Kells. 

That  monogram,  which  occupies  a  full  page,  is  preceded  by 
five  illuminated  pages,   introducing  the  Gospel  of  St.    Matthew, 


3i6  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

every  one  of  which  is  in  itself  of  much  beauty.  The  series  is 
crowned  by  this  one  expressing  the  name  of  Christ.  Miss  Stokes 
puts  it: 

"In  these  six  pages  there  is  a  gradual  increase  of  splendour,  the 
culminating  point  of  which  is  reached  in  this  monogram  of  Christ, 
and  upon  it  is  lavished,  with  all  the  fervent  devotion  of  the  Irish 
scribe  every  variety  of  design  to  be  found  in  Celtic  art,  so  that  the 
name  which  is  the  epitome  of  his  (tfie  artist's)  faith  is  also  the 
epitome  of  his  country's  art." 

In  examining  this  remarkable  monogram  a  powerful  micro- 
scope is  needed  to  bring  out  all  the  beauties  that  are  difficult  of 
discovery  to  the  naked  eye,  and  to  follow  the  magic  pen  of  the 
artist,  through  all  his  minute,  mtricate,  elaborate  windings,  twist- 
ings  and  knottings.  This  will  be  appreciated  when  it  is  mentioned 
that  on  one  piece  of  a  ribbon  pattern  of  this  work,  in  a  space  three 
quarters  of  an  inch  by  half  an  inch,  Westwood  counted  no  less 
than  one  hundred  and  fifty-eight  Interlacings ! 

Of  the  superiority  of  early  Irish  music,  something  has  already 
been  said  in  these  pages.  Giraldus  Cambrensis  who  was  acquainted 
with  the  music  of  various  nations,  said,  as  a  result  of  his  study  of 
the  Irish  music,  "Its  melody  is  filled  up,  and  its  harmony  is  pro- 
duced by  a  rapidity  so  sweet,  by  so  unequalled  a  parity  of  sound, 
and  by  so  discordant  a  concord."     And  of  the  Irish  musicians: 

"They  are  incomparably  skilful  beyond  all  other  nations  I  have 
ever  seen.  For  their  manner  of  playing  on  these  instruments,  unlike 
that  of  the  Britons  (Welsh)  to  which  I  am  accustomed,  is  not  slow 
and  harsh,  but  lively  and  rapid,  while  the  melody  is  both  sweet  and 
sprighdy.  It  is  astonishing  that  in  so  complex  and  rapid  a  move- 
ment of  the  fingers  the  musical  proportions  (as  to  time)  can  be  pre- 
served ;  and  that  throughout  the  difficult  modulations  on  their  va- 
rious instruments,  the  harmony  is  completed  with  such  a  sweet  ra- 
pidity. They  enter  into  a  movement  and  conclude  it  in  so  delicate 
a  manner,  and  tinkle  the  little  strings  so  sportively  under  the  deeper 
tones  of  the  bass  strings — they  delight  so  delicately,  and  soothe  with 
such  gentleness,  that  the  perfection  of  their  art  appears  in  the  con- 
cealment of  art."  The  Welshman,  Powell,  tells  us  that  in  1078 
Gryffith  ap  Conan,  king  of  Wales,  "brought  over  with  him  from 
Ireland  divers  cunning  musicians  into  Wales,  who  devised  in  a  man- 
ner the  instrumental  music  now  used  there." 

The  Danes  borrowed  their  harp  music  from  Ireland.  Ire- 
land was,  in  the  earliest  ages,  the  school  of  music  for  Scotland. 


VARIOUS  ARTS  OF  ANCIENT  IRELAND         317 

It  continued  to   be   down   till   a   recent  period.     The  Scotchman, 
Jamieson,  writing  in  the  last  century,  says: 

"Within  the  memory  of  persons  still  living,  the  school  for  higher 
poetry  and  music  was  Ireland.  And  thither  professional  men  were 
sent  to  be  accomplished  in  these  arts." 

Walker  in  his  Irish  Bards  quotes  Vinccntio  Gallilei  as  stating 
that  Dante  said  the  harp  was  first  introduced  to  Italy  from  Ire- 
land. A  Continental  writer  on  the  Crusades  is  quoted  as  testify- 
ing: "We  may  well  think  that  all  the  concert  of  Christendom  in 
these  wars  would  have  been  as  discord,  had  the  Irish  harp  been 
absent." 

And  from  Bacon,  Walker  quotes:  "No  harp  hath  a  sound  so 
melting,  and  so  prolonged  as  the  Irish  harp."  It  is  quite  prob- 
able that  Moengal,  at  St.  Gall,  had  the  Irish  harp  taught  to  Tuo- 
tilo  and  others,  when  he  was  making  that  school  famous  for  its 
music. 

Geminiami,  says  D'Alton,  found  no  music  as  original  as  the 
Irish  "on  this  side  of  the  Alps."  And  Handel  who  called  our 
bard  Carolan  the  Irish  Orpheus,  said  he  would  rather  be  the  au- 
thor of  Eiblin  a  run  (Eileen  aroon)  than  all  the  music  he  ever 
composed. 

The  high  esteem  in  which  music  was  held  in  very  early  Ireland 
is  shown  in  a  thousand  legends:  among  others,  in  that  one  which 
has  already  been  told  of  how  St.  Patrick,  after  Cas  Corach  the 
son  of  Bobd  Derg  had  enchanted  him  on  his  Cran  Ciuil,  prom- 
ised that  the  professors  of  his  art  should  be  at  all  times  the  bed- 
fellows of  kings. 

The  musical  instruments  were  only  a  less  esteemed  and  a  little 
less  adoringly  cared  for  than  the  musicians.  In  the  story  of  the 
Tain,  when  Fraech  goes  to  court  Findabar,  daughter  of  Medb, 
the  three  harpers  that  went  with  him  were  the  three  sons  of  the 
famous  Uaithne,  harper  of  the  Tuatha  De  Danann. 

"This  was  the  condition  of  their  harp.  There  were  harpbags  of 
the  skins  of  otters  about  them,  ornamented  with  coral,  with  an  orna- 
mentation of  gold  and  of  silver  over  that,  lined  inside  with  snow- 
white  roebuck  skins;  and  these  again  overlaid  with  black-grey  strips 
(of  skin)  ;  and  linen  cloths,  as  white  as  the  swan's  coat,  wrapped 
around  the  strings.  Harps  of  gold,  silver,  and  findruine,  with  fig- 
ures of  serpents,  and  birds,  and  greyhounds  upon  them.  These 
figures  were  made  of  gold  and  silver.  According  as  the  strings  vi- 
brated (these  figures)  ran  around  the  men." 


31 8  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

Stokes,  Miss  Margt. :     Early  Christian  Art  in  Ireland. 

Joyce,  P.  W. :     Social  History  of  Ireland. 

O'Curry,  Eugene:     Manners  and  Customs  of  Ancient  Ireland. 

Manuscript  Materials  of  Irish  History. 

D Alton,  Jno, :     Prize  Essay  on  Irish  History  (Proc.  R.  I.  A.). 

Irish  Caligraphy  (Ulster  Jnl.  of  Arch.). 

Gilbert,  Sir  Jno.:     Facsimiles  of  the  Natl.  MSS.  of  Ireland. 

Keller,   Dr.   Ferdinand:     Illumination   and   Facsimiles   from  Ancient   Irish 

MSS.  in  the  Libraries  of  Switzerland. 
Wattenbach:     "Die    Kongregation    der    Schottenkloster    in    Deutschland." 

Translated  by  Dr.  Reeves,  with  notes,  in  the  lUlster  Journal  of  Archaeol., 

vol.  VII. 
Westwood:     Palaeographia  Sacra  Pictoria. 
Petrie,  Geo. :     The  Ancient  Music  of  Ireland. 
Walker's  Irish  Bards. 


CHAPTER  XXXVI 

THE    ENGLISH    INVASION 

It  was  in  1171  that  Henry  the  Second  invaded  Ireland. 

Seventeen  years  earlier  he  projected  an  invasion.  And  from 
the  newly  elected  English  Pope,  Nicholas  Breakspeare,  Adrian  the 
Fourth,  he  had  then  received  an  approving  Bull.  He  had  repre- 
sented to  Adrian  that  in  Ireland  morals  had  become  corrupt,  and 
religion  almost  extinct,  and  his  purpose  was  to  bring  the  barbarous 
nation  within  the  fold  of  the  faith  and  under  church  discipline.^ 

But  first  the  opposition  of  his  mother,  and  then  political  com- 
plications, caused  Henry  to  postpone  his  project. 

For  centuries  now,  dispute  unending  has  raged  around  the 
two  questions  whether  Ireland  had  lapsed  into  irreligion  as  rep- 
resented, and  whether  the  Papal  Bull  was  genuine.  Undoubtedly, 
the  centuries  of  the  Danish  terror  had  had  disastrous  effect  upon 
religion  in  the  island — and  the  question  arises  how  far  had  reli- 
gious Ireland  recovered  itself  in  the  century  and  a  half  since  the 
Danish  power  was  broken.  Those  whose  duty  it  was  to  sustain 
Henry's  claim  paint  a  discouraging  picture.  But  Irish  defenders 
say  their  picture  is  purposely  false.     In  reply  they  point  to  the 

1  To  which  Pope  Adrian  replied : 

"Adrian,  bishop  and  servant  of  the  servants  of  God,  to  the  most  dear  son  in 
Christ,  the  illustrious  king  of  England,  greeting,  health,  and  apostolical  benediction. 

"Thy  greatness,  as  is  becoming  a  Catholic  prince,  is  laudably  and  successfully 
employed  in  thought  and  intention,  to  propagate  a  glorious  name  upon  earth,  and 
lay  up  in  heaven  the  rewards  of  a  happy  eternity,  by  extending  the  boundaries  of 
the  church,  and  making  known  to  nations  which  are  uninstructed,  and  still  ignorant 
of  the  Christian  faith,  its  truths  and  doctrine,  by  rooting  up  the  seeds  of  vice  from 
the  land  of  the  Lord  and  to  perform  this  more  efficaciously,  thou  seekest  the  coun- 
sel and  protection  of  the  Apostolical  See,  in  which  undertaking,  the  more  exalted 
thy  design  will  be.  united  with  prudence,  the  more  propitious,  we  trust,  will  be 
thy  progress  under  a  benign  Providence,  since  a  happy  issue  and  end  are  always 
the  result  of  what  has  been  undertaken  from  an  ardour  of  faith,  and  a  love  of 
religion. 

"It  is  not.  indeed,  to  be  doubted,  that  the  kingdom  of  Ireland,  and  every  island 
upon  which  Christ  the  sun  of  justice  hath  shone,  and  which  has  received  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  Christian  faith,  belong  of  right  to  St.  Peter  and  to  the  holy  Roman 
church  (which  thy  majesty  likewise  admits),  from  whence  we  the  more  fully  im- 
plant in  them  the  seed  of  faith,  that  seed  which  is  acceptable  to  God,  and  to  which 
we,  after  a  minute  investigation,  consider  that  a  conformity  should  be  required  by 
us  the  Tnore  rigidly.    Thou,  dearest  son   in   Christ,  hast  likewise  signified  to  us, 

319 


320  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

wonderful  work  done  during  this  period  for  the  rehabiHtation  of 
religion,  by  the  great  Primates  Cellach,  Malachi,  and  Gelasius; 
and  also  the  holy  St.  Lawrence  O'Toole;  to  the  synods  that  were 
held;  to  the  many  beautiful  churches  and  abbeys  that  were  being 
erected;  and  to  the  number  of  Irish  kings,  who,  resigning  their 
thrones  entered  monasteries  and  devoted  themselves  to  God. 
Many  were  the  princes  who  went  on  pilgrimage  then.  Holy  men 
devoted  to  the  religious  life  were  also  flocking  abroad  to  join  the 
noted  Irish  communities  in  Germany,  that  were  propagating  the 
faith  over  Central  Europe. 

That  the  standard  of  learning  in  the  schools  was  held  high  is 
evident  from  the  fact  that  Primate  Gelasius  and  twenty-six  bishops, 
at  the  Synod  of  Clonard  a  few  years  before  the  English  invasion, 
decreed  that  only  graduates  of  the  University  of  Armagh  (which 
was  directly  under  Gelasius)  should  be  appointed  professors  of 
theology  in  the  schools  of  Ireland.  And  it  will  be  recalled  how 
that  Adrian  the  Fourth  himself  heaped  eulogy  upon  his  Irish  tutor 
in  the  University  of  Paris,  the  holy  and  learned  Irishman,  Mari- 
anus.  Professor  of  the  Liberal  Arts  there.  And  any  one  who  im- 
partially studies  the  subject  can  hardly  avoid  the  conclusion  that 
religion  in  Ireland  in  the  twelfth  century,  though  very  far  from 
occupying  the  shining  place  that  it  did  before  the  coming  of  the 
Danes,  must  again  have  become  a  living  issue. 

A  most  convincing  piece  of  evidence  in  point  Is  the  admission 
of  Giraldus  Cambrensis,  tutor  or  secretary  of  Prince  John,  a  man 
not  only  in  the  employ  of  the  conquerors,  but  notoriously  pos- 
sessed of  much  anti-Irish  prejudice,  a  man  too  who  travelled  over 
a  third  of  Ireland  and  must  have  known  whereof  he  spoke.  Cam- 
that  for  the  purpose  of  subjecting  the  people  of  Ireland  to  lav/s,  and  eradicating 
vice  from  among  them,  thou  art  desirous  of  entering"  that  island ;  and  also  of  pay- 
ing for  each  house  an  annual  tribute  of  one  penny  to  St.  Peter ;  and  of  preserving 
the  privileges  of  its  churches  pure  and  undefiled.  We,  therefore,  with  approving 
and  favourable  views  commend  thy  pious  and  laudable  desire,  and  to  aid  thy  under- 
taking, we  give  to  thy  petition  our  grateful  and  willing  consent,  that  for  the  ex- 
tending the  boundaries  of  the  church,  and  restraining  the  prevalence  of  vice,  the 
improvement  of  morals,  the  implanting  of  virtue,  and  propagation  of  the  Christian 
religion,  thou  enter  that  island,  and  pursue  those  things  which  shall  tend  to  the 
honour  of  God,  and  salvation  of  his  people;  and  that  they  may  receive  thee  with 
honour,  and  revere  thee  as  their  lord;  the  privilege  of  their  churches  continuing 
pure  and  unrestrained,  and  the  annual  tribute  of  one  penny  from  each  house  re- 
maining secure  to  St.  Peter  and  the  holy  Roman  Church.  If  thou  therefore  deem 
what  thou  hast  projected  in  mind,  possible  to  be  completed,  study  to  instil  good 
morals  iiiio  that  people,  and  act  so  that  thou  thyself,  and  such  persons  as  thou 
wilt  judge  competent  from  their  faith,  words,  and  actions,  to  be  instrumental  in 
advancing  the  honour  of  the  Irish  church,  propagate  and  promote  religion,  and 
the  faith  of  Christ,  to  advance  thereby  the  honour  of  God,  and  salvation  of  souls, 
that  thou  mayest  merit  an  everlasting  reward  of  happiness  hereafter,  and  establisli 
on  earth  a  name  of  glory,  which  shall  last  for  ages  to  come." 


THE  ENGLISH  INVASION  321 

brensis  says:  "The  clergy  of  that  country  are  highly  to  be  praised 
for  their  religion  and  among  other  virtues  with  which  they  are 
endowed,  their  chastity  forms  a  peculiar  feature.  Those  who  are 
entrusted  with  the  divine  service  do  not  leave  the  church  but  apply 
themselves  wholly  to  the  reciting  of  psalms,  prayers  and  readings. 
They  are  extremely  temperate  in  their  food,  and  never  eat  till 
towards  evening  when  their  Office  is  ended."  When  the  clergy  of 
a  country  draw  from  an  invading  enemy  such  remarkable  testi- 
mony to  their  religious  ardour,  it  is  difficult  to  believe  that  the 
people  from  whom  these  clergy  were  drawn,  wallowed  in  the  mire 
of  irreligion.- 

But  if  we  supposed  Ireland  to  be  Irreligious  then,  strange  in- 
deed would  be  the  choice  of  an  apostle  in  Henry,  a  man  of  vicious 
life,  a  supporter  of  anti-Popes,  and  reasonably  suspected  of,  and 
all  but  excommunicated  for,  instigating  the  murder  of  the  holy 
Thomas  a  Bccket. 

Those  who  contend  that  the  Bull  was  an  English  fabrication 
for  impressing  the  irreligious  Irish  and  making  easy  their  conquest 
point  to  the  fact  (among  other  assumed  proofs)  that  the  most 
ancient  copies  of  the  document  discovered  lack  both  date  and  sig- 
nature. They  say  that  both  Adrian's  "Bull"  and  the  later  con- 
firmatory letter  ascribed  to  Pope  Alexander  the  Third, ^  exhibit 
evidence  of  being  fabricated  by  the  same  hand — just  as  they  were 
published  at  the  same  time,  namely,  at  the  Synod,  in  1173,  con- 
voked by  order  of  Henry.  But  the  arguments  of  those  who  con- 
tend that  these  were  forgeries  seem  to  crumble  when  met  by  the 
fact  that  they  were  published  in  the  lifetime  of  Alexander,  and 
were  not  then  disowned  or  contradicted. 

On  Dervorgilla,  the  wife  of  Tighernan  O'Rourke,  prince  of 
Breffni,  is  placed  the  Indirect,  and  on  Diarmuid  MacMurrough, 
king  of  Leinster,  the  direct,   odium  of  bringing  In  the  English. 

2  A  while  later,  after  the  island  had  been  wasted  by  wars,  the  British  Staniburst 
bears  this  testimony:  "The  majority  of  the  Irish  are  very  religious.  Their  priests 
are  dignified,  and  by  their  wholesome  admonition,  the  consciences  of  the  people  who 
are  docile  and  respectful  are  very  easily  worked  upon." 

3  "Alexander,  bishop,  servant  of  the  servants  of  God.  to  his  most  dear  son  in 
Christ,  the  illustrious  king  of  England,  health  and  apostolic  benediction. 

"Forasmuch  as  those  things  which  are  known  to  have  been  reasonably  granted 
by  our  predecessors,  deserve  to  be  confirmed  in  lasting  stability,  we,  adhering  to 
the  footsteps  of  Pope  Adrian,  and  regarding  the  result  of  our  gift  to  you  (the 
annual  tax  of  one  penny  from  each  house  being  secured  to  St.  Peter  and  the  holy 
Roman  church),  confirm  and  ratify  the  same,  considering  that  its  impurities  being 
cleansed,  that  barbarous  nation  which  bears  the  name  of  Christian,  may  by  your 
grace,  assume  the  comeliness  of  morality,  and  that  a  system  of  discipline  being- 
introduced  into  her  heretofore  unregulated  church,  she  may,  through  you,  eflFec- 
tually  attain  witli  the  name  the  benefits  of  Christianity." 


322  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

Dervorgilla  eloped  with  MacMurrough — when  both  were  of  ages 
not  usual  to  the  principals  in  such  escapade,  for  she  was  over  forty 
and  he  over  sixty  at  the  time.  The  tradition  is  that  Dervorgilla 
invited  MacMurrough  to  carry  her  off,  on  occasion  when  her  hus- 
band had  gone  on  pilgrimage  to  St.  Patrick's  Purgatory  in  Loch 
Dearg    (Tir-Conaill),   and   MacMurrough   quickly   complied.* 

Some  however  say  that  MacMurrough  forced  her  off  against 
her  will.  Anyhow,  when  being  carried  off  she  cried  out  and 
screamed,  either  in  seeming  or  real  protest.  It  was  in  1152  that 
this  abduction  occurred.  In  the  following  year  O'Rourke  was 
able  to  move  the  Ard-Righ,  Roderick  O'Connor  of  Connaught, 
to  go  against  MacMurrough,  which  he  did,  punishing  his  prov- 
ince, and  bringing  away  from  him  Dervorgilla.^' 

Again,    thirteen    years    later,    when    MacMurrough's    strong 

4  Moore  imbeds  the  tradition,  in  one  of  his  songs : 

The  valley  lay  smiling  before  me, 

Where  lately  I  left  her  behind; 
Yet  I  trembled  and  something  hung  o'er  me 

That  sadden'd  the  joy  of  mind. 
I  look'd  for  the  lamp  which,  she  told  me, 

Should  shine  when  her  pilgrim  return'd ; 
But,  though  darkness  began  to  enfold  me, 

No  lamp  from  the  battlements  burn'd. 

I  flew  to  her  chamber — 'twas  lonely, 

As  if  the  loved  tenant  lay  dead ; — 
Ah,  would  it  were  death,  and  death  only ! 

But  no,  the  young  false  one  had  fled. 
And  there  hung  the  lute  that  could  soften 

My  very  worst  pains  into  bliss, 
While  the  hand  that  had  waked  it  so  often 

Now  throbb'd  to  a  proud  rival's  kiss. 

There  was  a  time,  falsest  of  women ! 

When  Breffni's  good  sword  would  have  sought 
That  man,  through  a  million  of  foemen, 

Who  dared  but  to  wrong  thee  in  thought! 
While  now — O  degenerate  daughter 

Of  Erin,  how  fallen  is  thy  fame ! 
And  through  ages  of  bondage  and  slaughter 

Our  country  shall  bleed  for  thy  shame. 

Already  the  curse  is  upon  her. 

And  strangers  her  valleys  profane ; 
They  come  to  divide — to  dishonour, 

And  tyrants  they  long  will  remain. 
But  onward ! — the  green  banner  rearing, 

Go,  flesh  every  sword  to  the  hilt ; 
On  our  side  is  Virtue  and  Erin, 

On  theirs  is  the  Saxon  and  Guilt. 

•'"'  She  afterwards  entered  the  Convent  at  Mellefont  and  devoted  the  remainder 
of  a  long  life  to  the  service  of  God. 


THE  ENGLISH  INVASION  323 

northern  ally  O'Loughlin  of  Tir-Eoghan  died,  the  injured 
O'Rourke  with  Ard-Righ  Roderick,  the  king  of  the  Danes  of 
Dubhn,  and  many  Leinster  chiefs  who  hated  MacMurrough  for 
his  tyranny,  went  once  more  against  MacMurrough,  overcame, 
and  banished  him.  He  fled  oversea  to  Britain,  and  rested  not 
till  he  reached  Henry  II  of  England  who  was  then  fighting  in 
Aquitaine.  This  king  he  entreated  to  aid  him  in  Ireland.  The 
English  king,  who  could  not  then  comply,  gave  Diarmuid  letters 
authorising  any  of  Henry's  subjects  who  so  wished  to  go  to  Ire- 
land to  aid  him.  MacMurrough  had  these  letters  publicly  read 
in  the  market-place  in  Bristol.  Richard  de  Clare  the  Norman- 
Welsh  Earl  of  Pembroke  popularly  known  as  Strongbow,  a  bold 
and  daring  warrior,  but  also  a  spendthrift  now  nursing  broken 
fortunes,  was  interested  in  the  prospect  of  repairing  his  fortunes 
in  Ireland.  MacMurrough  tempted  him  with  the  offer  of  his  beau- 
tiful daughter  Aoife  In  marriage,  and  the  heirship  of  the  Leinster 
kingdom.  Strongbow,  however,  being  then  in  disfavour  with 
Henry,  feared  to  go  until  he  had  got  express  permission  and  ap- 
proval from  his  monarch.  But  in  the  meantime  he  recommended 
that  some  of  his  close  relatives  should  help  MacMurrough.  And 
de  Clare's  half-brothers,  the  knights  Robert  Fitz  Stephen  and 
Maurice  Fitz  Gerald,  undertaking  to  go  to  his  aid  in  the  spring, 
MacMurrough  now  quietly  returned  and  spent  the  winter  in  the 
Monastery  of  St.  Madog  at  Ferns. 

In  May,  1169,  with  a  small  but  efficient  body  of  thirty  knights 
in  full  armour,  sixty  horsemen  in  half  armour,  and  three  hundred 
archers,  Fitz  Stephen  (and  his  Uncle  Herve  de  Mont  Maurice) 
landed  at  Bannow,  Wexford — and  another  Knight  Maurice  de 
Prendergast  with  a  company  of  about  three  hundred.  The  main 
body  of  the  common  fighters  were  Flemings.  On  receiving  the 
news  of  their  landing,  MacMurrough  raised  a  body  of  five  hun- 
dred from  among  his  Leinster  subjects  and  joined  them.  And 
together  they  marched  against  the  Danish  city  of  Wexford,  which, 
after  repulsing  two  assaults,  capitulated  to  the  strange  army  with 
Its  armoured  horses  and  horsemen  and  its  wonderfully  skilled  and 
disciplined  soldiers.  MacMurrough  bestowed  the  city  upon  Fitz 
Stephen,  and  settled  near-by  lands  upon  de  Prendergast  and  de 
Mont  Maurice. 

Surrounding  princes  heard  with  dismay  the  news  of  the  new 
kind  of  fighters  that  MacMurrough  had  brought  in,  and  the  won- 
derful skill  and  discipline  which  made  three  of  them  as  good  as  a 
hundred.     To  make  matters  worse  MacMurrough  added  to  his 


324  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

army  some  two  thousand  soldiers  who  were  in  the  capitulated  city. 
Yet  this  did  not  deter  his  enemy  MacGiolla  Padraic,  king  of  Os- 
sory,  against  whom  MacMurrough  now  marched,  putting  up  a 
struggle  from  which  MacMurrough  and  the  Norman-Welsh  and 
their  Flemings  had  much  difficulty  winning  out.  But  the  Chiefs  of 
Diarmuid's  own  Leinster  met  him  with  submission — excepting  only 
O'Toole  and  O'Faelan,  whom  he  went  against  and  wasted  and 
spoiled — before  he  again  rested  at  Ferns. 

The  Ard-Righ  and  princes  of  the  other  provinces  looked  on 
inactive.  The  Four  Masters  say,  "And  they  set  nothing  by  the 
Flemings."  In  almost  every  century  of  Ireland's  history  merce- 
naries had  been  brought  in  from  abroad  by  one  prince  or  another 
to  help  in  his  battles  against  a  neighbouring  Irish  enemy.  And 
now  every  prince,  occupied  as  usual  with  his  own  problems,  was 
not  much  concerned  about  what  did  not  immediately  affect  his  own 
territory. 

Diarmuid  went  against  the  Danish  city  of  Dublin,  but  had 
to  content  him  with  getting  hostages  and  lavish  presents  of  gold 
and  silver. 

Roderick  O'Connor  at  length  took  alarm,  gathered  an  army 
and  marched  against  MacMurrough,  and  his  mercenaries.  Mac- 
Murrough and  Fitz  Stephen,  however,  met  him  with  offer  of  nego- 
tiation instead  of  battle.  Roderick  commanded  that  MacMur- 
rough should  make  submission  and  that  the  foreigners  should  at 
once  depart  for  Britain.  MacMurrough  readily  accepted  the  first 
condition,  giving  his  own  son  as  hostage — but  only  secretly  agreed 
(or  rather  pretended  to  agree)  that  he  would  manage  to  get  the 
foreigners  out  of  the  country  quietly  and  leisurely.  Then  Rod- 
erick acknowledged  MacMurrough  as  King  of  Leinster. 

MacMurrough  having  got  needed  peace,  pursued  his  own  plan. 
He  was  now  fired  with  ambition  to  be  High-King.  He  got  a 
fresh  accession  of  strength  in  the  arrival  of  Maurice  Fitz  Gerald 
and  another  body  of  troops  from  Wales.  He  instigated  to  rebel 
against  Roderick  his  son-in-law,  O'Brien  of  Desmond — who,  with 
the  help  of  Fitz  Stephen  defeated  the  High-King.  Diarmuid  sent 
again  to  Strongbow  pleading  with  him  to  come  over.  But  the 
latter,  having  not  yet  received  Henry's  permission,  sent  over  a 
small  body  of  men  under  Raymond  le  Gros,  who  on  landing,  be- 
ing joined  by  Mont  Maurice,  won  (by  clever  strategy)  a  signal 
victory  over  an  attacking  army  composed  of  the  Waterford  men, 
the  men  of  Ossory,  and  O'Faelan's  men,  at  Dundonald,  near  Wa- 
terford. Of  forty  prisoners  whom  they  took,  they  broke  the  limbs 
and  flung  them  from  the  cliffs  into  the  sea — giving  Ireland  the  first 


THE  ENGLISH  INVASION  325 

taste  of  the  conqueror's  savagery  that  was  henceforth  to  fill  the 
centuries. 

Strongbow  followed,  in  a  few  months,  with  two  hundred 
knights  and  a  thousand  men,  and  joining  le  Gros  and  Mont  Mau- 
rice, twice  attacked  the  important  city  of  Waterford,  and  was  twice 
repulsed.  Then,  when  it  seemed  unlikely  they  could  succeed,  le 
Gros  had  the  good  luck  to  discover  that  one  of  the  city  houses 
projecting  through  an  angle  of  the  wall,  had  its  projecting  corner 
supported  by  timbers.  Cutting  away  the  supports,  the  house  fell, 
giving  a  breach  in  the  wall  through  which  the  attackers  poured, 
overcame  the  surprised  garrison,  slaughtered  the  inhabitants,  and 
put  the  two  Danish  rulers  of  this  Danish  city  to  death,  and  held 
Waterford  for  their  own. 

On  hearing  of  Strongbow's  landing,  Diarmuld,  with  the  fair 
Aoife  hurried  south  to  join  him.  And  the  marriage  of  himself 
and  Aoife  was  celebrated  amid  the  still  bloody  scenes  in  Water- 
ford. 

Then,  to  punish  O'Rourke  they  marched  into  Meath  and 
Breffni,  laying  everything  waste  as  they  went.  Roderick,  v/eak- 
ling  that  he  was,  and  not  able  to  command  the  support  of  his  sub- 
ordinate princes,  sent  warning  to  MacMurrough  to  desist — and 
got  insulting  reply  that  when  O'Rourke  was  finished  v/ith,  Rod- 
erick and  his  own  province  of  Connaught  would  receive  their  at- 
tention. Diarmuid's  death,  that  winter,  put  an  end  to  an  inglori- 
ous career. 

Then  Strongbow  would  assert  his  right  to  the  throne  of  Leln- 
ster,  much  of  whose  lands  he  divided  amongst  his  followers.  But 
the  Leinster  chiefs  refused  to  have  him.  Moreover,  Henry,  hear- 
ing of  his  successes  in  Ireland,  had  grown  jealous,  and  fearful  of 
Strongbow  establishing  his  independence.  He  now  peremptorily 
summoned  Strongbow  and  all  his  subjects  to  return  to  England, 
forthwith. 

Strongbow  readily  found  reasons  for  refusal  and  delay.  By 
a  brilliant  feat  of  arms  he  saved  Dublin  from  capture  by  the 
combined  forces  of  Roderick  and  his  princes  with  thirty  thousand 
men  on  land,  and  Godred,  Danish  king  of  Man,  with  thirty  ships 
in  the  bay — not  only  saved  the  city  but  completely  broke  and  scat- 
tered the  army  of  Roderick,  and  captured  great  booty  and  pro- 
visions. Then  he  wasted  Meath  and  Breffni,  and  afterward  hur- 
ried south  to  Wexford,  where  Fitz  Stephen  was  besieged  by  the 
Irish — but  arrived  too  late  to  save  the  city.  Then  in  response  to 
another  summons  from  his  royal  master,  he  hastened  to  Henry, 
very  humbly  laid  his  conquests,  cities  and  territories,  at  his  angry 


326  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

monarch's   feet — only  begging  that  he  might  be  made   Henry's 
tributary  from  Leinster.^ 

Strongbow's  report  upon  the  goodliness  of  the  prize  beyond 
the  Channel,  stimulated  Henry  now  to  go  to  the  winning  of  it. 
And  he  went — with  five  hundred  knights  and  four  thousand  horse 
and  foot  soldiers,  in  four  hundred  ships — landing  at  Waterford, 
October,  1171.  His  conquest  of  the  southeast  of  the  island  was 
little  more  than  a  triumphal  march;  for  the  Irish  princes  and 
chiefs  of  the  south  and  east  thronged  in  to  do  homage  to  the  great 
man.  Without  question  the  extraordinary  skill  of  the  Normans 
in  the  art  of  war,  their  effective  system  and  wonderful  discipline, 
their  eminently  superior  equipment,  their  armour  against  which 
the 'weapons  of  the  Irish  v^ere  of  little  use — all  had  telling  effect 
upon  the  minds  of  the  chiefs.  Besides,  they  knew  that  there  was 
not,  and  had  not  been,  the  cohesion  amongst  them  that  would  en- 
able them  to  maintain  a  united  front  against  an  invader  with  such 
powerful  army.  Of  course  they  only  considered  it  in  the  light  of 
minor  kings  giving  a  kind  of  formal  acknowledgment  to  the  might 
of  a  greater — a  thing  which  they  had  always  been  used  doing  to- 
ward the  greater  one  of  their  own.  The  acknowledgment  of  a 
greater,  the  giving  of  hostages,  and  even  paying  of  tribute  to 
him,  had  never  affected  and  had  never  been  meant  to  affect,  their 
own  independence,  and  the  independence  of  their  own  territory. 
Yet  well  they  must  have  known  the  vast  difference  between  sub- 
mission to  one  of  their  own,  and  to  a  foreign  invader.  It  shows 
lamentable  demoralisation,  and  stamps  their  memory  with  lasting 
shame. 

MacCarthy  of  Desmond  first  came  in  and  m.ade  submission 
at  Waterford.  He  was  followed  by  O'Brien  of  Thomond,  at 
Lismore,  then  O'Faelan  of  the  Deisi,  MacGillapatrick  of  Ossory, 
and  other  Leinster  chiefs  as  Henry  marched  to  Dublin.  In  Dub- 
lin came  to  meet  him  and  pay  homage,  O'Rourke  of  Breftni, 
O' Carroll  of  Oriel,  and  O'Mellaghlin  of  Meath. 

None  of  the  northern  chiefs  came  in,  nor  of  the  western.  Nor 
did  Roderick,  the  Ard-Righ — but  he  contemplated,  with  grov/ing 
alarm,  the  successive  submissions  of  the  various  princes,  and  finally 
sent  messengers  to  Dublin  inviting  a  parley  at  the  Shannon.  To 
the  rendezvous  came  Henry's  envoys — with  the  result  that  Rod- 

^  While  Strongbow  was  absent  Dublin  was  again  attacked,  this  time  by  its 
Danish  king  Hasculf  MacTurkell,  who  had  escaped  to  Norway  when  the  city  was 
first  taken,  and  now  returned  with  ships  and  armies  from  Scandinavia,  Denmark, 
the  Western  Isles  of  Scotland  and  the  Isle  of  Man — ten  thousand  men  under  John 
the  Dane.  Again,  the  clever  strategy  of  the  Normans,  now  under  Miles  and 
Richard  de  Cogan,  defeated  and  destroyed  the  great  attacking  army. 


THE  ENGLISH  INVASION  327 

erick  O'Connor,  through  these  envoys,  made  peace  and  friendship 
with  Henry,  as  one  king  with  another,  and  also  an  act  of  submis- 
sion to  one  whom  he  acknowledged  to  be  greater  than  he. 

During  that  winter  Henry  made  still  more  progress  in  win- 
ning and  securing  to  himself  the  fealty  of  the  princes.  In  a  Dub- 
lin palace  which  he  had  constructed  of  osiers  he  kept  court  and 
entertained  lavishly  all  the  winter  long.  With  the  choicest  repasts, 
prepared  by  the  best  Norman  cooks,  he  won  through  their  stom- 
achs to  the  hearts  of  the  chiefs — this  supplemented  by  his  own 
gracious  suavity,  in  contrast  to  the  bluntness,  sometimes  brutality, 
of  the  Norman-Welsh  who  had  preceded  him.  The  adroit  Henry's 
affability  and  politeness,  and  apparently  real  friendship  and  af- 
fection, had  far  more  compelling  force  in  winning  fealty  than 
would  have  had  the  shock  of  his  army. 

Then  he  won  Rome,  too.  He  had  a  synod  of  the  Irish  eccle- 
siastics— all  but  the  Primate  Gelaslus,  and  the  other  northerns — 
called  at  Cashel,  where,  following  the  example  of  their  chiefs, 
the  Bishops  acknowledged  Henry  as  lord  supreme  in  Ireland.  At 
this  synod  they  passed  decrees  for  the  bettering  of  church  discipline, 
which,  being  sent  to  Rome,  confirmed  the  fact  that  Henry  was 
carrying  out  his  undertaking,  and  reforming  morals  In  the  land, 
and  evoked  from  Alexander  the  Third  the  letter  confirmatory  of 
Adrian's  Bull. 

At  Easter  Henry  had  to  return  In  haste  to  England,  carrying 
with  him  the  undisputed  lordship  of  Leinster,  Meath  and  the 
cities  of  Dublin,  Wexford  and  Waterford.  Meath  he  gave  in 
trust  to  De  Lacey — who  had  the  governorship  of  Dublin  also. 
The  city  of  Dublin  was  given  to  the  occupation  of  the  merchants 
and  people  of  Bristol.  Strongbow  was  left  In  possession  of  Lein- 
ster. 

The  strange  mesmerism  which  the  presence  of  Henry  seemed 
to  have  wrought  on  the  Irish  princes  was  dissipated  on  his  going. 
They  awoke  to  the  rude  reality  that  they  had  welcomed  an  Invader 
and  meekly  accepted  him.  From  the  various  quarters  they  began 
to  rise  up  against  the  enemy,  harass  him,  and  endeavour  to  drive 
him  out.  Now  more  familiar  with,  and  therefore  less  daunted 
by,  Norman  discipline  and  equipment,  the  Irish  princes  set  strategy 
against  skill,  and  discovered  that  the  Normans  were  not  omnipo- 
tent. O'Brien  of  Thomond  inflicted  a  big  defeat  upon  them  at 
Thurles — not  the  only  big  defeat  that  he  v/as  to  give  them. 
Strongbow  the  mighty  was  beaten  back  In  the  south  and  bottled 
up  In  Waterford  In  imminent  danger  of  capture.  And,  only  that 
the  redoubtable  le  Gros  hurried  back  from  Wales  to  release  him 


328  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

he  would  have  been  overthrown.  Roderick  O'Connor  with  the 
help  of  O'Neill,  O'Mellaghlin,  O'CarroU,  MacDunleavy  of 
Uladh,  and  an  army  of  twenty  thousand  overran  Meath,  and  set 
out  for  Dublin  which  he  might  easily  have  captured  but  for  his 
vacillation.  He  soon  after  thought  it  to  be  to  his  advantage  to 
make  treaty  with  Henry.  He  sent  to  England  for  that  purpose 
Concord,  Abbot  of  Clonfert,  Catholicus,  Archbishop  of  Tuam, 
and  Archbishop  Lawrence  O'Toole  of  Dublin.  This  treaty,  known 
as  the  Treaty  of  Windsor,  acknowledged  Henry's  right  to  the 
lordship  of  Leinster,  Meath,  and  the  other  few  places  and  cities 
then  occupied  by  him.  He  was  also  acknowledged  as  the  overlord 
to  whom  Roderick  should  pay  formal  tribute.  On  the  other  hand 
it  acknowledged  Roderick's  right  to  the  high-kingship  of  five- 
sixths  of  Ireland. 

But  such  pacts  had  little  effect  either  in  securing  peace  or  in- 
suring the  rights  of  either  party.  Every  Norman  chief  warred 
on  his  own  account,  for  purpose  of  extending  his  power  and  pos- 
sessions. And  of  course  every  Irish  chief  and  prince,  when  oppor- 
tunity offered,  warred  against  the  invader. 

But  such  demoralisation  set  in,  that  in  short  time  not  only  was 
Irish  chief  warring  upon  Norman  baron,  but  Irish  chief  was  war- 
ring with  Irish  chief,  Norman  baron  warring  with  Norman  baron, 
and  a  Norman-Irish  alliance  would  be  warring  against  Normans, 
or  against  Irish,  or  against  another  combination  of  both. 

The  Normans  not  only  marked  their  progress  by  much  slaugh- 
ter and  many  barbarities,  but  signalised  themselves  by  robbing  and 
burning  churches  and  monasteries,  and  oftentimes  slaughtering 
the  inmates.'^ 

They  harried,  robbed,  ravished,  and  destroyed  wheresoever 
they  went.  And  against  one  another,  in  their  own  feuds,  they 
oftentim.es  exercised  as  much  barbarity  as  against  the  Irish.  Fear- 
fully true  is  the  Four  Masters'  word  that  MacMurrough's  treach- 
erous act  "made  of  Ireland  a  trembling  sod." 

After  a  time  Milo  de  Cogan  and  Robert  Fitz  Stephen  won 
territory  for  themselves  in  Munster.  John  de  Courcy  won  the  an- 
cient territory  of  Ulster — Down  and  Antrim — and  established 
himself  at  Downpatrick.  Cardinal  Vivian,  the  Pope's  legate,  saw 
de  Courcy,  on  his  entrance  thereto,  slaughtering  the  people  on  the 

T  Giraldus  complains  to  John,  "The  poor  clergy  are  reduced  to  beggary,  the 
Cathedral  churches  which  were  rich,  endowed  with  broad  lands  by  the  piety  of  the 
faithful  in  olden  times,  now  echo  with  lamentations  for  the  loss  of  their  possessions 
of  which  they  have  been  robbed  by  these  men  and  others  who  came  over  with,  and 
after  them ;  so  that  to  uphold  the  Qiurch  is  turned  into  spoiling  and  robbing  it." 


THE  ENGLISH  INVASION  329 

street.  Connaught  (despite  the  Treaty  of  Windsor)  was  granted 
to  De  Burgho  (Burke).  But  It  was  a  long  time  after  It  was 
granted  to  him  before  he  was  enabled — with  the  help  of  some  of 
Connaught's  own — to  find  a  foothold  there. 

Prince  John,  whom  Henry  had  appointed  Lord  of  Ireland, 
came  over  in  11 85,  when  he  was  nineteen  years  of  age,  and  made 
himself  most  beneficial  to  the  country  by  reason  that  he,  with  the 
crowd  of  young  libertines  who  formed  his  court,  made  mock  of 
and  insulted  such  Irish  chieftains  as  hastened  to  pay  him  homage. 
His  attitude  and  actions  during  the  short  time  he  was  permitted 
to  remain  in  the  country  were  proving  splendidly  disastrous  to 
English  prospects  there  and  magnificently  helpful  to  Irish. 

Only  a  few  years  later  John  de  Courcy,  the  conqueror  of  Ul- 
ster, and  the  very  strongest  figure  among  those  Normans,  was 
overwhelmingly  defeated  in  an  attempt  to  conquer  Connaught,  and 
his  army  almost  annihilated.  And  the  Irish  princes  had  recovered 
enough  proper  pride  and  national  spirit  to  form  a  compact,  under 
Connor  of  Maenmagh,  son  of  Roderick,  for  driving  out  the  Eng- 
lish— which  might  now  have  been  easily  accomplished.  But  be- 
fore their  plans  were  perfected  Connor  was  slain,  and  the  grow- 
ing compact  dissolved.  Indeed  had  they  at  any  time  after  Henry's 
leaving  been  able  to  combine  and  strike  together,  the  English,  de- 
spite the  great  advantage  of  discipline,  skill,  and  equipment,  could 
have  been  driven  into  the  sea.  The  key  of  the  arch,  however, 
which  should  have  been  the  strongest  stone  was  the  weakest — 
ever  ready  to  crumble.  This  was  Ard-RIgh  Roderick,  who  not 
only  lost  Ireland  but  eventually  lost  Connaught.  His  own  sons 
warred  against  him  and  warred  against  one  another  as  well.  He 
was  deposed,  exiled,  recalled,  travelled — a  kind  of  royal  beggar 
— to  princes  who  had  been  tributary  to  him,  entreating  them  to 
put  him  on  the  throne  again.  With  an  Ard-RIgh  thus  disobeyed 
and  disrespected  by  his  own,  and  his  kingdom,  which  should  have 
been  the  dominant  one,  warring  within  itself,  the  fates  were  with 
the  foreigner,  and  they  precariously  held  their  own  in  the  east, 
occasionally  making  effective  plunges  Into  the  independent  prov- 
inces that  surrounded  them,  and  occasionally  too  having  their  own 
insecure  possessions  lunged  into  by  the  Irish  enemy. 

The  English  royal  house  was  in  worse  condition  even  than  the 
Irish  royal  house.  Henry  died  cursing  his  sons,  and  his  sons  may 
be  said  to  have  lived  and  died  cursing  one  another.  John,  who 
had  essayed  to  oust  his  worthier  brother  Richard — while  the  lat- 
ter was  on  the  Crusade — and  also  while  he  was  languishing  in  a 
German  prison — began  to  reign  over  England  in  the  last  year  of 


330  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

the  twelfth  century,  very  shortly  after  Donal  MacCarthy  of  Des- 
mond defeated  the  English  of  Munster  and  drove  them  out  of 
Limerick.  The  great  northern  prince,  Flaherty  O'Muldory  of  Tir- 
Conaill,  had  just  then  passed  away.  And  also  just  then  had  passed 
unfortunate  Roderick  O'Connor — who  died  where  he  had  spent 
his  last  days,  in  the  Abbey  of  Cong  in  Mayo — and  was  buried  in 
the  ancient  cemetery  of  Clonmacnois. 


CHAPTER  XXXVII 

NORMAN  AND  GAEL 

The  Norman  Kings  used  the  Church  for  all  purposes  of  statecraft, 
its  higher  officers  were  checks  and  spies  upon  popular  movements, 
while  its  ablest  bishops,  neglecting  their  spiritual  offices,  were  wholly 
absorbed  in  temporal  administration.  The  episcopate  was  thor- 
oughly secularised  and  the  character  of  the  bishops  became  very 
bad.  The  pious  chroniclers  in  England  have  left  us  lurid  pictures 
of  the  moral  degradation  of  their  greater  Churchmen  of  these 
ages.  Their  passage  to  Ireland  brought  no  access  of  sanctity. 
They  acted  as  viceroys  for  the  King  of  England.  The  Irish  Church 
was  treated  with  great  cruelty  and  the  direst  oppression.  Its 
bishops  were  driven  from  their  sees,  the  canons  from  their  cathe- 
drals, the  priests  from  their  parishes.  A  Gaelic  monk  could  not 
be  harboured  in  a  monastery,  or  an  Irish  nun  in  a  convent,  in  any 
district  where  their  writ  ran.  From  the  pulpits  they  thundered: 
"It  is  no  offence  against  God  to  kill  any  Irish  human  being."  They 
displayed  real  ability  and  amazing  zeal  in  leading  their  troops  in 
the  field  and  in  building  mighty  castles  at  all  strategical  points, 
throughout  the  land.  The  sword  of  Mars,  God  of  War,  was  their 
sceptre,  not  the  Cross  of  the  Prince  of  Peace.  They  extended  the 
long  arm  of  excommunication  against  our  race;  rarely  did  they 
uplift  the  hand  of  benediction.  In  their  complaint  to  Pope  John 
XXII,  Donald  O'Neill,  King  of  Ulster,  and  the  other  princes 
of  the  Gael  (131 8)  declared:  "As  it  very  constantly  happens, 
whenever  any  Englishman,  by  perfidy  or  craft,  kills  an  Irishman, 
however  noble,  or  however  innocent,  be  he  clergyman  or  layman 
.  .  .  nay,  even  if  an  Irish  prelate  were  to  be  slain,  there  is  no 
penalty  or  correction  enforced  against  the  person  who  may  be  guilty 
of  such  wicked  murder,  but  rather  the  more  eminent  the  person 
killed,  and  the  higher  the  rank  which  he  holds  among  his  own 
people,  so  much  the  more  is  the  murderer  honoured  and  rewarded 
by  the  English,  and  not  merely  by  the  people  at  large,  but  also  by 
the  religious  and  bishops,  of  the  English  race,  and,  above  all,  by 

331 


332  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

those  on  whom  devolves  officially  the  duty  of  inflicting  on  such  male- 
factors a  just  reward  and  equitable  correction  for  their  evil  deeds." 

Henry  of  London  was  typical  of  his  race  and  class.  At  once 
King  John's  Viceroy  of  Ireland  and  Archbishop  of  Dublin,  he  spent 
more  time  in  hunting  the  red  deer  than  in  seeking  out  lost  souls. 
He  had  a  passion  for  other  people's  money.  He  flayed  the  hum- 
bier  English,  as  well  as  the  Irish,  under  his  jurisdiction.  To  build 
the  notorious  Dublin  castle,  he  pulled  down  several  churches.  By 
wiping  out  the  Gaelic  See  of  Glendalough,  In  Wicklow,  hallowed 
by  the  sanctity,  and  famed  for  the  Greek,  Latin,  and  Irish  learn- 
ing, of  Saint  Kevin  and  his  successors,  he  erected  St.  Patrick's 
Church  into  a  cathedral.  He  gave  the  people  their  first  experience 
of  foreign  landlordism  in  Irish  history  and  received  the  title  of 
Scorch-nilain  or  Buni-Bill  in  return.  On  being  installed  Arch- 
bishop he  summoned  his  tenant  farmers  to  arrange  their  rents, 
telling  them  to  bring  their  title  deeds  with  them.  "IMistrustlng 
nothing,"  they  placed  their  parchm.ents  in  his  hands,  which,  before 
their  faces,  he  cast  into  the  fire.  Before  they  recovered  from  the 
shock  and  amazement  their  title  deeds  were  turned  to  ashes.  It 
was  then  the  turn  of  the  men  of  Glendalough  to  blaze  and  burn: 
"Thou,  an  archbishop!  Nay,  thou  art  a  Burn-Bill,  a  Scorch  ViU 
lainy  Another  drew  his  weapon  and  cried:  "As  good  for  me  to 
kill  him  as  to  be  killed,  for  vv'hen  my  title  deeds  are  burned  and  my 
living  taken  away,  I  am  killed."  The  prelate,  thoroughly  fright- 
ened, escaped  by  a  back  door,  but  his  officials  and  bailiffs  were  well 
beaten,  and  some  of  them  "left  for  dead."  The  outraged  tenants 
even  threatened  to  burn  the  palace,  and  v\'Ould  have  done  so  if  their 
just  wrath  had  not  been  appeased  by  "fair  promises  that  all  should 
be  to  their  content." 

The  process  of  reducing  Ireland  by  incastellation — or  castle- 
building — was  pursued  with  restless  enthusiasm;  and  so  successful 
was  It  that  in  less  than  seventy  years  three-fourths  of  the  country 
was  under  Anglo-Norman  sway.  The  contemporary  Gaelic 
historian  lamented  that  the  Irish,  who  wore  no  armour,  were  no 
match  for  their  foes  "in  one  mass  of  Iron."  The  Normans  were 
well  supplied  with  the  most  efficient  and  the  most  deadly  war  weap- 
ons of  the  Europe  of  that  day,  and  were  much  better  organised  than 
the  Irish. 

Yet  the  remarkable  fact  remains  that  the  Gaels  were  not  driven 
back  upon  any  one  part  of  the  kingdom,  but  remained  scattered, 
yet  unconquered,  among  the  foreigners.  The  Normans  in  great 
strength  occupied  the  present  Counties  of  Antrim  and  Down  In 
Ulster;  in  Leinster,  Louth,  Meath,  Dublin  and  Kildare,  with  the 


NORMAN  AND  GAIX  333 

greater  part  of  Westmcath,  were  densely  held  by  Normans,  and 
by  their  allies,  Flemings,  Welsh  and  Saxons.  They  had  a  firm  hold 
of  Limerick  and  the  adjoining  districts;  their  stone  fortresses 
stretched  to  the  very  mouth  of  the  Shannon.  In  Connaught  the 
rule  of  De  Burgo  extended  from  Galway  northward  and  eastward 
over  the  western  plain  and  communicated  through  Athlone  with 
their  allies  in  Leinster.  On  the  other  hand,  the  remainder  of 
Ulster  and  the  adjoining  districts  were  stoutly  maintained  by  the 
O'Neills,  O'Donnells,  O'Farrells,  O'Reillys,  and  O'Rourkes.  In 
the  Central  Plain  of  Leinster,  the  O'Conors  of  Otialy,  the 
O'Mores  of  Leix,  and  the  O'Carrols  of  Ely,  sat  tight  on  their 
ancestral  lands,  in  spite  of  the  foreigners'  efiorts  to  dislodge 
them.  In  the  mountainous  parts  of  Wicklow,  along  the  uplands 
of  Carlow  and  Kilkenny,  the  Gaels  kept  undisputed  rule.  In 
Munster,  MacCarthy  More  reigned  in  Muskcrry  and  preserved 
the  title  of  King  of  Desmond;  Thomond,  in  great  part,  retained  the 
royal  sway  of  the  O'Briens.  Along  the  western  coast,  beyond 
Lough  Corrib,  the  fierce  O'Flahertys  continued  to  live  free  men, 
and  the  north-east  of  Connacht  still  elected  its  own  sovereign  as 
The  O'Conor.  The  Norm.ans  recognised  the  O'Conors  as  Kings 
of  Connacht. 

Surveying  with  not  a  little  pride  and  much  vainglory  the  re- 
sults achieved  by  the  invaders,  Giraldus  Cambrensis  gave  to  his 
Latin  story  of  the  events  the  title  "Hibernia  Expugnata" — ''Ire- 
land fought  to  a  finish."  But  he  did  not  understand,  nor  did  his 
successors  down  the  ages  understand,  the  amazing  vitality  of  the 
Gaels'  power  of  recuperation,  mental  and  physical.  Beaten  they 
have  been,  time  and  again,  but  never  conquered.  The  spirit  of 
exaltation  of  our  manhood,  the  intense  prayerfulness  of  our  spir- 
itual-minded, white-souled,  indomitable  womankind,  hav^e  mocked 
at  Despair,  laughed  in  the  face  of  Misfortune  itself.  And  when 
the  race  was  thought  to  have  been  prostrated  forever  It  arose  and 
rang  out  its  triumphant  battle-cry! 

Neither  then,  nor  ever  after,  did  the  foreign  invader  come  to 
understand  Ireland's  soul.  Spenser,  in  Elizabeth's  days,  vainly 
tried  to  solve  the  problem  of  the  resurgent  spirit  of  Irish  nation- 
ality. Why  did  not  the  Gaels  acknowledge  defeat?  "Yet  surely," 
he  allows,  "they  are  very  valiant  and  hardy,  for  the  most  part  great 
endurers  of  cold,  labour  and  all  hardiness,  very  active  and  strong 
of  hand,  very  swift  of  foot,  very  vigilant  and  circumspect  in  their 
enterprises,  very  present  in  perils,  very  great  scorners  of  death." 
The  resurrection  of  thirteenth  century  Ireland,  and  its  subtle  con- 
quering of  the  conqueror,  has  been  a  source  of  wonder  to  English- 


334  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

Irish  historians  who  have  tried  to  explain  it  in  many  futile  ways. 
The  truth  is  that  the  free-hearted,  culture-loving,  gracious  comity 
of  the  Gaels  and  of  Gaelic  civilisation  irresistibly  insinuated  itself 
into  the  mind  and  soul  of  the  Norman  French — and  won  from  them 
eager  capitulation. 

In  their  darkest  hour  of  affliction  the  princes  of  the  three  great- 
est Gaelic  clans — almost  all  that  possibly  could  assemble — met  at 
Caol  Uisage  near  the  Belleek  on  the  river  Erne  (in  1258)  to  knit 
the  country  into  one  body  to  withstand  the  foreigner.  The  men  of 
Connacht,  under  Felim  O'Conor  and  the  warriors  of  Thomond 
under  O'Brien,  cheerfully  elected  Brian  O'Neill  of  Tir-Owen  King 
of  Ireland.  This  menace  was  met  by  the  treacherous  capture  and 
the  poisoning  of  O'Neill  by  De  Courcy,  who  defeated  the  combined 
forces  at  the  battle  of  Downpatrick  (1260).  The  lesson  of  this 
disaster  by  which  "Eire  was  left  an  orphan"  was  most  fruitful. 
The  Irish  were  "clad  in  fine  linen  garments,  the  foreigners  in  one 
mass  of  iron"  :  as  the  contemporary  Gael  narrates.  Hence  was 
seen  the  need  of  better  means  of  defence  against  the  common  foe. 
The  epochal  advent  of  the  gall-oglach  (gallowglass)  into  Ireland's 
armies  resulted. 

From  the  Western  Isles  of  Scotland  were  invited  the  heavy- 
armed,  mail-clad,  battle-axe-bearing  gall-oglach  to  aid  in  the  cause. 
These  stalwarts  were  the  descendants  of  the  Ulster  Gaels  who  had 
migrated  there  and  intermarried  with  the  Norse.  Like  their  fore- 
bears they,  too,  were  "very  great  scorners  of  death."  Later,  the 
princes  throughout  Ireland  raised  and  similarly  equipped  regular 
field  troops.  In  fact,  Eire  saw  the  form  and  spirit  of  her  ancient 
Fianna  or  national  militia,  come  to  life  again.  By  this  new  factor 
the  tide  of  foreign  conquest  was  turned.  No  longer  did  the  Nor- 
man cavaliers  "in  one  mass  of  iron"  Inspire  terror,  no  more  were 
their  castles  regarded  as  Impregnable  fortresses.  O'More  of  Leix 
levelled  eight  such  strongholds  in  one  day.  Sir  Henry  Savage,  the 
Norman,  expressed  his  views  pithily  on  this  altered  condition  of 
warfare.  "Never  shall  I,  by  the  grace  of  God,"  he  declared, 
"cumber  myself  with  dead  walls:  my  fort  shall  be  where  young 
bloods  are  stirring  and  where  I  have  room  to  fight.  Better  is  a 
castle  of  bones  than  a  castle  of  stones."  The  Norman  policy  of 
conquest  by  incastellation  was  defeated  by  the  gall-oglach  enter- 
prise, so  quickly  adopted  now  by  all  the  leading  Irish  chiefs. 

To  quicken  the  tide  of  liberation  Donal  O'Neill  and  the  other 
Gaelic  lords  invited  Edward  Bruce,  brother  of  the  King  of  Scot- 
land, to  the  throne  of  Ireland.  The  winning,  In  rapid  succession, 
of  eighteen  victories,  made  the  gallant  Bruce  reckless,  so  engaging 


NORMAN  AND  GAEL  335 

a  vastly  superior  force  at  l-'augliart,  near  Diindalk  (1318),  he  was 
slain.  His  Connacht  allies,  the  O'Conors,  were  routed  at  Athcnry. 
But  after  a  temporary  ebb  success  after  success  again  followed  the 
banners  of  the  intrepid  Irish.  Even  the  l*]nglish  rulers  in  Dublin 
were  brought  under  subjection.  iMacMurrough  Kavanagh,  King  of 
Leinster,  became  virtually  King  of  Dublin,  and  received  from  the 
city  an  annual  tribute.  When  iMurrough  O'Brien,  King  of  iMunster, 
burst  upon  the  I'.nglish  assembled  at  Castle  Dermot  in  Kildare  they 
were  so  terrified  that  they  would  not  fight;  they  gave  him  vast 
sums  of  money,  war-horses,  and  other  equipment  to  buy  peace.  As 
the  fourteenth  century  approached  its  end  the  English  everywhere 
trembled. 

To  remedy  this  state  of  affairs,  Richard  II,  of  luigland,  landed 
in  Ireland  with  an  immense  army  and  swore  a  mighty  oath  that  he 
would  not  leave  the  country  until  he  had  taken  Art  MacMurrough 
alive  or  dead. 

Art  was  a  true  Irish  King.  The  chroniclers  record  that  "he 
held  in  his  fair  hand  the  sovereignty  and  the  charters  of  the  province 
of  Leinster.  At  his  approach  the  whole  (of  the  English  of)  Lein- 
ster trembled."  Again,  "he  was  replete  with  hospitality,  knowl- 
edge and  chivalry;  the  prosperous  and  kingly  enricher  of  churches 
and  monasteries,  w^ith  his  alms  and  offerings,"  Art  barred  Rich- 
ard's way.  Even  his  30,000  men  were  no  match  for  the  Irish. 
The  French  author  who  has  left  us  a  record  of  this  invasion  de- 
clares that  the  Gaels  were  utterly  fearless,  were  "as  bold  as  lions." 
In  contest  after  contest  the  English  were  shattered.  In  this  French- 
man's opinion  the  Irish  could  not  be  conquered  "while  the  leaves 
were  on  the  trees."  So  with  a  heavy  heart  Richard  hied  him  back 
home  a  sad,  broken  man,  to  be  deprived  of  his  crown  and  kingdom 
by  the  Duke  of  Lancaster.  He  was  the  last  English  monarch  until 
the  seventeenth  century  who  tried  the  Impossible  task  of  conquering 
Ireland.  MacMurrough  was  poisoned  by  an  agent  of  the  English 
Government.  The  final  result  of  the  Irish  rally  was  that  English 
rule  was  cooped  within  the  Pale — a  palisaded  district  stretching 
some  thirty  miles  around  Dublin — and  it  held  shadowy  sway  in  a 
few  of  the  walled  towns,  which  were,  in  reality,  little  Republics. 
Almost  all  Ireland  was  independent  early  in  the  fifteenth  century. 

Irishwomen  have  been  famed,  and  w^ooed,  in  all  ages  and  in 
many  lands  for  their  chastity,  wit,  vivacity,  tenderness,  intelligence, 
and  beauty.  Intermarriages  with  the  British,  or  Welsh,  princes 
went  on  from  the  twilight  of  history.  Many  Saxon  lords,  too, 
sought  wives  in  Ireland.  Even  before  the  Invasion  the  Norman 
Earl  of  Shrewsbury  ( 1 100)  sent  an  ambassador  to  crave  a  princess 


336  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

of  the  House  of  O'Brien  in  wedlock:  but  Magnus,  King  of  Den- 
mark, secured  her  for  his  own  son,  SItric,  King  of  Man.     On  the 
day  when  the  victorious   Richard,   Earl  of  Pembroke,   surnamed 
Strongbow,   married  Eva,   daughter   of   Dermot   MacMurrough, 
King  of  Leinster,  on  the  blood-soaked  battlefield  of  Waterford 
(1170),  the  Irish  conquest  of  the  Norman  conquerors  was  begun. 
For  marrying  the  Lady  Rose  O' Conor,  daughter  of  Rury,  King 
of  Connacht,  the  elder  Hugh  de  Lacy  roused  the  ire  of  Henry  11, 
and  won  dismissal  from  his  post  as  chief  Governor  of  Ireland. 
The  second  Hugh  de  Lacy  took  unto  wife  the  daughter  of  Alan, 
Lord  of  Galloway,  grandson  of  King  Baliol  of  Scotland.     The  re- 
nowned  Richard  de   Burgh,   the   mighty  "Red   Earl"    of   Ulster, 
espoused  Una,  daughter  of  Prince  Hugh  O'Conor.     Their  daugh- 
ter married  into  the  Royal  house  of  Scotland.     Hence  the  Bruces, 
through   the   female   line,   were   descended   from    MacMurrough, 
King  of  Leinster,  and  Robert's  wife,  Ellen,  Queen  of  Scots,  daugh- 
ter of  the  "Red  Earl,"  came  of  the  royal  lineage  of  the  O'Conors 
of  Connacht.     William  Marshall,  Earl  of  Pembroke,  the  ablest 
soldier  of  his  day,  wedded  Isabella,  daughter  of  Eva  and  Strong- 
bow.     Their  eldest  son,  WilHam,  was  the  husband  of   Eleanor 
Plantagenet,  sister  of  Henry  III  of  England.     On  his  death,  she 
became  the  wife  of  the  famous  Simon  de  Montfort,  Earl  of  Lei- 
cester.   The  King  of  Scotland  took  another  of  her  sisters  to  wife. 
The  daughter  of  the  last  Earl  of  Ulster  married  Lionel,  Duke  of 
Clarence,   brother   to    Edward   III    of   England.      The    seed   of 
MacCarthy  More,    King  of   Cork,   and  of   Petronilla   de   Bloet, 
passed  into  the  House  of  Stuart  and  fructified  in  the  person  of  the 
Sixth  James  of  Scotland  (First  James  of  England).    As  generation 
succeeded  generation  all  the  Irish  clans,  in  the  five-fifths  of  Eirinn, 
were  united  in  ties  of  blood  with,  and  helped  to  conquer  to  Gael- 
dom,  all  the  Norman  families. 

With  Scotland,  north  of  the  Grampians,  Gaelic  Scotland,  there 
was  no  break  in  relationship  adown  the  ages.  It  is  no  exaggera- 
tion to  say  that  intermarriage  and  community  of  language,  customs 
and  interests,  made  the  north  and  west  of  Ireland  and  Argyll  and 
the  western  Scottish  Isles  one  family  estate.  Inverness  was  the 
capital  of  Gaeldom  in  the  Middle  Ages.  The  Scottish  Kings 
made  commercial  treaties  and  social  compacts  in  favour  of  the 
Irish  of  Ireland  and  to  the  detriment  of  the  English  of  Ireland. 

The  result  of  the  blending  of  the  two  races,  Irish  and  Anglo- 
Norman-French — Gaels  and  Sean  Ghalls — was  an  enriching  and 
deepening  of  national  life  in  every  department — paralleling  like 


NORMAN  AND  GAEL  337 

happenings  in  England  and  Scotland.     The  absorption  of  the  in- 
vaders occurred  earher  in  the  Green  Isle. 

'if  the  speech  is  Irish  the  heart  is  also  Irish,"  as  an  English 
official  bitterly  declared.  So  long  as  the  Irish  retained  their  native 
culture  and  language,  their  power  of  assimilating  what  was  best 
in  other  resident  races  was  marvellous.  The  Sean  Ghalls  (old 
foreigners)  became  "more  Irish  than  the  Irish  themselves."  They 
donned  the  Irish  national  dress,  used  the  Irish  tongue,  fostered 
Irish  literature  and  music,  ruled  their  subjects  by  the  Brehon  laws, 
and  because  they  thus  became  essentially  Irish  they  won  the  devo- 
tion and  fidelity  of  the  people.  They  even  discarded  their  own 
Norman  names  in  favour  of  Irish  names.  Sir  John  Davies,  in  the 
reign  of  James  I  of  England,  deplored  their  conduct:  "As  they  did 
not  only  forget  the  English  language  and  scorned  the  use  thereof, 
but  grew  to  be  ashamed  of  their  very  English  names,  though  they 
were  noble  and  of  great  antiquity,  and  took  Irish  surnames  and 
nicknames."  The  De  Burghs  were  transformed,  first  into  Burkes, 
then  into  MacWilliams.  The  De  Birminghams  became  MacYoris; 
the  Dexecesters,  Macjordans;  the  De  Angulo  family  was  hence- 
forth known  as  MacCostello.  "In  Munster,  of  the  great  families 
of  the  Geraldines  planted  there,  one  was  called  MacMorice,  chief 
of  the  House  of  Lixnaw;  and  another  MacGibbon,  who  was  also 
called  the  White  Knight."  .  .  .  "And  they  did  this  in  contempt 
and  hatred  of  the  English  name  and  nation  whereof  these  degen- 
erate families  became  more  mortal  enemies"  to  England  than  the 
Gaels. 

Because  they  fell  under  the  spell  of  the  wide  culture  of  the 
Gaels,  with  Its  deep  humanities,  its  kindly,  genial  atmosphere,  there 
was  "utter  ruin"  to  English  interests.  Perhaps  in  no  other  race 
was  the  doctrine  of  the  equality  of  man  so  well  understood  as  among 
the  Gaels.  The  meanest  clansman  of  an  O'Neill  or  a  MacDonnell 
stood  on  an  equal  footing  with  his  chieftain.  When  Art  MacMur- 
rough  and  three  other  Irish  kings  visited  Richard  II  in  Dublin  the 
English  were  horrified  to  see  the  royal  guests  sitting  down  to  table 
with  their  minstrels  and  whole  retinue.  "They  told  me  this  was  a 
praiseworthy  custom  of  their  country,"  records  the  official  scribe, 
but  such  democratic  conduct  would  not  be  allowed  by  this  feudal 
master  of  ceremonies.  So  they  were  separated — the  kings  were 
sequestered  at  one  table,  the  retinue  at  another.  "The  Kings 
looked  at  each  other  and  refused  to  eat,  saying  I  had  deprived  them 
of  their  old  custom  in  which  they  had  been  brought  up."  But  the 
boorish  "allotted  tutor  in  manners"  informed  them  that  it  was  not 


338  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

decent  or  suitable  to  their  rank,  "for  now  they  must  conform  to  the 
manners  of  the  English."  "With  the  dignity  of  courteous  guests" 
they  yielded.  When  Sir  John  Harington  visited  O'Neill  he  found 
him  seated  in  the  open  surrounded  by  his  clansmen.  In  such  a 
position  he  averred  he  would  rather  be  "The  O'Neill  than  the 
King  of  Spain."  Harington  marvelled  at  the  love  and  admiration 
the  Gaels  exhibited  toward  their  lord.  "With  what  charm  such  a 
master  makes  them  love  him  I  know  not:  but  if  he  bid  come  they 
come;  if  go,  they  do  go;  if  he  say  do  this,  they  do  it." 

The  habit  of  the  Normans  fostering  their  children  with  mothers 
of  the  Gael  and  having  them  to  act  as  sponsors  in  baptism  for  their 
children,  was  hateful  to  the  English  Government.  "Both  of  which," 
adds  Davies,  "have  ever  been  of  greater  estimation  among  this  peo- 
ple than  with  any  other  nation  in  the  Christian  world.  .  .  .  Foster- 
ing hath  always  been  a  stronger  alliance  than  blood,  and  foster- 
children  do  love  and  are  beloved  of  their  foster  fathers  and  their 
sept  more  than  of  their  natural  parents  and  kindred,  and  do  par- 
ticipate of  their  means  more  frankly,  and  do  adhere  unto  them  in 
all  fortunes  with  more  affection  and  constancy." 

England  bitterly  bewailed  the  "degenerate"  fate  in  Ireland  of 
its  own  original  conquerors — the  Norman-French.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  Gaels,  with  truer  insight,  declared  that  these  Sean  Ghalls 
(Old  Foreigners)  "gave  up  their  foreignness  for  a  pure  mind, 
their  surhness  for  good  manners,  their  stubbornness  for  sweet  mild- 
ness, and  their  perverseness  for  hospitality." 

Drastic  steps  were  taken  to  prevent  the  amalgamation  of  the 
races,  to  blight  the  bloom  of  Gaelic-Anglo-Norman  civilisation. 
The  notorious  Statute  of  Kilkenny  (1367)  was  but  one  of  a  long 
series  of  legislative  acts  designed  for  this  purpose.  It  begins  thus : 
"Many  of  the  English  of  Ireland  discarding  the  English  tongue, 
manners,  style  of  riding,  laws  and  usages,  lived  and  governed  them- 
selves according  to  the  mode,  fashion  and  language  of  the  'Irish 
enemies,'  and  also  made  divers  marriages  between  themselves  and 
the  Irish,  whereby  the  said  lands  and  the  liege  people  thereof,  the 
English  language,  the  allegiance  due  to  their  lord  the  King  of  Eng- 
land, and  the  English  laws,  were  put  in  subjection  and  decayed,  and 
the  Irish  enemies  exalted  and  raised  tip,  contrary  to  reason."  So  it 
declared  any  such  alliance  high  treason.^  It  declared  war  on  gos- 
sipred,  on  fostering,  on  the  Irish  language,  on  Irish  culture,  on 
Irish  music  and  its  professors,  on  Irish  law  and  its  judges,  on  Irish 

^The  godfathers  and  godmothers  of  the  same  child  were  gossips.  The  chil- 
dren nursed  by  the  same  mother  were  fosters.  Two  boys  nursed  on  the  same  milk 
were  foster-brothers. 


NORMAN  AND  GAEL  339 

games  and  pastimes,  on  the  Irish  clergy,  on  Irish  manners  and 
customs,  on  Irish  trade  and  commerce.  The  English  born  in  Eng- 
land were  no  longer  to  be  dubbed  "Enghsh  churls  or  clowns,"  nor 
were  the  English  born  in  Ireland  to  be  called  "Irish  dogs."  To 
crown  all,  the  English  Archbishops  and  Bishops  pronounced  sen- 
tence of  excommunication  against  all  who  disobeyed  the  statute. 

Love  mocked  at  such  penal  laws.  The  wedding  bells  continued 
to  ring  down  the  corridor  of  the  centuries.  The  prospect  of  being 
hanged,  drawn,  disembowelled,  and  quartered — the  legal  penalty — 
had  no  terrors  for  the  Irish,  New  or  Old,  Sean  Ghalls  or  Gaels. ^ 
Every  avenue  of  tyranny  and  of  terror  was  explored  to  find  means 
of  arresting  the  irresistible  tide  of  Gaelicism.  If  a  wayfarer  was 
seen  either  riding  in  the  Irish  fashion,  or  dressed  in  Gaelic  costume, 
or  not  wearing  "a  civil  English  cap,"  it  was  "advisable  and  lawful" 
to  murder  the  offender.  Even  the  sporting  of  a  moustache  after 
the  Irish  fashion  (the  fashion  on  the  Continent  then  also)  and  not 
having  a  shaven  upper  lip  like  the  English,  was  denounced  by  Act 
of  Parliament  (25  Henry  VI,  1447)  as  deserving  of  death,  and  the 
delinquent's  estate  was  to  be  forfeited  to  the  Crown. 

2  "I  would  not  give  my  Irish  wife  for  all  the  dames  of  the  Saxon  land; 
I  would  not  give  my  Irish  wife  for  the  Queen  of  France's  hand ; 
For  she  to  me  is  dearer  than  castles  strong,  or  lands,  or  life — 
An  outlaw— so  I'm  near  her,  to  love  till  death  my  Irish  wife. 

"I  knew  the  law  forbade  the  banns— I  knew  my  king  abhorred  her  race— 
Who  never  bent  before  their  clans  must  bow  before  their  ladies*  grace. 
Take  all  my  forfeited  domain,  I  cannot  wage  with  kinsmen  strife — 
Take  knightly  gear  and  noble  name,  and  I  will  keep  my  Irish  wife." 


CHAPTER  XXXVIII 

TRADE  IN  MEDIEVAL  IRELAND 

The  risen  waters  of  a  common  Irish  life  flooded  even  the  walled 
towns.  At  the  first  Invasion  the  King  of  England  had  banished  all 
the  Irish,  who  were  not  granted  "English  liberty,"  from  these 
urban  communities,  and  replaced  them  with  his  own  subjects,  allow- 
ing, however,  the  numerous  Portuguese,  Spanish,  French-Norse 
and  Flemish  merchants  and  traders  to  abide  therein.  From  that 
time  onward  it  had  been  an  accepted  principle  that  no  Irishman 
should  be  allowed  to  engage  in  trade  or  commerce,  or  accepted  as 
an  apprentice  to  any  handicraft  where  English  power  was  felt. 
Then,  with  delicious  irony,  their  writers  derided  our  people  as 
"idlers,  hating  honest  business."  By  letters  of  denization,  by  peace- 
ful penetration,  by  intermarriage,  the  Gaelic  clansmen,  by  the  fif- 
teenth century,  formed  the  bulk  of  the  Craft  Gilds,  even  in  Dublin, 
and  made  not  a  little  headway  in  obtaining  a  foothold  in  the  Mer- 
chant Gilds.  The  town  merchants,  from  the  very  beginning,  had 
to  journey  into  the  country  to  buy  the  far-famed  Irish  woollens, 
rugs,  mantles,  and  linens,  to  bargain  for  hides  and  beautiful  peltries, 
flax,  beef,  and  corn.  So  in  time,  partnerships  were  formed  with 
the  Clans,  and  Irish  law  in  the  Irish  tongue  was  pleaded  in  the 
town  courts.  The  merchants,  like  the  Norman  lords,  dressed 
themselves  in  the  banned  national  costume,  spoke,  even  in  Dublin 
and  Waterford,  the  Irish  tongue,  and  took  part  in  all  the  inhib- 
ited festivities  of  the  Gael.  If  proof  were  needed  that  these  mer- 
chants were  not,  as  is  so  often  stated,  English,  it  will  be  found  in 
the  fact,  attested  by  the  records  in  Continental  archives,  that  whilst 
English  traders  and  factors  in  Spain,  Portugal,  Oporto,  Italy,  the 
Hansa  Towns,  Flanders,  Russia  and  elsewhere,  used  their  own,  or 
the  French  language,  in  commercial  transactions,  the  Irish  and  the 
Scots  employed  Latin  only.  Latin  was  spoken  by  all  educated  peo- 
ple throughout  Gaeldom.  Moreover,  in  nearly  all  commercial 
treaties  the  foreign  potentates  describe  our  merchants  as  of  "the 
Irish  Nation."     In  Spain  and  Portugal,  "the  noble  Irish,"  as  they 

340 


TRADE  IN  MEDIAEVAL  IRELAND  341 

were  there  known,  obtained  more  valuable  privileges  than  the  Eng- 
lish. So  great  was  the  commercial  intercourse  with  the  Peninsula,  of 
the  O'SuUivans,  MacCarthys,  Desmonds,  O'DriscoUs,  O'Flahertys, 
O'Malleys,  and  of  the  merchants  from  the  seaports  from  Water- 
ford  to  Sligo,  that  the  waters  which  lapped  the  southern  and  west- 
ern coasts  of  Ireland  were  designated  by  map-makers  "The  Spanish 
Seas."  "Portingal"  became  a  proper  name  in  Southern  Ireland. 
Men  of  that  race  were  elected  a§  Mayors  of  our  towns.  "Spain" 
yet  survives  as  a  surname  in  our  land.  The  great  Italian  financial 
houses,  the  bankers  of  Lucca,  the  Ricardi,  the  Friscobaldi,  the 
Mozzi  and  the  Bardi  of  Florence,  were  active  agents  in  Mediaeval 
Ireland.  The  wine  trade,  as  shown  by  the  Pipe  Roll  accounts,  and 
other  sources,  was  of  great  dimensions,  with  Clan  and  Town.  Bor- 
deaux, Dordogne,  Libourne,  St.  Emilian,  besides  Spain,  Portugal 
and  Oporto,  traded  direct  with  the  Irish  ports. 

With  France  the  records  of  our  trade  go  back  to  the  days  of 
St.  Patrick.  Rouen  was  the  chief  port  of  Normandy  and  obtained 
from  Henry  II  the  "monopoly  of  Irish  trade."  Bordeaux  had  a 
colony  of  Irish  merchants — as  had  St.  Omer,  Marseilles,  Bayonne, 
St.  Malo,  La  Rochelle,  Nantes  and  other  ports — who  were  im- 
porters of  Irish  wool,  skins,  hides,  fish,  woollen  cloth,  fine  linen, 
leather*  and  corn,  and  they  sent  to  Ireland  their  own  manufactures 
and  products. 

The  enterprising  Flemings  were  stationed  in  many  of  the  Irish 
ports.  Their  influence  on  maritime  and  inland  trade  was  as  benefi- 
cent here  as  it  was  in  England.  In  Kilkenny,  Youghal,  Cork, 
Waterford  and  New  Ross  they  were  most  numerous.  On  the 
other  hand,  Irish  merchants  had  their  own  settlements  in  all  the 
leading  ports  of  Flanders.  In  the  old  records  of  Bruges,  Ireland, 
as  distinct  from  England,  is  mentioned  as  one  of  the  seventeen 
nations  whose  corporations  added  to  the  fame  of  that  port.  It 
had  its  own  commercial  houses  there — two  bore  the  proud  name, 
"Ireland,"  and  the  third  "St.  Patrick,"  "a  lofty  and  beautiful 
edifice."  This  last  was  a  sixteenth  century  foundation.  In  1399 
Philippe  le  Hardi  made  Ecluse  (Sluys)  a  staple  town  for  Irish 
mantles  and  cloths.  This  duke's  safe-conducts  to  Irish  merchants 
in  1387  and  in  other  years  have  been  printed.  In  all  trading  char- 
ters to  Englishmen,  Irishmen  are  specifically  mentioned  likewise. 
With  a  view  to  encourage  the  home  manufacture  of  wool  the  Duke 
of  Flanders  (1496-7)  forbade  the  importation  of  foreign  cloths. 
Thereupon  a  clamour  arose  from  the  populace  to  be  allowed  still 
to  buy  the  cheaper  Irish  cloth  and  linens,  Irish  cloaks  and  Scottish 
kerseys;  and  Archduke  Philippe  gave  orders  that  such  goods  from 


342  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

Ireland  and  Scotland  should  continue  to  be  imported  and  sold 
"according  to  the  old  custom."  A  Flemish  writer  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  lamenting  the  decay  of  Bruges,  its  rival  Antwerp,  obtain- 
ing all  its  commerce,  tells  us  that  the  Irish  merchants  in  his  own 
time  held  two  fairs  a  year  at  Bruges  where  they  exposed  for  sale 
their  friezes,  mantles,  serges,  and  great  quantities  of  furs  and  skins. 
He  laments  their  loss  because  the  Irish  friezes  and  serges  were  of 
such  stout  material  and  so  cheap  that  they  were  largely  used  by 
the  working  men  and  the  poorer  classes.  Irish  leather  goods  were 
renowned  throughout  Europe,  so  it  is  not  a  matter  of  surprise  that 
Irish  names  should  figure  on  the  Tanners'  Gild  of  Liege,  then  the 
most  extensive  and  famous  body  of  this  craft  on  the  Continent.  At 
Brabant  fairs  Irishmen  were  busy  also.  Their  corporation  retail- 
ing, not  merely  all  varieties  of  furs,  skins,  "beautiful  leather  goods," 
but  also  rough  cloth  and  high  class  serges.  Antwerp,  too,  had  its 
Irish  trade,  linen  being  mentioned,  amongst  other  items.  Lubeck 
had  commercial  intercourse  with  Ireland,  and  Irish  woollens  were 
carried  down  the  Rhine :  Cologne  being  one  of  the  marts.  Through 
the  Hansa  Towns  Irish  commerce  flowed  on  to  Russia. 

The  Irish  had  a  hospital  at  Genoa,  before  the  Norman  Inva- 
sion, circa  1160.     In  1398,  there  is  record  of  Patrick  Galway,  a 
member  of  an  opulent  mercantile  family  in  Cork,  trading  there  in 
copper,  tin,  linen  cloth,  and  "innumerable  other  things,"  "wools  and 
merchandise."      As  yet  little   concerning  the   commerce   between 
mediaeval  England,   Ireland  and  Italy  is  known.     Bonifazio  del 
Uberti,  in  his  poem,  Dittamondi,  tells  us  that  "Ireland  is  worthy 
of  fame  for  the  woollen  stuffs  she  sends  us."     Irish  serge  was  used 
In  Naples  as  trimmings  for  the  robes  of  the  king  and  queen.     Its 
presence  In  Florence,  Genoa,  Como,  and  Bologna,  is  known  to  all 
students  of  Commerce  in  the  Middle  Ages.     Irish  mantles  were 
heirlooms  in  the  families  of  many  wealthy  Italian  merchants.     It 
was  worn  by  the  fashionable  ladies  of  that  luxurious  town,  Flor- 
ence.    Machiavel  declares  that  woollen  manufacture  was  the  prin- 
cipal industry  in  this  city,  and  maintained  the  majority  of  Its  op- 
erative classes.    In  that  opulent  emporium  of  European  and  Asiatic 
trade,  the  Florence  of  1350,  the  "noble  stuffs"  of  Ireland  were 
eagerly  sought  for  by  the  haughty  dames  of  the  princes  of  Com- 
merce and  Finance.     In  1382  the  Pope's  envoy  obtained  the  privi- 
lege of  bringing  with  him  to  Italy,  duty  free,  a  number  of  articles 
In  which  figure  "Five  mantles  of  Irish  cloth — one  lined  with  green. 
One  russet  garment  lined  with  Irish  cloth." 

Irish  silk  Is  mentioned  in  the  wardrobe  accounts  of  Queen  Clem- 
ence  of  Hungary.     She  had  two  robes  of  this  material,  the  one 


TRADE  IN  MEDIAEVAL  IRELAND  343 

violet  and  the  other  without  indication  of  colour.  The  dearer  must 
have  been  a  most  expensive  article,  for  it  is  priced  twenty  Parisian 
pounds  (probably  £400  of  our  money).  Our  "silk"  is  mentioned 
in  many  French  accounts  during  the  Middle  Ages.  Its  fame  at- 
tracted the  cupidity  of  the  London  mercers,  evidently,  for  in  a  six- 
teenth century  lawsuit,  there  is  a  claim  for  some  London  silk  stolen 
"called  Irish  silk."  Whether  this  was  a  superfine  linen  or  the  sroi 
mentioned  in  the  ancient  Irish  MS.  I  cannot  decide. 

Irish  cloth,  mantles,  rugs  and  serges  were  highly  esteemed  In 
Spain  and  Portugal,  likewise.  "At  this  time,"  writes  Macpherson, 
"there  were  some  considerable  manufactures  in  Ireland.  The  stuffs 
called  sayes  (serges)  made  in  that  country  were  in  such  request, 
that  they  were  imitated  by  the  manufacturers  of  Catalonia,  who 
were  in  the  practice  of  making  the  finest  woollen  goods  of  every 
kind."  The  Irish  merchants  traded  with  the  Canaries  and  pushed 
their  way  into  the  Land  of  the  Moors.  Prince  Henry  the  Nav- 
igator had  his  own  agent  in  Galway,  to  whom  he  sent  an  African 
lion,  one  of  the  earliest  seen  in  Europe,  knowing  that  "never  be- 
fore had  such  a  beast  been  seen  in  that  part." 

One  of  the  most  famous  legends  in  the  Middle  Ages  was  the 
"Voyages  of  St.  Brendan."  This  saintly  old  mariner  of  Ardfert, 
Co.  Kerry,  was  said  to  have  been  the  first  discoverer  of  "Great 
Ireland,"  as  the  Icelanders  of  the  tenth  and  eleventh  centuries 
called  North  and  Central  America.  Washington  Irving  in  his 
"Life  of  Columbus"  narrates  that  "during  the  time  that  Columbus 
was  making  his  proposition  to  the  Court  of  Portugal,  an  inhabitant 
of  the  Canaries  applied  to  King  John  II  for  a  vessel  to  go  in  search 
of  the  island.  The  name  of  St.  Brendan  was  from  time  immemorial 
given  to  this  Imaginary  island,  for  when  the  rumour  circulated  of 
such  a  place  being  seen  from  the  Canaries,  which  always  eluded 
the  search,  the  legends  of  St.  Brendan  were  revived,  and  applied 
to  this  unapproachable  land."  "It  Is  a  well  known  fact,"  avers 
the  Rev.  D.  O'Donoghue  in  his  learned  work,  "St.  Brendan  the 
Voyager,"  that  Columbus  while  maturing  his  plans  for  his  great 
expedition,  visited  Ireland  as  well  as  Iceland  in  quest  of  information 
bearing  on  his  theories.  He  was  assisted  in  his  researches  by  an 
Irish  gentleman  named  Patrick  Maguire,  who  accompanied  him 
also  on  his  great  voyage  of  discovery.  There  are  other  Irish  names 
on  the  roster  of  the  ship's  crew,  preserved  In  the  archives  of  Ma- 
drid; but  by  Father  Tornitori,  an  Italian  priest,  in  the  seventeenth 
century  It  Is  specially  recorded  that  Patrick  Maguire  was  the  first 
to  set  foot  on  American  soil.  He  says  that  on  the  eventful  morn- 
ing of  the  landing  the  boats  bearing  Columbus  and  some  of  his 


344  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

crew  were  launched;  but  approaching  the  land,  the  water  shallowed, 
and  Patrick  Maguire  jumped  out  to  lighten  the  boat,  and  then 
waded  ashore. 

Space  forbids  the  recital  of  the  interesting  history  of  the  com- 
mercial fame  of  Irish  horses,  hawks,  and  of  the  great  wolf  hounds 
which  were  eagerly  sought  for  by  the  crowned  heads  of  the  Con- 
tinent of  mediasval  Europe. 

Only  a  brief  reference  can  be  made  to  the  widespread  commer- 
cial intercourse  with  England.  The  records  of  trade  with  Bristol 
and  the  Welsh  ports  go  back  to  the  fringe  of  mythological  times. 
Irish  weavers  emigrated  in  large  numbers  to  Bristol,  where  they 
acquired  great  power.  They  were  represented  on  that  town's 
Corporation.  Its  Coopers'  Gild  had  many  Gaels  among  its  mem- 
bers. From  Ireland  came  more  than  seventy  per  cent  of  its  trade. 
Irish  commercial  activity  aroused  the  jealousy  of  the  merchants  of 
Canterbury  against  such  "alien  Irishmen."  Gloucester,  Chester, 
Runcorn,  Cambridge,  Coventry,  Oxford,  Preston,  Winchester,  Lon- 
don, Hereford,  Southampton,  and  St.  Albans  are  some  of  the  towns 
where  Irish  manufactures  were  sold  and  Irish  merchants  busy. 
There  was  bitter  contention  and  long  strife  between  Gloucester  and 
Bristol,  Bristol  and  Chester,  Chester  and  Runcorn,  over  the  monop- 
oly of  Irish  trade.  In  148 1,  Edward  IV  issued  a  proclamation 
that  every  Irish  ship  charged  with  goods  for  Runcorn,  or  any  other 
place  in  Cheshire,  should  first  discharge  at  Chester.  Yet,  in  this 
very  year,  one  Edward  Walshe  obtained  a  license  to  sail  his  ship 
direct  from  Runcorn  to  Ireland.  In  1439  an  ordinance  was  made 
that  no  Irishman  born  "shall  henceforth  be  elected  on  the  Council 
of  Bristol  by  the  Mayor  under  a  penalty  of  £20  each  from  the 
Mayor  and  from  the  Irishman."  The  Coopers'  Gild  shut  down  its 
doors  "from  henceforeard"  against  Irishmen,  "rebels  against  our 
liege  lord  the  king."  "These  strangers  and  aliens  not  born  under 
the  king's  obedience  .  .  .  but  rebellious  .  .  .  were  put  in  occupation 
of  the  craft  of  weavers;  .  .  .  and  have  so  greatly  multiphed  and 
increased  within  the  town  of  Bristol  that  the  king's  liege  people 
within  the  town  and  other  parts  were  vagrant  and  unoccupied,  and 
may  not  have  their  labour  for  their  living."  Withal  these  enact- 
ments would  seem  to  have  become  a  dead  letter,  for  in  Tudor  days 
Irish  was  spoken  there,  and  its  Irish  residents  numerous. 

There  is  unimpeachable  evidence  that  agriculture  was  skilfully 
and  extensively  pursued  from  the  thirteenth  to  the  sixteenth  century. 
The  exportation  of  enormous  quantities  of  wheat,  oats,  barley, 
rye  and  of  other  cereals,  and  of  flax  (besides  what  was  used  for 
the  big  home  consumption  of  linen),  of  beef,  mutton,  and  other 


TRADE  IN  MEDli^VAL  IRELAND  345 

food  stuffs,  as  well  as  of  wool,  point  to  intensive  land  cultivation 
and  stock  raising.  To  a  modern  Irishman  the  quantities  of  these 
products  exported  to  France,  Scotland,  Flanders  and  England,  as 
recorded  in  official  and  other  documents,  seem  incredible.  This  was 
when  England  was  ruled  by  the  first  three  Edwards  (1272-1377). 
The  Editor  of  the  Calendar  of  Documents,  Scotland,  is  of  opinion 
that  Ireland  must  have  been  a  veritable  Land  of  Goshen  then,  and 
truly  adds  that  no  merchants  would  go  there  to  seek  corn  to-day. 
In  the  fifteenth  century  London  Corn  Market  Irish  wheat  was  sold. 
English  agents  reported  that  "Ireland  fed  Spain  and  Portugal  with 
corn." 


CHAPTER  XXXIX 

LEARNING  IN  MEDIEVAL  IRELAND 

After  the  crushing  defeat  of  the  Norsemen  by  King  Brian  at  the 
Battle  of  Clontarf  (1014)  there  was  a  flowering  of  the  National 
Mind  in  literature.  So  the  political  freedom  of  the  fourteenth  and 
fifteenth  centuries  saw  a  re-birth  of  intellectual,  as  well  as  of  agri- 
cultural and  commercial  activity  in  Ireland.  It  was  a  Golden  Age 
of  Gaelic  Literature.  • 

As  the  wider  gates  of  Ireland's  commerce  opened  on  the  South 
and  West  coasts,  so  her  scholars,  pilgrims,  clerics  and  craftsmen 
followed  in  the  wake  of  her  merchants,  through  the  Gaulish  seas 
into  France  and  Italy,  and  "over  the  brief  ocean"  into  Spain  and 
Portugal,  to  drink  at  the  fountains  of  knowledge  there.     The  uni- 
versities of  these  Romance  lands  knew  a  long  succession  of  our 
brilliant  scholars.    The  congregation  of  Irish  and  Scottish  students 
at  the  University  of  Paris  (1300-1600)  was  greater  than  even  the 
number  who  enriched  their  minds  at  Oxford.     "The  Latin  educa- 
tion of  Ireland,"  observes  the  erudite  Scotch  Professor  Ker,  "be- 
gan earlier,  and  was  better  maintained  there  than  elsewhere"  in 
Europe.     The  reason  whereof  may  be  found  in  the  truth  that  the 
culture  and  refinement  of  these  Romance  or  Latin  lands  made  a 
more  lively  appeal  to  the  Gaelic  mind  and  soul  than  did  the  civil- 
isation of  England.    The  restless  ebb  and  flow  of  the  Irish  of  the 
Middle  Ages  from  Eirinn  to  the  Continent,  carried  with  it  much 
that  was  nobkst  in  literature,  in  civility,  and  in  manners.     It  is  in- 
teresting to  note  the  most  popular  Irish  translations  made  by  these 
scholars  of  the  Greek  and  Latin  classics.     For  the  delectation  of 
their    readers    and    auditors    they    gave    admirable    adaptations, 
amongst  others,  of  the  Tale  of  Troy,  the  Saga  of  Alexander  the 
Great  and  Philip  of  Macedon,  The  Wanderings  of  Ulysses,  The 
Theban  War,  and  the  i^neid.     Some  of  the  Greek  stories  were  ren- 
dered through  the  Latin  versions.     It  would  be  idle  to  conjecture, 
at  the  present  stage  of  our  enlightenment,  how   far  the   famed 
knowledge  of  Greek  of  eighth  and  ninth  century  Ireland  was  main- 

346 


LEARNING  IN  MEDli^VAL  IRELAND  347 

tained  and  carried  to  and  through  the  fifteenth  century.  Such  of 
these  translations  as  have  been  brought  to  light  indicate  how  ex- 
pert and  how  original  was  Gaelic  scholarship.  The  Irish  used 
their  authorities  as  Shakespeare  used  his,  transforming  them  into 
virtually  new  works.  They  gave  us  transmutations  rather  than 
translations.  The  infinite  tenderness  of  the  Gaelic  heart,  the  loving 
minuteness  of  observation  of  the  Irish  eye,  is  evidenced  by  the  ex- 
quisite Nature  touches  in  their  verse  and  prose — for  they  were 
enamoured  of  the  blue  sky,  the  rhythm  of  the  rustling  leaves,  the 
subtle  magical  lure  of  Spring's  annual  awakening.  The  exquisite 
song  of  the  stars,  the  haunting  music  of  running  waters,  the  mys- 
terious tongue  of  boughs  shaken  by  the  wind,  were  wine  to  their 
veins.  They  talked  to  the  joyous  birds,  to  the  frisking  rabbits,  and 
even  to  the  shy  fishes,  as  though  they  were  their  brothers,  sisters 
and  lovers.  Strangely  enough,  these  literary  men  eliminated  all  ref- 
erences to  supernatural  agencies,  found  in  the  classical  texts.  The 
tales  became  Irish  sagas,  in  spirit  and  in  truth,  with  the  foreign 
names  alone  standing  for  their  national  heroes.  Like  all  peoples 
who  have  passed  through  seas  of  sorrow,  through  "the  seven 
waves  of  tribulation!"  they  abounded  in  mercy.  Tenderness  and 
Chivalry,  quite  unknown  to  the  classical  originals,  are  commingled, 
with  the  texture  of  the  tales  whenev^er  possible.  But  the  most  re- 
markable fact  lies  in  the  emergence  of  the  Love  Story,  pure  and 
simple.  This  form  of  narrative  is  one  of  the  glories  of  early 
Irish  literature,  wherein  feminine  influence  sheds  a  glow  of  sweet- 
ness and  dignity,  of  benignity,  chastity  and  refinement.  From  Eng- 
lish literature  the  Irish  made  many  notable  translations.  Thus  Fin- 
gin  O'Mahony,  "a  wise  man  skilled  in  Latin,  English  and  Irish," 
gave  us  a  fine  interpretation  of  Sir  John  Maundeville's  "Travels" 
(1475)-  "Guy  of  Warwick,"  "Bevis  of  Hampton,"  and  Turpin's 
"Chronicles"  are  among  the  present  known  translations,  which 
have  escaped  the  ravages  of  time.  As  might  be  expected,  Spanish 
and  French  romances  were  turned  into  Irish  for  the  entertainment 
of  the  people.  The  extent  of  the  learning  of  these  days  is  known, 
in  small  part  only,  to  archivists.  It  awaits  generations  of  Irish 
and  Scottish  scholars  to  glean,  garner  and  elucidate,  so  that  the 
ordinary  student  may  realise  its  depth,  comprehensiveness  and 
grandeur. 

In  the  knowledge  of  Astronomy  mediaeval  Ireland  was  in  ad- 
vance of  most  European  lands.  All  the  greater  Lords  of  the  Gaels 
and  Sean  Ghalls  had  their  official  astronomers.  It  was  but  natural 
that  a  nation  of  rovers  and  travellers  should  have  maintained  a 
sound  standard  of  geographical  learning  in  their  schools.     In  med- 


348  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

icine,  Europe  could  teach  the  Gaels  but  little.  The  King  of  Eng- 
land had  not  better  pharmaceutical  lore  or  more  adept  surgical 
skill  at  his  command  than  the  O'Briens  in  Munster  or  The  Mac- 
Cailim  Mor  in  the  Western  Isles  of  Scotland.  Only  a  very  tiny 
portion  of  a  world  of  medical  Gaelic  MSS.  has  been  edited  and 
translated  by  experts.  An  O'Shiel,  clan  doctor  to  O'Neill,  ban- 
ished from  Ulster  into  the  Low  Countries  by  the  cruel  hand  of  per- 
secution, becomes  at  the  Court  of  Brussels  European-famed,  there- 
by justifying  the  Four  Masters'  epithet,  "The  Eagle  of  Physicians." 
The  contemporary  Spaniards  and  Portuguese  praised  the  skill  and 
acquirements  of  the  medical  Doctors  of  Gaeldom.  It  is  worthy 
of  remembrance  that  Lionel,  Duke  of  Clarence,  brother  to  Edward 
III,  King  of  England,  and  promulgator  of  the  Statute  of  Kilkenny, 
employed  none  but  Irish  physicians  for  himself  and  his  court.  In 
science,  in  architecture,  in  the  changing  fashions  of  the  goldsmiths' 
art,  we  see  how  the  Irish  were  influenced  by  the  skill  and  the  refine- 
ment of  the  European  Continent. 

The  Irish  Brehon  Law  Code  goes  back  to  a  much  earlier  epoch 
than  the  days  of  St.  Patrick.  Its  interpreters  were  deeply  rever- 
enced by  the  Irish  people  because  of  their  even-handed  justice. 
There  is  not  a  single  instance  in  recorded  history  of  a  brehon  (a 
Gaehc  judge)  accepting  a  bribe,  or  being  deflected  a  hair's  breadth 
from  the  dictates  of  equity  through  personal  bias  or  family  inter- 
ests. The  refined  attention  of  Gaelic  law  to  the  minutise  of  the 
rights  of  property  has  won  praise  from  its  bitterest  foes.  Every 
chieftain  had  his  ov/n  Brehon  "to  decide  the  causes  of  that  coun- 
try." "Three  doors,"  declared  the  Irish,  "through  which  truth  is 
recognised:  a  patient  answer,  a  firm  pleading,  appealing  to  wit- 
nesses. Three  glories  of  a  gathering:  a  judge  without  perturba- 
tion, a  decision  without  reviling,  terms  agreed  upon  without  fraud." 
English  officials  exhausted  the  vocabulary  of  abuse  in  condemna- 
tion of  the  Brehon  Law,  "hateful  alike  to  God  and  Man,"  as  they 
said.  Yet  they  were  amazed  how  cheerfully,  how  uprightly,  the 
Gaels  obeyed  its  decisions.  Even  their  traducer.  Sir  John  Davies, 
was  fain  to  pay  this  tribute:  "There  is  no  people  under  the  sun 
that  doth  love  equal  and  indifferent  (impartial)  justice  better  than 
the  Irish,  or  will  rest  better  satisfied  with  the  execution  thereof, 
although  it  be  against  themselves,  as  they  may  have  the  protection 
and  benefit  of  the  law  upon  which  just  cause  they  do  desire  it." 
Chief  Baron  Finglas  has  left  the  valuable  testimony  that  his  coun- 
trymen, who  were  loudest  in  jibing  at  the  Irish  law,  did  not  obey 
their  own  laws.  "Yet  divers  Irishmen  doth  observe  and  keep  such 
laws  which  they  make  upon  hills  in  their  country,  firm  and  stable. 


LEARNING  IN  MEDI/EVAL  IRELAND  349 

without  breaking  them  for  any  fear  of  favour."  Let  another  Eng- 
lish official  give  just  judgment.  Payne  says  Gaelic  government  was 
"done  with  such  wisdom,  equity,  and  justice  as  to  be  worthy  of  all 
praise."  "For  I  myself,"  he  continues,  "have  seen  in  several  places 
within  their  jurisdiction  well  nearly  twenty  cases  decided  at  one  sit- 
ting, with  such  indifference  (impartiality)  that  for  the  most  part 
both  plaintiff  and  defendant  hath  departed  contented."  This  bal- 
anced justice  displeased  such  of  his  countrymen  as  "live  by  blood," 
hence  "they  utterly  mislike  this  or  any  other  good  thing  that  the 
poor  Irish  man  doth."  "The  Irish  keep  their  promise  faithfully 
and  are  more  desirous  of  peace  than  the  English;  nothing  is  more 
pleasing  to  them  than  good  justice." 

The  Irish  brehons  were  men  of  deep  learning,  of  wide  influence 
and  of  riches.  Three  signs  marked  their  abodes,  so  said  the  peo- 
ple, "wisdom,  information,  intellect."  In  the  Annals  we  read  of 
many  of  them  being  professors  of  new  and  old  laws,  Civil  and 
Canon  law. 

If  the  English  hated  Brehon  laws,  the  Irish  had  comedies,  which 
were  played  in  the  open  air,  burlesquing  English  law  and  its 
judges, 

A  contemporary  author  (1351)  gives  a  vivid  and  joyous  picture 
of  the  intellectual  gatherings  in  mediaeval  Ireland,  wherein  clan 
feuds  and  distinctions  were  forgotten  and  the  spirit  of  a  common 
nationality  supplanted  the  passion  of  war  by  the  nobler  craving 
for  peace.  Liam  O'Kelly,  Lord  of  Hy-Many  in  Connacht,  in  that 
year  invited  all  that  was  best  in  the  mind  and  the  hand  of  Gaeldom, 
as  well  as  the  professors  of  fun  and  merriment,  to  his  castle.  For 
it  was  the  lofty  privilege  of  lords,  chieftains  and  of  the  wealthy, 
to  foster  such  assemblies.  "The  company  that  read  all  books,  they 
of  the  Church  and  of  the  poets  both:  such  of  these  as  shall  be  per- 
fect in  knowledge,  forsake  not  thou  their  intimacy  ever" — such 
was  the  admonition  given  to  their  rulers  by  the  people.  "The 
chroniclers  of  comely  Ireland,"  says  our  authority,  "it  is  a  gather- 
ing of  a  mighty  host,  the  company  is  in  the  town;  where  is  the  street 
of  the  chroniclers?" 

O'Kelly,  chief  poet,  in  a  fine  description  of  the  gathering,  com- 
pared the  streets  of  tents  that  lodged  the  learned  to  the  letters  in 
a  manuscript,  and  his  princess'  banner-decked  castle  to  the  illumi- 
nated capital  letter.^ 

1  "The  fair,  generous-hearted  host  provides  another  spacious  avenue  of  white 
houses  for  the  bardic  companies  and  the  jugglers.  Such  is  the  arrangement  of 
them,  ample  avenues  between,  even  as  letters  in  their  lines.  Each  thread,  bare. 
smooth,  straight,  firm,  is  contained  within  two  threads  of  smooth,  conical-roofed 
houses.'   The  ridge  of  the  bright  furrowed  slope  is  a  plain  lined  with  houses. 


3SO  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

Nearly  a  century  later  the  lofty-souled  Mairgret  O' Carroll, 
princess  of  Offaly,  presided  over  another  such  gathering.  "She  was 
the  only  woman,"  narrate  the  Annalists,  "that  made  the  most  of  re- 
pairing the  highways  and  creating  bridges,  churches  and  Mass 
books,  and  of  all  manner  of  things  profitable  to  serve  God  and  her 
soul,  and,  while  the  world  stands,  her  many  gifts  to  the  Irish  and 
Scottish  nations  shall  never  be  numbered." 

"It  is  she,"  runs  the  ancient  account,  "that  twice  in  one  year  pro- 
claimed to  and  commonly  invited  (i.e.,  in  the  dark  days  of  the  year, 
to  wit  on  the  feast  day  of  Da  Sinchell — 26th  March — in  Killachy)  all 
persons,  both  Irish  and  Scottish,  to  two  general  feasts  of  bestowing 
both  meat  and  moneys,  with  all  manner  of  gifts,  whereunto  gathered 
to  receive  the  gifts  the  matter  of  2,700  persons,  besides  gamesters 
and  poor  men,  as  it  was  recorded  in  a  Roll  to  that  purpose,  and  that 
accompt  was  made  thus,  ut  vidimns — viz.,  the  chief  kins  of  each 
family  of  the  learned  Irish  was  by  Gilla-na-naemh  MacEgan's  hand, 
the  chief  judge  to  O'Conor,  written  in  the  roll,  and  his  adherents 
and  kinsmen,  so  that  the  aforesaid  number  of  2,700  was  listed  in 
that  Roll  with  the  Arts  of  Dan,  or  poetry.  Music  and  Antiquity. 
And  Maelin  O'Maelconry,  one  of  the  chief  learned  of  Connacht, 
was  the  first  written  in  that  Roll,  and  first  paid  and  dieted,  or  set 
to  supper,  and  those  of  his  name  after  him  and  so  forth,  every  one 
as  he  was  paid  he  was  written  in  that  Roll,  for  fear  of  mistake,  and 
set  down  to  eat  afterwards.  And  Margaret,  on  the  steps  of  the 
great  church  of  Da  Sinchell,  clad  in  cloth  of  gold,  her  dearest  friends 
about  her,  her  clergy  and  Judges  too.  Calvagh  (her  husband)  him- 
self on  horseback  by  the  Church's  outward  side,  to  the  end  that  all 
things  might  be  done  orderly,  and  each  one  served  successively.  And 
first  of  all  she  gave  two  chalices  of  gold  as. offerings  that  day  on  the 
Altar  to  God  Almighty,  and  she  also  caused  to  nurse  or  foster  two 
young  orphans.  But  so  it  was,  we  never  saw  nor  heard  neither  the 
like  of  that  day  nor  comparable  to  its  glory  and  solace.     And  she  gave 

"CKelly's  castle,  as  it  were,  a  capital  letter,  a  star-like  mass  of  stone,  its  outer 
smoothness  like  vellum — a  castle  which  was  the  standard  of  a  mighty  chieftain; 
bright  is  the  stone  thereof,  ruddy  its  colour.  The  work  is  a  triumph  of  art.  There 
is  much  artistic  iron-work  upon  the  shining  timber.  On  the  smooth  part  of  each 
brown  oaken  beam  workmen  are  carving  animal  figures. 

"The  bardic  companies  of  pheasant-meadowed  Fola  (Ireland)  and  those  of 
Scotland — a  distant  journey — will  be  acquainted  with  one  another  after  arriving  in 
O'Kelly's   lofty   stone   castle. 

"Herein  will  come  the  seven  grades  who  form  the  shape  of  genuine  poetry; 
the  seven  true  orders  of  poets.  ... 

"Men  coming  to  the  son  of  Donncliadh  from  the  north  no  less  from  the  south, 
an  assembly  of  scholars :  a  billeting  from  west  and  east.  ... 

"There  will  be  jurists  of  weighty  decisions,  wizards;  the  writers  of  Ireland, 
those  wlio  compose  the  battle  rolls,  will  be  in  his  dwelling. 

"The  musicians  of  Ireland — vast  the  flock — the  followers  of  every  craft  in 
general,  the  flood  of  companies  side  by  side — the  tryst  of  all  is  to  one  house." 


LEARNING  IN  MEDIAEVAL  IRELAND  351 

the  second  inviting  (1443)  proclamation  (to  every  one  that  came 
not  that  day)  on  the  feast  day  of  the  Assumption  of  our  Blessed 
Lady  Mary  in  harvest,  at  or  in  the  Rath-lmajn,  and  so  we  have 
been  informied  that  that  second  day  in  Rath-lmayn  was  nothing  in- 
ferior to  the  first  day." 

In  state-craft  and  in  peace-making  she  was  equally  distinguished. 
Her  sanctity  became  proverbial.  Like  all  Irish  women  of  noble 
repute  she  led  the  men  folk  with  the  subtle  liens  of  purity  and  of 
prayer — led  them  so  surely  and  so  unobtrusively  that  they  believed 
they  went  forward  of  their  own  free  will.  She  announced  her  in- 
tention of  visiting  the  shrine  of  St.  James  of  Campostella  in  fair 
Spain  and  forthwith  a  big  gathering  of  warriors,  hardened  war- 
dogs  in  holy  Ireland's  cause,  led  by  MacGeoghagan,  wished  to  ac- 
company her  (1445).  They  went  together.  The  flood  of  Irish 
pilgrims  to  their  own  Saints'  shrines  as  well  as  to  the  Holy  Land,  to 
Rome,  to  St.  James  of  Campostella,  to  the  tomb  of  Thomas  a 
Becket  at  Canterbury,  went  on  unceasingly  through  the  Middle 
Ages.  These  pilgrimages  need  a  modern  historian — the  material  is 
by  no  means  scanty.  When  Mairgret  paid  the  debt  of  mortality 
(1451)  the  Annalists  wrote:  "A  gracious  year  this  year  was, 
though  the  glory  and  solace  of  the  Irish  was  set  but  the  glory  of 
heaven  was  amplified  and  extolled  therein."  "The  best  woman  of 
her  time  in  Ireland" — such  was  the  Irish  verdict  on  this  lofty  and 
magnanimous  soul.  "God's  blessing,  the  blessing  of  all  saints  and 
every  other  blessing  from  Jerusalem  to  Inis  Gluair  be  on  her  going 
to  Heaven,  and  blessed  be  he  that  will  read  and  hear  this  for  bless- 
ing her  soul." 

Her  daughter  Finola — "the  most  beautiful  and  stately,  the  most 
renowned  and  illustrious  of  her  time,  her  own  mother  alone  ex- 
cepted," blessed  with  "the  blessing  of  guests  and  strangers,  of  poets 
and  philosophers" — married  O'Donnell,  Lord  of  Tir-Chonnail. 
When  O'Neill,  aided  by  MacDonnell  and  his  gall-oglach,  invaded 
her  territory,  she  "after  the  fashion  of  the  strong-hearted  and  in- 
dependent women  of  Ireland,"  met  them  at  Inishowen,  and  "made 
peace  without  leave  from  O'Donnell."  Finola,  "the  fairest  and 
most  famous  woman  in  Ireland  beside  her  own  mother,"  after  the 
death  of  O'Donnell  in  an  English  prison,  married  the  golden-haired 
Hugh  O'Neill,  "who  was  thought  to  be  King  of  Ireland,"  "the  most 
renowned,  hospitable  and  valorous  of  the  princes  of  his  time,  and 
who  had  planted  more  of  the  English  in  despite  of  them  than  any 
other  man  of  his  day."  He  died  on  Spy-Wednesday  (1444)  "and 
we  never  heard  since  Christ  was  betrayed  on  such  a  day,  of  a  better 


352  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

man."  Three  years  later  Finola,  "renouncing  all  worldly  vanity, 
betook  herself  into  the  austere  devout  life  in  the  monastery  of  Kil- 
leigh;  and  the  blessing  of  guests  and  strangers,  and  poor  and  rich, 
and  both  of  poet-philosophers  and  archi-poet-philosophers  be  on  her 
in  that  life." 

In  history  Ireland's  fame  stands  high.  She  was  justly  styled  a 
"Nation  of  Annahsts."  Each  sept,  each  province,  had  its  own 
genealogist  and  chronicler  whose  business  it  was  to  record  the  deeds 
of  the  clan  and  its  princes,  and  the  deaths  of  its  leading  personages, 
lay  and  ecclesiastical.  Truth  and  accuracy  were  regarded  as  of 
paramount  importance,  "To  conceal  the  Truth  of  History,"  ran 
one  saying,  "is  the  blackest  of  infamies."  The  scribes  travelled 
throughout  the  whole  country  to  verify  their  references  and  their 
facts.  The  Philosophy  of  History  was  unknown  in  these  ages. 
Many  of  the  entries  in  the  Annals  are  aggravatingly  brief  and  bald. 
But  as  the  poets  celebrated  in  ample  verse  the  fame  and  exploits  of 
the  popular  heroes  and  heroines,  the  chronicler  must  have  believed 
that  brevity  was  the  soul  of  discretion.  The  course  of  study  the 
aspiring  recorders  underwent  was  long,  arduous  and  specialised. 
They  were  trained  in  the  bardic  schools  or  under  some  well-known 
tutor.  They  handed  on  from  age  to  age  the  traditions  of  their  sept. 
The  office  of  scribe  and  genealogist  was  usually  continued  In  certain 
families,  the  son  succeeding  his  father,  as  a  matter  of  course.  The 
Annalists  were  held  in  the  highest  esteem,  ranking  next  to  the  head 
of  the  clan;  they  fed  at  his  table  and  were  supported  by  his  bounty. 
No  Important  public  business  was  conducted  without  their  presence 
and  their  directing  influence.  The  greater  portion  of  the  existing 
annals  have  been  the  resultant  of  the  Revival  of  the  fourteenth  and 
fifteenth  centuries. 


CHAPTER  XL 

THE  GERALDINES 

The  history  of  the  Gaelicised  Fitzgeralds  (the  Geraldines)  is  in  a 
sense,  the  history  of  the  fortunes  of  Southern  Ireland  for  an  ex- 
tensive period.  The  poet  says,  "They  channelled  deep  old  Ire- 
land's heart  by  constancy  and  worth."  ^  In  Desmond,  South  Mun- 
ster,  and  the  lands  adjoining,  they  ruled  as  absolute  monarchs  over  a 
hundred  miles  of  territory. 

"They  made  barons  and  knights,"  records  Sir  John  Davies,  "did 
exercise  high  justice  on  all  points  within  their  territories;  erected 
courts  for  criminal  and  civil  cases,  and  for  their  revenues,  in  the  same 
form  as  the  King's  courts  were  established  at  Dublin ;  made  their 
own  judges,  seneschals,  sheriffs,  coroners  and  escheators;  so  the  King's 
writ  did  not  run  in  those  counties.  .  .  .  These  great  undertakers 
were  not  tied  to  any  form  of  planatation,  but  all  was  left  to  their 

1  While  our  scholarly  contributor,  "Sean  Ghall,"  is  permitted  to  chaunt  the 
paean  of  the  very  brave  Geraldines  in  these  pages,  it  is  at  the  same  time  proper  to 
remind  readers  that  though  they  were  with  fair  thoroughness  Gaelicised  (both  in 
manners  and  in  blood)  these  usurpers  always  retained,  in  their  subconsciousness, 
memory  of  the  fact  that  it  was  England  who  had  placed  them  in  the  seat  of  the 
displaced  Gael.  And  so  long  as  England  properly  respected  their  sovereign  rights 
in  their  dominion — which  should  not  be  theirs — they  were  in  turn  willing  to  respect 
England's  suzerainty  over  Ireland  in  general — and  even  act  as  her  Deputies. 
It  is  true  that,  openly  or  secretly,  they  hated  England  with  a  holy  hate — England 
and  the  later  English.  And  they  hated  English  tryanny  to  the  extent  of  becom- 
ing chronic  rebels  against  England— even  when  they  were  nominally  serving  her. 
It  was  their  hatred  of  England,  and  resentment  of  English  interference,  rather  than 
the  higher  principle  of  Ireland's  nationality,  that  kept  them  in  rebellion. 

True,  the  real  Irish  chieftains  had,  at  times,  diplomatically  pretended  to  re- 
sign the  principle  of  Irish  nationality ;  but  with  them  it  was  always  pretence — 
shameful  pretence  to  be  sure.  The  principle,  for  all  that,  was  kept  warm  in  their 
hearts — and  as  soon  as  occasion  presented  itself,  blossomed  vigorously  forth  again. 

The  Geraldines  were  the  cream  of  the  scan-Ghall.  They  were  as  good  as  could 
be  expected.  But  no  better.  When  O'Neill  was  marching  to  Kinsale  he  asked 
who  owned  a  castle  that  took  his  attention  in  passing — and  when  told  that  the 
owner's  name  was  Barry,  he  heartily  cursed  him.  "But,"  interrupted  his  informant, 
"he's  a  Catholic  whose  familj'  has  been  here  four  hundred  years."  "No  matter," 
retorted  O'Neill,  "I  hate  the  robber  as  though  he  came  yesterday."  And  indeed  till 
O'Neill's  day  (and  later)  there  was  far  more  than  a  grain  of  reason  behind  the 
exasperation  of  the  Gael.  It  was  not  till  newer  usurpers  robbed  them  of  that 
which  they  themselves  had  usurped  that  the  scan-Ghall  became  flawlessly  Irish. — 
S.  M. 

353 


354  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

discretion  and  pleasure,  and  although  they  builded  castles  and  made 
freeholders,  yet  there  were  no  tenures  or  services  reserved  to  the 
Crown,  but  the  lords  drew  all  respect  and  dependency  of  the  com- 
mon people  unto  themselves." 

The  Geraldines  of  Kildare  held  the  entire  county  of  Kildare, 
with  parts  of  Meath,  Dublin,  and  Carlow,  while  their  castles 
stretched  beyond  Strangford  Lough  on  the  coast  of  Down,  to  Adare, 
a  few  miles  from  the  town  of  Limerick.  They  had  their  own  fleet 
to  patrol  the  seas.  Intermarriages  with  the  great  houses  in  England 
and  with  Norman  and  Gaelic  families  in  Ireland  were,  at  first,  a 
settled  part  of  Geraldine  policy. 

When  they  tasted  of  the  pure  milk  of  Gaelicism  they  never  for- 
got its  savour,  so  they  became  kindly  Irish  of  the  Irish,  root  and 
branch.  Irish  culture  refined  the  Normans.  There  were  no 
scholars,  no  poets  or  authors,  among  the  first  invaders.  Yet  when 
Jenico  Savage,  the  descendant  of  the  warrior  who  preferred  "a 
castle  of  bones  to  a  castle  of  stones"  died  (1374),  the  Annalists 
lamented  that  the  learned  of  Ireland  "were  left  an  orphan  by  his 
death."  The  higher  refinement  of  native  civilisation  altered  the 
Normans'  very  nature.     Mrs.  J.  R.  Green  says: 

"There  remains  a  token  of  how  the  lords  of  Athenry  had  thrown 
themselves  into  Irish  life,  in  the  shrine  made  by  Thomas  de  Birming- 
ham (1374)  for  St.  Patrick's  tooth,  the  most  venerated  relic  in 
Connacht — a  shrine  of  silver,  decorated  with  raised  figures  in  sil- 
ver and  settings  of  crystals,  coloured  glass,  and  amber  with  spiral 
and  interlaced  work  of  Celtic  art.  Nugents  and  Cusacks  and  Eng- 
lishes, and  other  foreign  names,  were  entered  on  the  roll  of  Irish 
poets.  In  the  ardour  of  Irish  studies  a  Fitzgerald,  even  a  Butler, 
was  not  behind  a  MacCarthy  or  an  O'Sullivan.  But  it  is  to  the 
Geraldines  we  must  look  for  the  highest  union  of  the  culture  of 
(Norman)  England  and  Ireland.  By  a  fine  custom  the  Irish  chiefs, 
'heroes  who  reject  not  men  of  learning,'  were  in  their  own  houses 
'the  sheltering  tree  of  the  learned,'  and  of  the  whole  countryside. 
When  a  noble  made  a  set  feast  or  'ushering'  there  flocked  to  it  all 
the  retainers  and  many  a  visitor,  the  mighty  and  the  needy — a  gay 
and  free  democracy  of  hearers  and  critics,  with  *a  welcom.e  for  every 
first-rate  and  free-hearted  man  that  is  refined  and  intelligent,  affable 
and  hilarious.'  " 

The  Geraldines  afford  the  most  numerous  instances  of  mere  men 
of  blood,  apostles  of  the  sword,  turning,  under  the  Influence  of 
Gaeldom,  Into  gentle  sages  and  wise  scholars.  Thus,  Gerald  the 
Rhymer,"  as  his  subjects  named  him,  fourth  Earl  of  Desmond 


THE  GERALDINES  355 

(1359-98),  was  known  as  "the  Poet."  His  learning  was  so  deep 
and  his  acquirements  so  wide,  that  he  was  regarded  as  a  magician. 
His  son,  James,  was  fostered  and  reared  by  the  O'Briens  of 
Thomond,  the  Statute  of  Kilkenny  notwithstanding.  This  Fitz- 
gerald is  described  as  a  nobleman  of  wonderful  bounty,  mirth, 
cheerfulness  in  conversation,  charitable  in  his  deeds,  easy  of  access, 
a  witty  and  ingenious  composer  of  Irish  poetry,  a  learned  and  pro- 
found chronicler.  He  excelled  all  the  I'.nglish  and  many  of  the 
Irish  in  the  knowledge  of  the  Irish  language,  poetry  and  history, 
and  other  learning.  This  Earl  lived  long  in  Irish  legendary  lore. 
Once  in  every  seven  years  he  is  said  to  revisit  his  Castle  of  Gur, 
near  Limerick. 

The  eighth  Earl  of  Desmond  was  the  flower  of  the  Southern 
Geraldine  stock.  The  Irish  people  have  taken  this  Thomas  Fitz- 
gerald to  their  hearts,  and  enshrined  him  there  as  a  "Martyr  of 
Christ."  He  was  the  first  of  a  long  and  fine  line  of  Sean  Ghalls  to 
be  martyred  in  the  cause  of  Irish  freedom.  He  was  an  aiiable, 
eloquent,  hospitable  man;  kind  and  munificent  to  the  poets  and  anti- 
quaries of  the  Irish  race.  "Educate  that  you  may  be  free."  Acting 
on  this  maxim  Earl  Thomas  founded  the  famous  College  of  St. 
Mary  at  Youghal  (1464).  The  foreigners  had  destroyed  the 
glorious  University  of  Armagh  (i  133-1202)  with  its  3,000  scholars 
and  its  famed  tutors,  presided  over  by  Florence  O'Gorman,  who 
spent  over  a  generation  in  acquiring  knowledge  in  the  universities 
of  France  and  England.  Armagh  had  been  regarded  as  the  Na- 
tional University  for  all  the  "Irish  and  Scots,"  and  Rury  O'Conor, 
the  High  King  of  Ireland,  had  given  to  it  the  first  (1169)  an- 
nual grant  to  maintain  professors  for  the  whole  of  the  Irish  race 
— in  Scotland  as  well  as  Ireland.  Thomas  of  Desmond  tried  to  re- 
establish a  National  University,  and  for  that  purpose  had  an  Act  of 
Parliament  passed  at  Drogheda  (1466).  By  precept  and  by  prac- 
tice he  had  endeavoured  to  unify  the  two  races  in  Ireland.  He  was 
a  promoter  and  a  patron  of  trade  and  commerce  between  Ireland 
and  the  Continent.  The  English  hated  him  for  such  fruitful  and 
healing  activities — "Enormities"  they  called  them.  His  marriage 
with  an  Irish  lady,  in  despite  of  the  Statute  of  Kilkenny,  was  a 
crowning  infamy.  "Who  dare  say  to  Geraldine,  'Thy  Irish  wife 
discard'?"  For  Thomas  Desmond,  when  he  was  murdered  in 
Drogheda  by  the  Earl  of  Worcester,  afterwards  known  as  "The 
Butcher,"  all  Ireland  went  into  the  deepest  mourning.^ 

2  For  his  cultured  daughter  Katherine,  wife  of  MacCarthy  Reagh  (1450-1500), 
the  famous  Book  of  Lismore  was  made  from  the  now  lost  Book  of  Monasterboice. 


356  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

Gerald,  the  eighth  Earl  of  Kildare  (1477-15  13),  was  named  by 
Ireland  "Gerait  Mor" — Gerald  the  Great.  He  had  the  fine  stature, 
the  manly  beauty  and  goodly  presence  of  his  race;  his  liberality  and 
his  merciful  deeds  passed  current  as  household  words.  He  was  a 
man  of  strict  piety.  His  mild  just  government  drew  the  hearts  of 
his  people  to  him  in  passionate  devotedness.  During  the  fifty  years 
which  preceded  the  Reformation,  the  office  of  Lord  Deputy  of  Ire- 
land, was  filled,  with  a  few  broken  intervals,  by  this  Fitzgerald  and 
by  his  son.  They  pursued  a  National  policy  and  so  incurred  the 
hatred  of  the  permanent  English  officials. 

By  liens  of  blood-relationship  he  obtained  great  influence 
amongst  the  great  Irish  houses,  Old  and  New.  So  powerful  had  he 
become  that  he  retained  the  deputy-governorship  of  Ireland  in 
despite  of  King  Edward  IV  and  his  nominee. 

He  ruled  it  wisely  and  justly.  A  knight  he  was  in  valour — 
princely  and  religious  in  his  word  and  judgments.  His  daughters, 
Eleanor  and  Margaret,  were  unquestionably  two  of  the  most  re- 
markable women  of  their  age  and  country.  In  vain  endeavour  to 
join  in  amity  the  rival  houses  of  Kildare  and  Ormond  (Geraldine 
and  Butler)  the  Earl  married  Margaret  to  Piers  Butler,  Earl  of 
Ormond.  She  founded  the  famous  school  of  Kilkenny.  Ormond 
was  ably  seconded  by  her  in  his  efforts  to  promote  more  advanced 
methods  of  agriculture.  Whilst  Sir  Piers  is  forgotten,  "Magheen" 
or  "Little  Margaret"  Fitzgerald's  deeds  are  recounted  beside  the 
fire  of  many  a  peasant's  cot  in  the  Kilkenny  of  to-day. 

Gerait  Og,  "Gerald  the  Younger,"  ninth  Earl  of  Kildare  ( 1487- 
1534),  although  educated  in  England  was  even  more  Irish  than 
his  father.  He  continued  the  policy  of  intermarriage  with  the 
Irish,  and  so  consolidated  the  power  of  his  house.  Maynooth, 
under  him,  was  one  of  the  richest  earls'  houses  of  that  time.  "His 
whole  policy  was  union  in  his  county,  and  Ireland  for  the  Irish." 
He  was  first  appointed  Lord  Deputy  by  his  cousin,  Henry  VIII,  in 
1 5 13.  After  seven  years'  rule  he  was  removed,  charged  by  the 
English  with  "seditious  practices,  conspiracies,  and  subtle  drifts." 
The  people  were  gladdened  when  a  few  years  later  he  re-assumed 
the  post. 

His  cousin,  the  Earl  of  Desmond,  had  entered  Into  a  solemn 
league  and  covenant  with  Francis  I,  King  of  France  (1523),  to 
drive  the  English  out  of  Ireland,  whilst  Scotland  was  to  render 
assistance  to  the  cause  by  Invading  England.  But  the  heart  of  the 
leader  of  the  Scottish  army,  the  Duke  of  Albany,  failed  him  at  the 
last  moment  and  the  gallant  Scots  dejectedly  turned  homewards 
(20th  May,   1525).     All  Ireland's  hopes  were  again  shattered. 


THE  GERALDINES  357 

Kildare  was  summoned  (1526)  to  England  by  Cardinal  Wolscy  to 
answer  the  charge  of  complicity  in  the  plot.     His  brilliant  wit,  subtle 
brain  and  eloquent  tongue  alone  saved  his  head   from  the  block. 
Wolsey  denounced  Kildare  as  a  traitor.      In  his  six  years'  deten- 
tion in  the  Tower  of  London,   Kildare's  Irish   friends  convinced 
Henry  VIII   that  Gerald's  release  was  the  most  politic  course, 
for  the  moment.      So  he  was  re-instated   (1532).     Henry's  plans 
for  the  pulling  down  of  the  House  of  Kildare  and  the  extermina- 
tion of  the  Desmonds  were  not  yet  ripe.     So,  until  his  final  im- 
prisonment and   death,   Gerald   Og  continued  to   rule   as   a   God- 
fearing, just,  wise  man.     When  he  took  the  ordnance   from  the 
royal  castles  and  placed  them  in  his  own  it  was  a  portent  to  the 
country  that  he  had  secretly  thrown  in  his  lot  with  Desmond,  who 
had  not  given  up  the  hope  of  obtaining  French,  Scottish  and  Spanish 
aid.      He  was  of  a  deep  piety.      His  confidence  in  the  goodness  and 
mercy  of  God  was  unbounded.    As  a  patron  of  learning  he  endowed 
a  college  on  the  lands  assigned  by  his  father  for  that  purpose.    This 
building  was  erected  in   15 18  "in  a  most  beautiful  form,"  it  was 
called  "The  College  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary  of  Maynooth." 
It  was  razed  with  the  ground  when  the  beneficent  Geraldine's  rule 
was  ended   (1538).     O'Mulconry  was  his  oilav,  "man  full  of  the 
grace  of  God  and  of  learning."     Gerald  had  "The  Red  Book  of 
Kildare,"  now^  in  the  British  Museum,  compiled  for  him.      Philip 
Flattesbury,  his  secretary,  likewise  drew  up  "divers  chronicles  of 
Ireland."    He  possessed  an  excellent  library  of  Latin,  Irish,  French 
and  English  books — 122  in  all.     Almost  all  the  classics  were  in- 
cluded in  this  collection,  which  would  compare  favourably  with  the 
finest  private  library  in  any  English  nobleman's  castle.     Kildare  was 
a  man  of  culture,  and  was  well  read  not  only  in  the  ancients  but  also 
in   the   literature   of   his   day.      His   fame   w-as   European.      "His 
hospitality  is  to  this  day  rather  of  each  man  commended,  than  of 
any  man  followed." 

Such  a  man's  doom  was  certain.  The  Dublin  Castle  officials 
soon  made  up  a  bill  of  charges  against  his  Irish  rule,  and  Kildare 
found   himself  back  in   the  Tower  of  London   for  the  last  time 

(1534)- 

Before  his  departure  from  Dublin  he  appointed  as  vice-Deputy 
his  son,  a  boy  of  twenty,  the  famous  Silken  Thomas,  Disregarding 
his  father's  advice  to  be  guided  by  his  elders,  young  Thomas  fell 
an  easy  prey  to  the  veteran  English  intriguers  of  Dublin  Castle, 
who  had  been  secretly  mining  the  foundations  of  the  House  of  Kil- 
dare for  generations.  A  forged  letter  was  shown  round  in  ofl^cial 
circles  In  Dublin  alleging  that  the  Earl's  neck  "was  already  cut 


358  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

shorter"  in  the  Tower  of  London,  "as  his  issue  presently  should 
be."  Lord  Thomas,  "rash  and  headlong  and  assuming  himself  that 
the  knot  of  all  Ireland  was  twisted  under  his  girdle,"  having  con- 
sulted with  the  young  bloods,  inopportunely  raised  the  standard  of 
revolt — against  the  entreaties  of  all  the  wisest  heads.  His  enemies 
rejoiced;  his  well-wishers  were  in  despair.  On  nth  June,  1534, 
he  rode  through  Dublin,  attended  by  a  guard  of  140  horsemen  in 
coats  of  mail,  with  silken  fringes  on  their  helmets,  on  which  account 
he  became  known  as  "Silken  Thomas."  On  reaching  St.  Mary's 
Abbey  where  the  Council  of  State  was  assembled,  his  bard  chaunt- 
ing  the  ancient  glories  of  the  Geraldines  adding  fuel  to  his  ardour, 
Thomas  flung  the  Sword  of  State  "the  English  churls  among." 
"This  sword,"  he  declared,  "was  already  bathed  in  Geraldine  blood 
and  now  newly  whetted  in  hope  of  a  further  destruction.  I  am 
none  of  Henry's  Deputy.  I  am  his  foe.  I  have  more  mind  to  con- 
quer than  to  govern,  to  meet  him  in  the  field  than  to  serve  him  in 
office.** 

At  first  Lord  Thomas  swept  all  before  him.  Then  England 
poured  troops  lavishly  into  Ireland — accompanied  by  the  new  in- 
vention, the  cannon,  which  proved  the  young  leader's  undoing. 

The  impetuous  valour  of  Geraldine  and  his  skilful  leadership 
won  many  battles.  The  fall  of  Maynooth  Castle,  the  mightiest 
stronghold  in  the  land,  after  ten  days'  battering  with  "great  guns," 
was  heard  throughout  Ireland.  "Fooboon  on  the  foreign  grey 
gun"  cursed  the  Irish.  It  was  a  portent  that  Silken  Thomas's 
victories  would  avail  him  nothing.  The  eagerly  awaited  French 
army  arrived  not.  After  several  reverses  the  iron  tongue  of  the 
cannon  told  him  further  resistance  was  useless.  He  submitted  and 
was  sent  to  the  Tower  of  London — where  his  father  had  already 
died  of  a  broken  heart,  on  learning  of  Thomas's  insurrection.  Here 
the  young  "rebel"  was  treated  with  the  utmost  cruelty.  Finally,  he 
was  hanged,  drawn  and  quartered  at  Tyburn  (1537).  With  him 
perished  his  five  uncles,  the  half-brothers  of  his  father,  and  the 
near  kinsmen  of  Henry  VIII.  Three  of  these  nobles,  gentle, 
scholarly  men,  had  failed  to  aid  the  rebellion.  The  other  two 
having  actually  helped  to  suppress  it,  were,  in  requital  of  their  serv- 
ice to  England's  crown,  seized  at  a  banquet  to  which  they  had  been 
invited  by  the  English  Lord  Deputy.  But  the  troublesome  house 
of  Kildare  must  be  wiped  out  for  good.  Two  children,  however, 
escaped  from  the  butchery.  The  blotting  out  of  the  very  name, 
the  uprooting  of  the  seed  of  the  Leinster  Geraldines,  became  the 
policy  of  the  subsequent  three  years.  Whilst  Gerald,  a  boy  of  12 
years,  remained  free,  the  "extirpation"  of  the  race  was  incomplete. 


THE  GERALDINES  359 

Lady  Eleanor  Fitzgerald,  widow  of  MacCarthy  Reagh,  and 
aunt  of  the  orphan  Gerald,  had  learnt  with  grief  and  horror  of  the 
six  outraged  corpses  of  her  kinsmen  at  Tyburn.  She  had  seen  the 
deeds  of  the  English  soldiers  and  officials  in  the  Geraldine  country 
who  came  to  wean  the  people,  so  they  said,  "from  the  inordinate 
tyranny  of  their  Irish  lords"  and  "to  teach  them  the  sweets  of  civil 
English  order."  She  had  heard  the  wail  of  the  ravished  maidens, 
of  the  erstwhile  gentlefolk  lamenting  beside  heaps  of  ruins,  once 
stately  dwellinghouses;  she  saw  the  charred  harvest  fields,  the 
"slaughter  heaps"  of  youth  and  age.  The  churches  and  the  schools, 
the  abodes  of  the  men  of  culture  and  refinement,  had  gone  the  way 
of  the  cot  of  the  peasant.  Such  "sweets"  were  gall  and  wormwood 
to  her  compassionate  soul.  The  Act  of  Parliament  ( 1537)  decreed 
all  the  Geraldine  countries  to  be  forfeited  to  the  Crown.  Her 
nephew  Gerald  was  being  nursed  in  illness  by  his  sister.  Lady  Mary 
O'Conor,  wife  of  the  chieftain  of  Oftaly,  whilst  the  English  people 
held  the  confident  belief  that  the  House  of  Kildare  had  ceased  to 
be.  Through  this  Lady  Eleanor's  amazing  energy,  dauntless 
courage,  and  exquisite  tact,  all  the  great  families  were  united  in  a 
vast  confederacy  against  the  English  government.  Everywhere  lo- 
cal feuds  and  personal  enmities  were  sacrificed  on  the  altar  of  Na- 
tionality. All  Ireland,  Old  and  New,  Gael  and  Sean  Ghall,  took 
the  boy  under  its  protection.  In  spite  of  all  political  divisions  and 
tribal  distrusts,  Ireland  was  essentially  a  nation  to  the  seventeenth 
century :  one  in  soul  and  mind,  though  not  in  body — one  in  language 
and  in  literature,  one  in  manners  and  customs,  one  in  religion  and 
in'spiritual  feeling,  one  in  the  nobler  and  more  gentle  arts  of  human 
fellowship,  rooted  in  the  soil  of  sufferings,  kindred,  fosterage, 
marriage  and  death. ^ 

2  The  only  family  of  the  "Old  Foreigners"  the  Anglo-French-Norman,  to  be 
artificially  kept  outside  the  influence  of  Gaelicism,  was  the  Butlers  of  the  House 
of  Ormond.  The  Butlers  had  not  become  Gaelicised,  because  for  nearly  two  hun- 
dred years  its  wards  were  minors,  and  so  reared  and  trained  by  the  Kings  of 
England  as  Englishmen.  Their  policy  and  outlook  was  anti-Irish.  But  James 
Butler,  the  ninth  Earl,  broke  away  from  the  traditional  family  policy.  He,  the 
son  of  "Magheen"  Fitzgerald,  the  renowned  Countess  of  Ormond,  could  not  but 
regard  Ireland  as  his  first  love.  The  pervading  spirit  of  a  common  Irish  life  per- 
vaded him  as  it  had  filled  all  the  land  outside  official  Dublin.  Though  the  de- 
struction of  the  rival  House  of  Kildare  added  enormously  to  the  Ormond  estates, 
yet  Butler  was  horrified  at  the  Tyburn  butchery.  Hardened  soldier  though  he  was, 
Ormond  played  the  woman  openly,  "tears  pouring  down  his  cheeks"  when  he  pic- 
tured the  six  stark  Geraldine  corpses.  Intermarriage  with  the  Powers,  the  O'Briens, 
and  the  MacGillapatricks,  established  the  Butlers'  power.  By  an  alliance  with  a 
daughter  of  James,  eleventh  Earl  of  Desmond,  James  Butler  united  the  southern 
Geraldines  to  his  interests.  This  brought  down  upon  him  the  vengeance  of  Eng- 
land whose  policy  was  to  divide  and  conquer.  On  the  death  of  Desmond,  Ormond 
claimed  the  Earldom.  The  union  of  the  two  families  would  have  made  Butler 
ruler  of  almost  the  whole  of  Southern  Ireland.  Henry  VIII  took  up  Ormond's 
challenge.     At  a  supper  given  at  Limehouse,  London,  the  whole  of  Lord  Butler's 


36o  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

Through  her  marriage  with  the  scholarly  author,  wise  politician 
and  stout  warrior,  Manus  O'Donnell,  Lady  Eleanor  healed  an  age- 
long animosity  between  Tir-Eoghan  and  Tir-Chonaill.  The  news 
caused  consternation  at  Dublin  Castle  and  so  in  England.  "Never 
was  I  in  despair  of  Ireland  until  now,"  exclaimed  the  Lord  Deputy; 
another  official  added  that  their  trust  was  "by  the  aid  of  the  North 
of  Ireland  and  of  Scotland"  to  make  war.  O'Neill  and  O'Donnell 
"by  the  procurement  of  the  said  Eleanor"  had  taken  a  solemn  oath 
to  take  one  part  with  the  said  Gerald  against  the  Englishry 
(1538).  For  security  the  boy  was  conveyed  to  France,  via  the 
territory  of  O'Donnell.  And,  savage  at  being  robbed  of  his 
precious  prey,  Henry  VIII  sent  Lord  Leonard  Grey,  his  Deputy  of 
Ireland,  to  the  scaffold,  for  not  having  effected  Gerald's  capture. 

Lady  Eleanor  unified  the  whole  country.  The  French  king  and 
the  Emperor  Charles  V  promised  their  aid,  once  again,  and  Scot- 
land's weight  was  to  turn  the  balance  in  Ireland's  favour.  O'Neill 
was  to  be  proclaimed  High  King  at  Tara.  Once  again  foreign  aid 
was  illusory.  The  Earl  of  Desmond  began  by  the  invasion  of  the 
English  districts  of  Tipperary;  and  the  Northern  chieftains  "in- 
vaded the  Pale"  (1539).  Against  the  field  of  the  new  English 
artillery,  "the  great  grey  guns,"  they  had  no  adequate  defence,  so 
Irish  hopes  were  once  more  futile. 

But  hope  never  yet  died  in  the  Irish  breast.  The  name  of  the 
exiled  young  Gerald  Fitzgerald  became  a  source  of  inspiration  and 
of  hope  to  his  countrymen  at  home.  He  had  had  a  royal  recep- 
tion in  France,  in  the  Lowlands,  in  Italy  and  was  acclaimed  "King 
of  Ireland"  by  the  people  who  denounced  Henry  VIII  as  a  mere 
usurper.  He  was  followed  by  cheering  crowds  whenever  he  ap- 
peared in  public.  Kings  and  princes,  the  Emperor  Charles,  and 
the  Pope  vied  with  one  another  in  honouring  and  aiding  him. 
In  Italy  the  Bishop  of  Verona  and  of  Mantua  provided  him  with 
the  best  education  the  Peninsula  afforded.  The  Duke  of  Milan 
pensioned  him.  Cosmo  de  Medici  pensioned  him.  In  the  service 
of  the  Knights  of  Malta  he  fought  the  Turks.  He  afterwards 
became  Master  of  the  Horse  to  the  Grand  Duke  of  Tuscany. 

France  concluded  to  use  Gerald  in  uniting  Scotland  and  Ire- 
land. Lady  Eleanor  Fitzgerald  had  guaranteed  the  support  of  the 
MacCarthys'  land  of  Carbery;  the  O'Neills  and  O'Donnells  "who 
had  the  whole  North  hanging  on  their  sleeves,"  would  give  the 

retinue,  fifty,  sickened, •seventeen  dying  of  the  poison.  The  Earl  himself  was  car- 
ried to  Ely  House,  Holborn,  where  he  succumbed  after  some  days'  suffering.  Irish 
writers  blame  Henry  and  his  Deputy  for  this  atrocity.  Others  accuse  the  Earl 
of  Northumberland,  "a  rare  poisoner"   (1550). 


THE  GERALDINES  361 

French  a  glad  welcome.  Irish  ambassadors  were  passing  to  and 
fro  from  the  lands  of  the  Gael  and  Sean  Ghall  to  tlie  French  King. 
The  English  believed  that  there  would  be  a  universal  rising  as  soon 
as  the  French  and  Gerald  made  their  appearance.  Irish  monks  and 
friars  carried  the  fiery  cross  of  revolt  from  Malin  Head  to  Cape 
Clear — from  North  to  South.  A  large  French  fleet  had  assembled 
at  Brest,  and  15,000  veteran  soldiers  were  ready  to  embark. 

But,  at  the  last  moment,  the  patching  up  of  the  quarrel  between 
France  and  the  Empire  led  to  a  change  of  plans.  The  French  went 
direct  to  Scotland,  from  thence  intending  to  invade  Ireland.  The 
English,  wishing  the  beautiful  and  fascinating  child,  afterwards 
the  world-famed  Mary  Queen  of  Scots,  as  a  wife  for  Edward  VI,  to 
unite  the  two  countries,  sent  an  army  to  enforce  their  demand.  The 
armies  of  Scotland  and  England  met  at  Pinkie  (loth  Sept.,  1547). 
The  defeat  of  the  Scots  and  their  French  and  Irish  allies  was  the 
result  of  the  contest. 

In  Ireland,  however,  the  O'Donnells  and  15,000  Scots  kept  the 
flame  alight  in  the  North.  The  Geraldines  and  the  O'Conors  were 
ravaging  the  English  Pale.  The  Earl  of  Desmond  had  all  ready  to 
join  the  oft-expected  French.  It  was  at  this  juncture  that  French 
opinion  favoured  the  marriage  of  Gerald  Fitzgerald  with  Mary 
of  Scots.  English  agents  in  Scotland  reported  that  when  the  Ger- 
aldine  landed  at  Dumbarton  "Gerald  of  Kildare  should  marry  the 
Scottish  queen  and  array  all  Ireland  in  their  party  against  England." 
But  the  death  of  Francis  I  and  the  accession  of  Henry  II,  who 
wished  Mary  for  his  own  son,  altered  all  these  plans.  Scotland 
and  Ireland  found  themselves  but  pawns  on  the  Continental  chess- 
board. Realising  that  all  hope  of  freeing  Ireland  by  the  help  of 
foreign  princes  was  but  as  idle  wind,  Gerald,  at  the  instance  of  his 
aunt.  Lady  Eleanor,  made  his  submission  to  the  English  Queen  and 
was  restored  to  a  portion  of  his  lands  and  his  title  "legitimatised" 

(1554). 

Though,  even  "legitlmatised"  he  settled  down  to  become  the 
willing  centre  of  endless, — and  alas!  fruitless — "rebellious"  in- 
trigue. The  Irish  chieftains,  the  Scots,  the  French,  and  the  Spanish, 
plotted  for  Ireland's  freeing — ever  with  the  young  Geraldine  as 
the  hero  around  whom  the  hosts  should  rally. 


CHAPTER  XLI 

HENRY  VIIl'S  POLICIES 

From  the  beginning  of  his  reign  (15 15)  Henry  VIII  undertook 
to  destroy  the  basis  of  Irish  resistance.  With  this  object  in  view  he 
issued  "most  secret"  instructions  to  his  officials  to  capture  our  trade 
and  commerce,  by  every  subtle  device.  All  the  laws  against  Irish 
civilisation,  against  marriage,  fosterage  and  gossipred,  against  the 
use  of  native  literature  and  its  language,  against  every  phase  and 
aspect  of  National  life,  were  re-enacted.  By  a  Parliament  (May 
1536)^  composed  of  English  colonists  only,  and  convened  by  fraud, 
corruption,  and  terror,  Henry  was  acknowledged  as  Head  of 
Church  and  State;  and  the  Catholic  religion,  with  its  ritual  and 
teachings,,  declared  null  and  void,  "corrupt  for  ever."  Five  years 
later  the  same  body  proclaimed  Henry  "King  of  Ireland." 

"Irishmen,"  wrote  one  of  the  would-be  exterminators  in  the 
light  of  sad  later  experience,  "will  never  be  conquered  by  war.  They 
can  suffer  so  much  hardness  to  lie  in  the  field,  to  live  on  roots  and 
water  continually,  and  be  so  light,  ever  at  their  advantage  to  flee 
or  fight;  so  that  a  great  army  were  but  a  charge  in  vain  and  would 
make  victuals  dear.  .  .  .  The  Irishmen  have  pregnant  subtle 
wits,  eloquent  and  marvellous  natural  in  comynaunce.  They  must 
be  instructed  that  the  King  intendeth  not  to  exile,  banish,  or  destroy 
them,  but  would  be  content  that  every  one  of  them  should  enjoy 
his  possessions  taking*  the  same  of  the  king  .  .  .  and  become  his 
true  subjects,  obedient  to  his  laws,  forsaking  their  Irish  laws,  habits 
and  customs,  setting  their  children  to  learn  English"  (Cowley's 
Plan  for  the  Reformation  of  Ireland,   1541  STATE  PAPERS). 

The  Lord  Deputy,  St.  Leger,  preached  and  acted  on  this  Gospel. 
The  unfortunate  result  was  the  submission  of  O'Neill,  O'Donnell, 
O'Brien,  the  MacCarthy,  the  Burkes,  and  all  the  rules  of  the 
Irish,  Old  and  New.  They  went  through  the  form  of  acknowl- 
edging Henry  as  King  of  Ireland,  as  Head  of  Church  and  State  in 
Ireland,  and  promised  to  substitute  English  for  Brehon  law,  and 
English  manners,  and  customs  for  Irish.  "They  have  turned,  and 
sad  is  the  deed,  their  back  to  the  Inheritance  of  their  fathers." 

362 


HENRY  VlirS  POLICIES  363 

Yet  in  spite  of  "doinir  kncc-homage,  they  would  not  get  from  the 
King  of  England  for  Ireland  a  respite  from  misery.  There  is  not 
one  of  them  in  the  shape  of  a  man  in  Ireland  at  this  time.  O  mis- 
guided, withered  host,  say  henceforth  nothing  but  Fooboon!"  The 
people,  faithful  to  Ireland  in  woe  as  in  weal,  resented,  lamented, 
and  even  cursed  their  "diplomatic"  chiefs. 

The  fate  and  fortunes  of  any  one  of  the  compromisers  is  typical 
of  all.  Take -O'Neill  for  example.  When  Con  O'Neill,  Lord  of 
Tir-Eoghan,  submitted  to  Henry  VIII  at  Greenwich  (24th  Sept., 
1542),  he  renounced  the  title  "The  O'Neill,"  and  was  created  Earl 
of  Tyrone  iastcad.  A  sturdy  adventurer  "called  an  O'Neill," 
Mathew  Kelly,  the  son  of  a  Dundalk  blacksmith,  selected  by  the 
English  Government  to  disintegrate  Tir-Eoghan,  received  the^title 
of  Baron  of  Dungannon,  and  so  Con's  successor  by  feudal  law. 
O'Neill  then  acknov.dedged  Henry  as  Head  of  Church  and  State, 
and  undertook  to  substitute  English  for  Irish  civilisation.  All  the 
legal  incidents  of  feudalis-m  were  to  replace  those  of  the  Brehon 
law.  The  number  of  his  soldiers  was  to  be  determined  by  the  Lord 
Deputy,  whom  he  was  to  accompany  in  all  warlike  expeditions 
against  "rebels."  A  mansion  and  lands  in  the  Pale  were  to  be 
bestowed  upon  him,  when  he  attended  the  English  Parliament  in 
Dublin.  Though  "he  received  the  mocks  of  all  men"  for  his  con- 
version to  Anglicisation  he  tried  to  fulfil  his  side  of  the  shameful 
bargain.  When  Henry  II  of  France  and  the  Sovereign  of 
Scotland  sent  letters  and  ambassadors  to  O'Neill  inviting  him  to 
join  the  Catholic  League  against  England,  he  forwarded  the  letters 
to  London  as  a  proof  of  his  loyalty.  Yet  England  had  no  intention 
of  allowing  any  Irish  lord  to  rule  his  people  as  his  peers  in  England 
ruled  theirs.  Slowly  it  dawned  on  the  victimised  Con  that  her  real 
aim  was  the  seizure  of  his  lands  and  the  extermination  of  his  people. 
Nicholas  Bagenal,  who  had  fled  from  justice  for  man-killing  in 
England,  was  appointed  Marshal  of  the  North.  He  began  an  in- 
discriminate slaughter  of  O'Neill's  subjects,  burning  even  the  very 
grass,  killing  every  living  thing  on  four  legs,  destroying  habitations 
and  churches.  The  recreant  Con's  letters  of  protest  against  such 
barbarity  to  England's  King  and  the  Privy  Council,  were  returned 
unopened  or  disregarded.  The  "Baron  of  Dungannon"  was  main- 
tained against  him — "borne  up  by  the  chin"  by  the  English  Govern- 
ment. Daring  to  arrest  one  of  the  ravishers  of  his  country,  he  was 
imprisoned  in  Dublin  by  the  Governor  till  he  was  enforced  to  deliver 
the  plunderer  (1550).  When  he  performed  his  duty  of  visiting 
the  Deputy  in  the  Pale  he  was  told  by  that  humane  dignitary  were 
it  not  that  he  was  old  he  would  have  off  his  head  and  see  his  blood 


364  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

poured  hi  a  basin.  After  a  victory  to  which  O'Neill's  troops  con- 
tributed, he  provided  a  banquet  for  his  companion  in  arms,  the 
Lord  Deputy,  the  latter,  "leaving  the  banquet  unconsumed  for 
haste,"  at  Armagh  "did  imprison  the  said  Earl  O'Neill  and  took 
him  prisoner  to  Dublin,  and  sent  a  garrison  to  Armagh  and  to  Dun- 
gannon,  his  chief  manor,  since  which  time  the  country  was  im- 
poverished" (1552).  Vainly  did  he  try  to  obtain  a  reason  for  this 
treatment.  Con's  letters  describing  the  horrors  his  people  endured 
by  the  acts  of  English  soldiery,  whilst  he  was  "a  true  and  faithful 
subject  to  the  King's  Majesty"  make  bitter  reading. 

After  seventeen  years  as  an  English  Earl  Con  lay  on  his  dying 
bed,  a  broken,  dispirited  man,  despised  by  his  subjects.  He  called 
his  people  to  him  and  pronounced  malediction  on  all  his  descendants 
who  should  trust  in  English  faith  or  give  credence  to  English 
promises.  He  cursed  those  who  would  speak  the  English  tongue, 
"fo-r  language  bred  co-nfusion;"  who  built  houses  after  the  English 
fashion,  "to  be  beaten  out  by  the  hawk;"  who  grew  corn  in  the 
open,  unfortified  country,  "to  nourish  the  ravishers  and  destroyers." 

Yet  he  suffered  no  more  than  any  other  of  the  confiding 
chieftains  who  had  put  their  trust  in  English  faith,  in  its  policy  of 
*'Conciliation." 

Throughout  disillusioned  Ireland  the  fighting  men  deserted  the 
English-made  lords.  They  flocked  to  the  standards  of  the  chieftains 
selected  in  the  way  their  forebears  had  elected  them  for  more  than 
a  thousand  years.  The  Penal  Laws  against  Irish  Civilisation  made 
the  people  love  it  the  more  passionately. 

Another  of  Henry's  devices  for  the  conquest  of  Ireland  was 
the  kidnapping  of  noblemen's  sons  and  having  them  reared  and 
educated  in  England,  hostile  to  every  tradition  and  instinct  of  their 
nationality.  "Pohtic  practices,"  said  Henry,  "would  serve  till  such 
time  as  the  strength  of  the  Irish  should  be  diminished,  their  leaders 
taken  away  from  them,  and  division  put  among  themselves  so  that 
they  join  not  together."  A  modern  historian  thus  passes  judgment 
on  Tudor  policy :  "If  there  had  been  any  truth  or  consideration  for 
Ireland  in  the  royal  compact  some  hope  of  compromise  and  con- 
ciliation might  have  opened.  But  the  whole  scheme  was  rooted  and 
grounded  in  falsehood,  and  Ireland  had  yet  to  learn  how  far  suffer- 
ings by  the  quibble  and  devices  of  law  might  exceed  the  disasters 
of  open  war.  Chiefs  could  be  ensnared  one  by  one  in  misleading 
contracts,  practically  void.  A  false  claimant  could  be  put  on  a 
territory  and  supported  by  English  soldiers  in  a  civil  war,  till  the 
actual  chief  was  exiled  or  yielded  the  land  to  the  King's  ownership. 
No  chief,  true  or  fahse,  had  power  to  give  away  the  people's  land, 


HENRY  VlirS  POLICIES  365 

and  the  king  was  face  to  face  with  an  indignant  people,  who  refused 
to  admit  an  illegal  bargain.  Then  came  a  march  of  soldiers  over 
the  district,  hanging,  burning,  shooting,  'the  rebels,'  casting  the 
peasants  out  on  the  hillsides.  There  was  also  the  way  of  'conquest.' 
The  whole  of  the  inhabitants  were  to  be  exiled,  and  the  countrieis 
made  vacant  and  waste  for  English  peopling:  the  sovereign's  rule 
would  be  immediate  and  peremptory  over  those  whom  he  had  thus 
planted  by  his  sole  will,  and  Ireland  would  be  kept  in  a  way  un- 
known in  England;  then  'the  King  might  say  Ireland  was  clearly 
won,  and  after  he  would  be  at  little  cost  and  receive  great  profits, 
and  men  and  money  at  pleasure.'  .  .  .  Henceforth  it  became  a 
fixed  policy  to  'exterminate  and  exile  the  country  people  of  the 
Irishry.'  Whether  they  submitted  or  not  the  king  was  'to  inhabit 
their  cq,untry'  with  English  blood." 

Henry  hoped  to  have  a  royal  army  of  Ireland  as  "a  sword  and 
a  flay"  to  his  subjects  in  England  and  to  his  enemie,s  abroad.  His 
dream  seemed  to  be  realised  when  Earl  Con  O'Neill  and  other 
Irish*  lords,  in  the  full  flush  of  faith  and  confidence  in  English 
justice,  sent  an  army  to  aid  Henry's  troops  against  Francis  I,  King 
of  France — Ireland's  best  Continental  friend — at  the  siege  of 
Boulogne  (1544).  The  false,  disillusioned- Irish  did  not  repeat 
this  experiment. 

Also,  Henry  believed  he  could  raise  a  big  revenue  out  of  Ire- 
land's pockets  for  his  sensualities  and  his  political  objects.  But  this 
likewise  failed,  because  his  "cormorants  and  caterpillars"  (as  one 
of  their  number  happily  d&scribed  his  fellow  officials  in  Dublin 
Castle)  were  too  busy  amassing  wealth  for  themselves. 

The  introduction  of  the  Protestant  Reformation  principles 
added  sources  of  fresh  outrages,  new  oppres'sions.  In  Ireland 
Protestantism  was  not  given  a  chance  to  appeal  to  the  pe^Dple  by 
any  ethical,  religious,  or  political  ideals.  The  licentious  unpaid 
English  soldiery  who  had  to  maintain  themselves  by  plunder  and 
rapuie,  were  accompanied  by  incendiariefe  who  left  not  a  homestead, 
not  a  blade  of  corn,  standing;  these  apostles  were  followed  by 
ministers  of  the  Gospel,  with  hangmen  and  escheators  in  their  train. 
So,  amidst  an  orgy  of  slaughters  and  executions,  in  which  neither 
age  nor  sex,  neither  the  infirm  nor  the  strong  were  spared,  and  of 
burnings,  the  true  teachings  of  the  Prince  of  Peace  were  supposed 
to  be  inculcated.  The  soul  of  Ireland,  resurrected  through  the 
crucifixion  of  her  body,  became  the  most  devoted  daughter  of  the 
Catholic  Church.  The  destruction  of  monasteries,  churches  and 
schools,  became  a  passion.  Even  the  possession  of  a  manuscript  on 
any  subject  whatever  incurred  the  death  penalty.     Poets  and  his- 


366  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

torlans  were  put  to  the  sword,  and  their  books  and  genealogies 
burned,  so  that  no  man  "might  know  his  own  grandfather."  All 
Irishmen,  Old  and  New,  were  to  be  confounded  In  the  same 
ignorance  and  abasement,  all  glories  gone  and  all  rights  lost.  The 
great  object  of  the  English  Government  was  to  purge  the  land  of 
Ireland  of  Its  rightful  sons,  to  destroy  the  National  tradition,  to 
wipe  out  Gaelic  memories,  and  to  begin  a  new  English  life, 

Henry's  well-defined  policies  were  religiously  pursued  by  his 
successors,  Edward  and  Mary. 

The  ministers  of  his  son,  Edward  VI,  intensified  the  vigour  of 
his  religious  crusade.  Religion  was  to  be  made  sweet  to  the 
heretical  Irish — "with  the  Bible  In  one  hand,  in  the  other  the 
Sword."  The  English  Liturgy  In  English  was  to  be  "rammed 
down  the  rebels'  throats."  Edward's  sister,  "Bloody  Mary,"  who 
at  Smithfield  set  alight  the  pyre,  to  burn  those  v/ho  dared  to  worship 
the  God  of  Truth,  the  God  of  Mercy,  in  a  way  different  from  hers, 
in  Ireland,  amid  great  rejoicings,  restored  the  Catholic  religion. 
Religious  bigotry  has  not — to  the  credit  of  the  Irish  Catholics  be 
It  proclaimed — ever  found  favour  in  EIrinn.  Hence  it  Is  not  sur- 
prising to  find  history  record  that  the  Reformers  were  nowhere 
per;secuted  when  the  long-suffering  Irish  Church  was  now  restored 
to  Its  own. 

Mary's  political  policy  did  not  differ  from  that  of  her  father. 
Her  Irish  rule  was  no  less  merciless  than  that  of  her  two  pred- 
ecessors. Cathohc  England,  Protestant  England — both  were,  to 
Ireland,  as  one  in  savage  tyranny. 

The  O'Conors  of  Offaly  and  the  O'Mores  of  Leix  having 
dared  to  defend  their  lands  against  the  English  Invaders  were  out- 
lawed and  their  countries  forfeited  to  the  Crown.  A  long  and 
bloody  warfare,  conducted  with  terrible  ferocity,  was  the  result. 
"Civil"  English  people  and  licentious  soldiery  were  "planted"  on 
the  O'Conors'  and  O'Mores'  lands;  their  owners  being  "rooted 
up  by  the  sword"  and  burnt  out  by  the  torch.  This  "godly  re- 
formation" being  achieved,  these  clan  districts  were  named  King's 
and  Queen's  County  in  honour  of  Mary  and  her  Spanish  husband, 
King  Philip.  The  remnants  of  the  broken  clans  were  to  be  allowed 
to  Inhabit  the  boglands  provided  they  became  English  In  every 
sense  of  the  word.  Even  in  Ireland  there  Is  nothing  so  heroic,  so 
persistent,  so  Indefatigable  as  the  efforts  made  by  these  two  gallant 
clans  to  recover  their  homes  and  altars.  The  struggle  was  main- 
tained for  generations.  Like  storm-beaten  birds  in  crannied  nooks 
they  emerged  at  every  lull  In  the  National  storm  and  carried  fire 
and  sword  among  the  "planters."     Even  to  this  day  O'More  and 


HENRY  VlirS  POLICIES  367 

O'Conor  are   the  principal   families  in   the   district,   where   their 
forefathers  ruled  as  just,  munificent  princes. 

FOR  THE  NORMAN  PERIOD  IN   IRISH   HISTORY  READ   IN 
ADDITION  TO  USUAL  IRISH  HISTORIES: 

Davies:     T4ie  Reason  Why  Ireknd  was  Never  Entirely  Subdued. 

Richey:     Lectures  on  Irish  History. 

Green,  Mrs.  A.  S. :     The  Making  of  Ireland  and  Its  Undoing. 

Hull,  Eleanor:     History  of  Irish  Literature  (vol.  ii). 

Hyde,  Douglas:     A  Literary  Histor\^  of  Ireland. 

Gilbert:     History  of  the  Irish  Viceroys. 

MacNeill,  Eoin:     Phases  of  Irish  History. 


CHAPTER  XLII 

SHANE    THE    PROUD  ^ 

Dublin  Castle,  the  seat  of  English  power  in  Ireland,  stands  on 
the  site  of  the  fortress  of  Haskulf  the  Dane.  Before  its  first  stone 
root  struck  into  the  ground,  while  the  newly  arrived  Norman  ad- 
venturers held  Dublin,  Haskulf  came  sailing  back  with  fifty  ships 
manned  by  men  in  ringed  hauberks,  with  red  painted  shields,  of 
iron  hearts,  of  iron  hands,  says  the  chronicler,  to  win  back  his  home. 
He  was  defeated,  his  men  put  to  the  sword,  and  he,  for  a  brave 

1  SHANE  O'NEILL 

On  thy  wild  and  windy  upland,  Tornamona, 

High  above  the  tossing  Moyle, 
Lies  in  slumber,  deep  and  dreamless  now,  a  warrior 

Weary-worn  with  battle-toil. 
On  his  mighty  breast  the  little  canna  blossoms. 

And  the  scented  bog-bines  trail ; 
While  the  winds  from  Lurigaiden  whisper  hush-songs 

Round  the  bed  of  Shane  O'Neill. 

Time  was  once,  O  haughty  Warrior,  when  you  slept  not 

To  the  crooning  of  the  wind ; 
There  was  once  a  Shane  whom  daisies  could  not  smother. 

And  whom  bog-weeds  could  not  bind — 
Once  a  Shane  with  death-shafts  from  his  fierce  eye  flashing. 

With  dismay  in  fist  of  mail — 
Shane,   whose  throbbing  pulses   sang  with   singing  lightning — 

Shane,  our  Shane,  proud  Shane  O^Neill ! 

Him  the  hungry  Scot  knew,  and  the  thieving  Saxon, 

Traitorous  Eireannach  as  well ; 
For  their  mailed  throats  often  gurgled  in  his  grasping, 

As  he  hurled  their  souls  to  hell. 
Sassenach,  now,  and  flouting  Scot,  and  Irish  traitor, 

Breathe  his  name  and  turn  not  pale. 
Set  their  heel  upon  the  warrior's  breast,  nor  tremble — 

God  !  the  breast  of  Shane  O'Neill ! 

Will  you  never,  O  our  Chieftain,  snap  the  sleep-cords? 

Never  rise  in  thunderous  wrath — 
Through  the  knaves  and  slaves  that  bring  a  blight  on  Uladh, 

Sweeping  far  a  dread  red  swath? 
O'er  the  surges  shout,  O  you  on  Tornamona, 

Hark,  the  soul-shout  of  the  Gael ! 
"Rise,  O  Chief,  and  lead  us  from  our  bitter  bondage — 

Rise,  in  God's  name,  Shane  O'Neill." 

— Seumas   MacManus. 
368 


SHANE  THE  PROUD  369 

defiant  word,   had  his  old   bald  head  shorn   from   his   shoulders. 

Thus  on  the  site  of  feasting  was  now  a  tradition  of  blood.  The 
new  justiciary  carried  up  the  Avails;  and  by  the  time  the  story  of 
Ireland  reached  the  sixteenth  century  the  castle  was  a  large  quad- 
rangular building  with  towers,  high  walls,  and  strong  defences.  It 
was  fortress,  a  Parliament  House,  a  Council  Chamber,  a  Prison. 
It  was  the  very  heart  of  English  rule  in  Ireland.  That  heart  had 
been  beating  there  four  hundred  years  and,  if  an  old  prophecy  is 
true,  it  had  yet  to  beat  three  hundred  more.     Then  it  would  cease. 

In  1567  a  gift  was  brought  to  a  group  of  gentlemen  in  the 
Castle's  Council  Chamber.  The  bearer  was  handsomely  rewarded 
from  the  public  Treasury,  and  the  gift  put  in  its  place.  Tarred, 
stuck  on  a  pole  thrust  horizontally  from  the  north-west  gateway, 
it  was  left  there  for  all  Dublin  to  see.  The  Lord  Deputy  hastened 
to  write  to  Elizabeth  of  England  to  tell  her  the  good  news.  For 
that  gift  had  brought  her  statesmen  a  step  further  in  the  conquest 
of  Ireland. 

It  was  the  head  of  Shane  O'Neill,  captain  and  chief  of  North- 
west Ulster.  Shane  was  a  bad  man  in  private  life,  but  a  born 
soldier,  a  sagacious  ruler,  and  a  believer  in  his  rights.  When  Conn, 
the  Lame,  his  father,  accepted  an  English  title,  and  became  Baron 
of  Dungannon,  Shane  went  into  rebellion.  On  his  father's  death, 
he  slew  his  half  brother,  the  next  baron,  and  was  inaugurated  the 
O'Neill.  Shane  the  Proud,  Ulster  called  him.  He  stood  across 
England's  advance  into  the  province.  Wherever  he  set  up  his 
tent,  the  great  King-Candle  before  it,  thicker  than  a  man's  body, 
shining  there  in  the  night,  his  battle-axe  guard  at  the  door,  the 
trained  soldiers  of  his  territory,  the  hired  Scottish  gall-oc^lacli 
around,  victory  generally  fell  to  his  side.  Elizabeth  and  her  Lord 
Deputies  tried  to  cajole  him,  to  deceive  him,  to  defeat  him,  to 
capture  him,  to  murder  him.  Then  when  his  soldiers  had  pierced 
to  the  Pale,  they  recognised  him  as  the  O'Neill. 

Once  Sussex,  the  Lord  Deputy,  sent  a  force  into  his  territory. 
The  English  general  seized  Armagh,  left  men  there,  gathered  spoil, 
and  set  homeward. 

O'Neill  heard,  followed,  slew  the  spoilers,  and  recaptured  the 
booty.  The  Lord  Deputy  wished  to  make  terms.  O'Neill  answered 
that  he  would  make  no  terms  till  the  English  soldiers  were  with- 
drawn from  Armagh.  The  Deputy  temporised,  applied  to  Eng- 
land for  soldiers,  got  them,  and  marched  a  great  army  into  North- 
east Ulster.  But  he  struck  at  the  air;  O'Neill  withdrew  his  men 
into  the  forests  and  mountains,  and  sent  an  envoy  to  France  to  ask 
for  six  thousand  men. 


370  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

Then  Elizabeth  bade  her  Deputy  win  him  over  with  promises, 
with  offers  of  friendship.  He  was  won,  or  appeared  to  be.  She 
invited  him  to  London.  So  he  went,  taking  his  retinue  with  him, 
being  not  only  chief  of  Tyrone,  but  a  prince  with  far  descended 
rights. 

London  stared.  He  brought  a  company  of  gall-oglach.  They 
were  picked  and  selected  men  "of  great  and  mighty  bodies,  men 
choosing  rather  to  die  than  to  yield."  They  wore  shirts  of  mail, 
iron  caps,  bright  coloured  trews  to  the  knees,  leggings  of  leather. 
Their  arms  were  swords  by  their  sides,  battle-axes  in  their  hands. 
The  company  being  on  an  embassy  of  peace,  In  courtesy  to  a  queen, 
marched  with  bare  heads.  An  English  writer  saw  them,  wondered, 
marvelled  with  London  and  the  court  at  their  uncivilised  mode  of 
wearing  their  hair.  Long  on  their  necks  it  hung;  close-cut  In 
front  above  the  eyes.  And  such  eyes  as  must  have  looked  out 
from  under  the  combed  unparted  glib,  proud,  wondering,  think- 
ing of  the  spoil,  no  doubt,  that  the  big  foreign  city  could  give.  And 
Elizabeth,  favourable  to  all  well  made  men,  received  their  Chief  in 
honour,  bestowing  her  friendship  and  gifts  upon  him;  for  which 
friendship  and  gifts,  and  the  recognition  of  his  Chieftainship,  he 
paid  her  allegiance  and  promised  to  drive  brave  Sorley  Boy  Mc- 
Donnell and  his  Scottish  soldiers  out  of  Antrim.  So  they  parted, 
Lady  paramount,  and  semi-independent  prince. 

But  it  was  not  her  policy  nor  the  policy  of  her  statesmen  to 
let  such  a  man  live.  He  was  dangerous  as  an  O'Neill  who  might 
try  to  recover  full  independence,  a  man  also  who  remembered  his 
direct  descent  from  the  High  Kings  of  Ireland.  He  went  home, 
the  Proud,  with  what  thoughts  in  his  mind  who  shall  say?  But  he 
had  passed  his  word;  remembered  his  honour;  made  war  on  Sorley 
Boy  and  his  Scots,  defeated  them  and  captured  McDonnell.  For 
two  years  he  lived  in  state,  ruling  justly.  Every  day  he  put  aside 
the  first  dish  from  his  table  for  the  poor.  "We  serve  Christ  first," 
he  said.  Sinner,  soldier,  chieftain,  he  was  a  strong  figure  in  the 
century. 

These  great  dynastic  houses  maintained  large  retinues.  Many, 
since  the  Invasion,  had  lived  and  ruled  as  if  no  England  existed. 
They  sent  embassies  and  heralds  to  one  another,  proclaimed  war  or 
peace;  collected  their  tribute.  The  point  of  England's  sword  had 
entered  the  nation's  body,  but  the  wound  was  scorned  or  forgotten. 
Each  House  had  its  hereditary  officials:  a  marshal  of  forces;  a 
master  of  the  horse;  chief  doorkeeper;  chief  butler;  superintendent 
of  banquets;  an  immediate  guard;  keeper  of  treasure  and  chess- 
board; keeper  of  arms  and  dresses;  answerer  of  challenges  from 


SHANE  THE  PROUD 


371- 


outside  territories;  avengers  of  insult;  chief  steward;  keeper  of 
hounds;  inaugiirator  and  deposer;  rearer  of  horses;  carriers  of 
wine  from  harbour  to  the  court;  builders  and  erectors  of  buildings; 
stewards  of  rent  and  tribute;  hereditary  historians  and  poets,  men 
highly  trained  in  the  schools. 

Shane's  territory  was  now  supposed  to  be  safe  from  English 
interference  or  invasion.  He  and  England's  queen  were  friends. 
Sussex,  the  Lord  Deputy,  wrote  offering  him  his  sister  in  marriage 
with  a  safe  conduct  to  Dublin.  His  intention  was  to  capture 
Shane.  Later  he  sent  him  a  present  of  wine.  Elizabeth  knew  of 
the  gift;  knew  what  was  in  it. 

Shane  and  his  household  drank  of  the  wine — and  just  escaped 
death.  The  poisoner  was  unskilled.  But  Shane  knew  now  for- 
ever with  whom  he  had  to  deal.  It  was  the  second  attempt  that 
English  statesmen  had  secretly  made  to  assassinate  him.  There 
is  a  State  paper,  a  letter  from  Sussex  to  Elizabeth  in  which  he  tells 
of  his  efforts  to  get  Shane  murdered. 

Shane  flung  off  his  allegiance.  Allegiance  sat  on  these  Irish 
nobles  like  a  red  saddle  loosely  girt.  After  that  draught  of  wine 
he  thought  his  sword  his  best  security.  He  won  a  victory  notable 
for  its  name.  Strange  popples  lay  among  the  harvest  of  the  slain 
reaped  by  his  gall-oglach.  They  were  three  hundred  English 
soldiers,  not  in  buff  but  in  scarlet  coats.  The  clansmen  counted 
and  wondered  at  the  new  uniform  of  their  foes.  So  that  battle 
was  called  the  battle  of  the  red  coats. 

But  hard  were  the  strokes  of  his  enemies — "Queen's" 
O'Donnels,  "Queen's"  O'Neills,  Elizabeth's  forces — and  the  Proud 
was  left  the  choice  of  submission  or  an  appeal  to  the  Scots  mer- 
cenaries. He  chose  the  latter,  freed  Sorley  Boy  McDonnell,  and 
went  to  a  banquet  they  gave.  To  that  banquet  also  went  a  man 
whom  the  Lord  Deputy  had  maintained  privately  in  Tyrone  when 
he  and  Shane  were  in  friendship  and  peace.  The  spy  waited  till 
the  wine  had  made  men  drunk  and  think  of  their  wrongs.  Then 
O'Neill  was  slain.  The  spy  hastened  to  Dublin  Castle  and  received 
from  Sir  Henry  Sidney  a  thousand  marks  from  the  public  treasury. 
So  Shane's  head  went  upon  the  north-west  gate  of  Dublin.- 

2  Our  Irish  poet,  John  Savage,  wrote  a  fine  poem  entitled  "Shane's  Head" — in 
which  a  clansman  of  Shane  standing  outside  the  wall  of  Dublin  Castle  is  apostro- 
phising the  head — from  which  poem  are  taken  the  following  stanzas : 

Is  it  thus,  O  Shane  the  haughty!  Shane  the  valiant!  that  we  meet — 

Have  my  eyes  been  lit  by  Heaven  but  to  guide  me  to  defeat? 

Have  /  no  chief,  or  yoii  no  clan,  to  give  us  both  defence? 

Or  must  I,  too,  be  statued  here  with  thy  cold  eloquence? 

Thy  ghastly  head  grins  scorn  upon  old  Dublin's  Castle-tower, 


372  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

Thy  shaggy  hair  is  wind-tossed,  and  thy  brow  seems  rough  with  power; 
Thy  wrathful  lips,  like  sentinels,  by  foulest  treachery  stung, 
Look  rage  upon  the  world  of  wrong,  but  chain  thy  fiery  tongue. 

That  tongue,  whose  Ulster  accent  woke  the  gh®st  of  Colm  Cille, 
Whose  warrior  words  fenced  round  with  spears  the  oaks  of  Derry  Hill; 
Whose  reckless  tones  gave  life  and  death  to  vassals  and  to  knaves. 
And  hunted  hordes  of  Saxons  into  holy  Irish  graves. 
The  Scotch  marauders  whitened  when  his  war-cry  met  their  ears. 
And  the  death-bird,  like  a  vengeance,  poised  above  his  stormy  spears ; 
Ay,  Shane,  across  the  thundering  sea,  out-chanting  it,  your  tongue 
Flung  wild  un-Saxon  war-whoopings  the  Saxon  Court  among. 

Just  think,  O  Shane !  the  same  moon  shines  on  Liffey  as  on  Foyle, 
And  lights  the  ruthless  knaves  on  both,  our  kinsmen  to  despoil ; 
And  you  the  hope,  voice,  battle-axe,  the  shield  of  us  and  ours, 
A  murdered,  trunkless,  blinding  sight  above  these  Dublin  towers ! 
Thy  face  is  paler  than  the  moon ;  my  heart  is  paler  still— 
My  heart?    I  had  no  heart — 'twas  yours,  'twas  yours!  to  »<eep  or  kill. 
And  you  kept  it  safe  for  Ireland,  Chief — your  life,  your  soul,  your  pride; 
But  they  sought  it  in  thy  bosora,  Shane — with  proud  O'Neill  it  died. 


CHAPTER   XLIII 

ELIZABETH    CONTINUES  THE    CONQUEST 

The  conquest  of  Ireland  had  been  going  on  for  four  centuries.  The 
rock  against  which  every  attempt  to  complete  it  had  broken  was  the 
immemorial  laws  of  Ireland,  the  Brehon  Laws.  These  bound 
Irishmen  within  the  four  seas  to  one  social  and  legal  rule.  All  at- 
tempts to  plant  the  feudal  system  in  Ireland  by  England  went  down 
before  them. 

Their  land  system  was  the  chief  evil  in  the  eyes  of  the  invaders. 
The  clan  owned  the  land  as  well  as  the  chief.  He  had  a  life  interest 
in  the  chief's  portion;  but  he  could  not  sell  the  clan-lands  or  eject 
free  owners.  This  was  a  hindrance  to  confiscation.  Now,  the  Irish 
laws  were  declared  barbarous.  During  four  centuries  the  am- 
bulatory Parliament  of  the  Pale  passed  laws  against  it.  These 
laws  reached  just  as  far  as  English  swords  could  carry  them.  The 
Parliament  had  now  not  to  discuss,  but  to  pass,  the  commands  of 
Her  Highness.  They  were  two,  to  be  carried  out  by  all  methods. 
Ireland  was  to  be  brought  completely  under  her  authority,  each 
chief's  territory  admitting  English  law :  and  the  Protestant  religion 
was  to  be  firmly  established.  These  two  cardinal  commands  each 
Lord  Deputy  was  to  enforce  upon  Ireland. 

The  time  had  arrived  when  the  two  civilisations  stood  at  last 
fully  face  to  face.  The  one  represented  by  feudalism — feudalism 
unshackling  itself — and  the  one  represented  by  the  Brehon  Laws.^ 
The  first  had  long  denounced  the  other  as  barbarous.  Irish  dress, 
Irish  customs,  were  the  dress  and  customs  of  savages.'     England's 

^  Dr.  Sigerson  saj's  of  the  early  Brehon  Laws,  "I  assert,  that,  speaking  bio- 
logically, such  laws  could  not  emanate  from  any  race  whose  brains  have  not  been 
subject  to  the  quickening  influence  of  education  for  many  generations." 

2  In  the  first  century  of  the  Invasion  the  vehement  Norman-Welsh  Archdeacon, 
Giraldus  Cambrensis,  exclaims,  "Verily  a  wild  and  inhospitable  race !  Yet  Nature 
fails  not  to  rear  and  mould  them  through  infancy  and  childhood,  until  in  the  fulness 
of  time  she  leads  each  to  man's  estate  conspicuous  for  a  tall  and  handsome  form, 
regular  features,  and  a  fresh  complexion.  But  though  adorned  to  the  full  with 
such  natural  gifts  as  these,  still  the  barbarous  fashion  of  their  garments,  and  their 
ignorance,  reveal  the  utter  savage.  They  apparel  themselves  in  small  closely  fit- 
ting hoods  extending  over  the  shoulders  and  down  to  the  elbow,  generally  made 

373 


374  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

wish,  often  expressed  in  the  four  hundred  years,  was  to  civilise  Ire- 
land.   If  that  were  impossible,  then  extermination. 

The  other  objective,  besides  the  Irish  laws,  was  now  the  religion 
of  the  people.  The  Reformation  had  rolled  back  from  the  shores 
of  Ireland.  To  the  devout  soul  of  the  race  it  was  blasphemy  to 
call  Henry  VIII,  or  Elizabeth,  the  Head  of  the  Church.  Strong 
measures  were  now  used.  Abbeys  were  suppressed  and  destroyed; 
churches  seized;  Protestant  ministers  supplanted  the  priests.  But 
no  real  headway  was  made.  The  Irish-Norman  nobles,  the  Des- 
rrionds  and  others,  held  to  the  Catholic  Faith;  the  clans  and  their 
chiefs  did  the  same.  Fiercer  measures  followed.  The  Dublin 
Parliament  enacted  that  the  lives  of  priests  were  forfeited.  They 
were  to  be  hanged,  cut  down  when  half  dead,  disembowelled  and 
burnt,  and  their  heads  impaled  in  some  public  place.  Any  one  shel- 
tering a  priest  was  to  be  hanged,  and  his  lands  confiscated.  The 
Act  only  ran  where  England's  arm  reached.  In  free  Tirconnel,  in 
free  Tyrone,  in  the  Desmond  country,  in  the  O'Rourke's  of  Bref- 
finy,  In  hundreds  of  places  in  Ireland  it  had  no  effect.  Priests  min- 
istered to  their  flocks  openly;  learned  monks  wrote  In  their  mon- 
asteries. But  here  and  there  the  hands  reached,  struck,  and  cap- 
tured. It  captured  the  Archbishop  of  Cashel,  played  with  him 
for  a  while,  as  a  cat  with  a  mouse,  then  finding  him  Inflexible  tor- 
tured him  and  put  him  to  death.  Other  priests  were  seized  and 
tortured  and  hanged. 

The  strongest  Norman  house  In  Irish  history  was  the  Gerald- 
ines.  They  must  be  suppressed.  The  Ormonds  were  Castle  men, 
guardians  of  English  authority.  The  Black  Earl  of  Ormond  seized 
Gerald,  Earl  of  Desmond,  and  sent  him  to  London,  and  Elizabeth 
sent  him  to  the  Tower.  A  little  later  his  brother  was  seized  and 
sent  there  too.  Their  cousin,  James  Fitzmaurlce,  drew  his  sword 
to  protest  against  the  seizures.  "Spirited  youths"  joined  him,  and 
held  the  Desmond  country.  They  won  victories;  they  routed  a 
queen's  army.  Then  Elizabeth  made  peace  with  Fitzmaurlce.  And 
she  then  directed  a  plot  for  the  treacherous  murder  of  himself, 
his  brothers  and  cousins — which,  by  discovering  in  time,  he  escaped. 

of  parti-colour  scraps  sewn  together.  Under  this  instead  of  ?.  coat  they  wear  a 
gown.  Woolen  trews  complete  that  attire,  being  breeches  and  hose  in  one,  usually 
dyed  some  tint.  The  "barbarians"  honoured  learning.  The  Leinster  prince  who 
invited  the  Normans  to  Ireland  could  write,  and  not  only  write  but  quote  Ovid. 
Most  of  the  Norman  chivalrj'  had  to  employ  clerics  to  read  and  write  their  let- 
ters. We  read  of  banquets  and  tournaments  in  other  countries  where  young 
knights  showed  their  prowess  in  the  saddle,  their  skill  with  the  lance :  but  we  do 
not  read  of  banquets  and  tournaments  given  to  learned  men  where  the  contest  was 
not  steel  against  steel,  but  epic  against  epic,  song  against  song,  harp  against  harp — 
such  as  those  arranged  by  Liam  O'Kelly  and  the  Lady  Mairgret  of  Offaly. 


ELIZABETH  CONTINUES  THE  CONQUEST      375 

After  a   time  the  new  Earl  had  to   fly  to  Spain   for  safety   and 
succour. 

He  visited  Rome,  too,  got  Italian  mercenaries,  fourscore 
Spaniards,  a  promise  of  more,  and  returned  to  Ireland,  where  he 
vanished  out  of  life  in  a  skirmish.  Spain  remembered  her  promise. 
Eight  hundred  Spaniards  landed  on  the  coast  of  Kerry.  They 
fortified  themselves  on  the  Golden  Island,  a  rock  connected  with  the 
land  by  a  narrow  neck.  The  Lord  Deputy,  Gray,  hastened  to  at- 
tack them,  and  invested  the  rock  by  sea  and  land.  But  no  breech 
was  made;  the  Golden  fort  was  impregnable;  winter  was  approach- 
ing. Gray  sent  in  a  flag  of  truce  and  offered  honourable  terms  if 
the  Spaniards  would  surrender.  The  Spanish  commander  accepted 
the  terms,  and  his  men  laid  down  their  arms.  Then  Gray  sent  in 
his  soldiers  and  massacred  seven  hundred  men.  The  massacre, 
note  well,  was  directed  by  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  and  an  officer  named 
Wingfield. 

The  Earl  and  his  kinsmen,  fighting  now  for  their  religion  and 
their  hom&s,  joined  hands  with  the  MacCarthys,  the  O'SuUivans 
and  other  Munster  chiefs.  Carew,  a  Devonshire  knight,  claimed 
Desmond  territory,  and  brought  an  army  to  seize  it  and  "pacify" 
the  province.  The  Desmond  war  lasted  three  more  years,  alto- 
gether five.  When  it  terminated  the  "pacification"  was  continued. 
The  Earl,  finally  defeated,  after  wandering  through  woods  and  bogs 
and  in  the  ravines  of  the  mountains,  was  at  last  captured  and  be- 
headed. At  Elizabeth's  request  his  head  was  sent  to  London  and 
impaled  in  an  iron  cage  on  the  Tower.  English  adventurers  flung 
themselves  on  the  confiscated  lands.  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  raided  over 
the  thousands  of  acres  assigned  to  him,  and  smoked  the  "Virginia 
weed"  in  Youghal  after  work  that  would  discredit  a  savage  diief. 

There  is  a  gigantic  preternatural  Figure  in  Irish  Myth;  the  Red 
Swineherd.  Where  it  passes,  where  it  lays  its  foot,  smoke  and 
flames  and  blood  and  death  and  destruction  are  there.  It  comes 
out  of  some  antique  past,  some  dread  forgotten  ritual.  The  Figure 
of  the  Myth  was  upon  Munster.  Beneath  it  the  little  figures  of  men 
move;  the  mail-clad  gall-oglach,  the  swift  running  Kerne,  the  red- 
coated,  iron-plated  soldiers;  Irish  nobles  and  chiefs,  the  marshals 
of  England's  forces.  Away  from  all  these,  from  Irish  and  Norman 
chiefs,  the  MacCarthys,  the  Desmonds,  the  O'SuUivans,  all  the 
princelings,  away  from  the  English  Deputies,  marshals  and  ad- 
venturers thirsting  for  Munster  soil,  away  from  all  those  that  storm 
across  this  page  of  Irish  history — glance  at  the  unnamed  people. 
Munster  was  the  fairest  province  in  Ireland.  It  had  fifteen  hun- 
dred schools.    When  the  Munster  wars  were  ended,  when  Elizabeth 


376  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

sent  her  thanks  to  Sir  George  Perrln.^  For  the  "pacification"  of 
the  province,  the  schools  had  been  wiped  out.  The  storm  of  battles 
and  skirmishes,  of  sieges,  of  intrigues,  of  massacres  is  the  shifting 
blood-red  veil  above  the  homes  of  thousands.  That  was  no  bar- 
barous land  where  scholars  filled  the  schools,  where  science  and 
the  classics  were  taught;  where  the  pride  of  youth  was  stimulated, 
the  imagination  fired  by  the  Hero-Tales  of  Ireland.  It  is  a 
psychological  fact  that  the  Elizabethan  Englishmen,  many  of  them 
brave,  gallant  and  chivalrous,  became  barbarians  in  their  contact 
with  Ireland.  The  old  Greeks  explain  the  reason  for  the  fall.  It 
is  Pride  and  Injustice;  these  things  bring  moral  death.  In  their 
attempt  to  conquer  Ireland  the  avenging  Furies  fell  upon  them. 

Carew  in  his  Pacata  Hibernia  writes  that  English  soldiers 
entered  an  Irish  camp,  "found  none  but  hurt  and  sick  men,  whose 
pains  and  lives  they  soon  determined."  And  again  that  he  having 
burnt  all  the  houses  and  corn  and  taken  great  prey  diverted  his 
forces  into  another  place,  "and  harrowing  the  country,  killed  all 
mankind  that  were  found  therein  for  a  terror  to  those  who  would 
give  relief  to  runagate  traitors."  He  passed  into  Arleagh  woods 
"where  we  did  the  like,  not  leaving  behind  us  man  or  beast,  corne  or 
cattle."  The  slaughter  continued  after  the  war  had  ended.  "Those 
whom  the  sword  could  not  reach  were  deliberately  given  a  prey  to 
famine." 

"The  English  nation,"  says  Froude,  "was  shuddering  over  the 
atrocities  of  the  Duke  of  Alva.  Yet  Alva's  bloody  sword  never 
touched  the  young,  the  defenceless.  ...  Sir  Peter  Carew  has 
been  seen  murdering  women  and  children  and  babies  that  had 
scarcely  left  the  breast." 

Spenser,  the  English  poet,  to  whom  Raleigh  had  given  a  few 
acres  of  the  forty  thousand  he  had  seized,  saw  still  living  creatures 
"creeping  out  of  every  corner  of  the  woods  and  glens  on  their  hands, 
for  their  legs  would  not  bear  them.  They  did  eat  the  dead  carrion 
where  they  could  find  them,  yea,  and  one  another  soon  after."  He 
thinks  English  rule  can  never  be  secure  till  the  Irish  race  is  ex- 
terminated. The  gentle  English  idyllist  suggests  a  way.  The 
people  are  not  to  be  allowed  to  till  their  land  or  pasture  their  cat- 
tle next  season,  then  "they  will  quickly  consume  themselves  and 
devour  one  another." 

English  Law  had  made  a  breach  in  Connacht.  A  Lord  Presi- 
dent was  appointed,  and  a  court  held.     From  Sligo  to  Limerick 

3  Perrin  reported  that  he  had  "left  neither  corn,  nor  horn,  nor  house  unburnt," 
between  the  two  ends  of  Munster. 


ELIZABETH  CONTINUES  THE  CONQUEST     377 

men  were  to  be  netted  and  brought  before  it.  The  head  of  the 
Burkes,  Clanrickard,  a  "queen's"  man,  was  seized  and  sent  to 
Dublin.  Then  all  the  Burkes  loosened  their  swords  in  their  scab- 
bards and  sprang  into  rebellion.  The  rebellion  grew  and  strength- 
ened, before  the  "strong  measures"  of  the  Lord  President.  The 
Lord  Deputy,  Fitzwilliam,  an  old  man,  afflicted  by  ills  of  the  body, 
crafty,  cautious,  treacherous,  freed  Clanrickard,  and  sent  him  down 
to  make  terms.  The  bloody  hand  was  stayed;  for  a  moment  there 
was  peace  in  Connacht.  Soon,  the  disarmed  Catholics  were  taken 
and  hanged.  Surrendered  garrisons  were  put  to  the  sword;  a  search 
for  "rebels"  in  West  Connacht  saw  women,  and  boys  and  old  men, 
and  all  who  came  in  Bingham's  way,  slain. 

Into  Leinster,  too,  English  Law  had  driven  a  wedge.  Mary  of 
England's  Deputies  had  seized  Offaly  and  Leix,  the  territories  of 
the  O' Conors  and  the  O' Mores.  They  had  planted  English 
settlers  there;  abolished  the  ancient  territorial  names  and  in  Irish 
blood  rechristened  them  King's  and  Queen's  counties.  The  dis- 
possessed chiefs  and  their  clansmen  bided  their  time.  A  noble  boy 
grew  up  among  them,  and  in  manhood  became  an  avenging  sword. 
This  was  Ruari  Og  O'More.  He  attacked  the  homes  of  the  Eng- 
lish settlers;  burnt  their  towns;  took  the  governor  of  Leix  and  a 
Privy  Councillor  prisoners ;  made  truces  and  kept  them.  After  six 
years  of  successful  guerilla  warfare  he  fell  when  reconnoitring  a 
force  brought  against  him.  His  soldiers  avenged  his  death  and  put 
the  army  to  flight.  His  name  remained  an  Inspiration  to  oppressed 
Irish,  down  to  the  present  day.  "God,  and  Our  Lady,  and  Rory 
O'More!" 

The  English  troops  were  commanded  In  Leix  and  Offaly  by  a 
Sir  Francis  Cosby.  This  man  gave  a  banquet  In  the  Rath  of 
Mullaghmast  In  Kildare.  And  he  stretched  out  friendly  hands  to 
the  O' Conors  and  O' Mores  and  their  followers.  He  invited  them 
to  the  banquet.  He  gave  It  In  the  Queen's  name;  he  promised  her 
protection.  They  went.  One  gentleman,  arriving  late,  suspected 
something,  and  paused.  Guests  went  In,  he  saw,  but  none  came  out. 
Advancing,  he  reconnoitred,  beheld  slaughtered  bodies,  and  being 
now  attacked  himself,  cut  his  way  through  and  escaped.  Of  the 
O'Mores  alone,  one  hundred  and  eighty  were  murdered.  Cosby 
lived  at  Strabally.  A  tall  tree  with  spreading  branches  grew  before 
his  door,  upon  which  he  hanged  men  and  women  and  children.  If 
he  hanged  a  mother  and  an  infant  he  hanged  the  child  In  the 
mother's  long  hair.* 


*  Ireland  under  Elizabeth.     O'Sullivan  Beare.     1621. 


378  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

But  a  day  of  reckoning  came.  In  the  battle  of  Glenmalure 
Cosby  fell  in  the  rout  when  the  soldiers  of  Feach  O' Byrne  cut  down 
the  flying  forces  of  Lord  Gray.  O'Byrne,  there,  in  the  Wicklow 
mountains,  had  held  his  country  against  all  attempts  of  the  English 
to  seize  it.  Gray,  newly  arrived  in  Dubhn,  thought  at  one  stroke  to 
break  O'Byrne's  power.  He  gathered  a  great  army  and  marched 
into  Wicklow.  He  believed  he  had  trapped  O'Byrne.  The  glen 
was  deep;  its  sides  dark  wooded  heights  and  rocks;  a  shallow 
stream  with  a  rugged  bed  flowed  through.  He  raised  an  earthwork 
across  the  mouth  that  the  flying  Irish  might  be  trapped  and  cut  down 
there.  To  see  that  flight  and  slaughter  he  went  up  on  a  height,  he 
and  his  courtiers  and  staff.  His  soldiers  entered  the  glen,  moving 
up  it  in  silence,  a  long  array  in  mail  and  buff  and  scarlet,  gunsmen 
and  horse.  No  sight  of  the  foe;  silence  save  for  the  tramp  of  their 
marching  feet.  The  watchers  on  the  height  began  to  laugh.  'The 
game  had  broken  away,"  they  jested.  "The  old  fox  had  run  to 
earth."  Then  as  the  ranks  of  the  column  loosened  on  the  broken 
course,  the  silence  of  the  wood  was  shattered  and  the  bullets  of  the 
Irish  swept  the  line.  O'Byrne's  men  sprang  from  the  tree-clad 
slopes,  leapt  over  the  rocks,  and  threw  themselves  upon  the  flanks 
of  the  foe.  Gray  and  his  jesters  fled.  Of  the  great  force  with 
which  he  had  marched  out  of  Dublin,  but  a  few  broken  companies 
returned. 


CHAPTER  XLIV 

RED  HUGH 

In  the  North  the  smouldering  fire  had  flamed  forth  again.  Two 
things  rekindled  it.  One :  The  predestined  boy  had  come  whose 
advent  a  Tir-Conaill  seer  had  long  ago  foretold.  Young  Hugh 
O'Donnell,  Aod  Ruad,  the  golden-haired,  minatory,  deadly  foe  to 
England;  who  was  to  stride  through  the  history  of  the  last  years 
of  the  sixteenth  century — the  boy  whose  fame  and  renown  was 
noised  through  the  five  provinces  of  Eirinn  even  before  he  reached 
the  age  of  manhood,  as  being  conspicuous  for  wisdom,  understand- 
ing, personal  beauty,  and  noble  deeds. 

The  fame  and  renown  of  him  had  reached  the  ears  of  Lord 
Deputy  Perrot,  illegitimate  son  of  Henry  VIII.  Where  a  strong 
and  ruthless  hand,  or  treachery,  was  necessary  to  advance  his 
Queen's  interests  in  Ireland  Perrot  used  either,  as  suited  the 
occasion.     He  would  have  the  boy. 

The  dreaded  lad  was  being  fostered  by  MacSwiney,  Lord  of 
Fanat  on  the  Northern  sea's  verge.  When  the  boy  was  fourteen 
an  innocent  looking  merchant  ship  once  sailed  into  Loch  Swilly,  and 
anchored  under  the  white  stone  castle  of  MacSwiney.  The 
courteous  captain  had  wine  for  sale.  The  courteous  captain  in- 
vited visitors  aboard  the  ship.  The  courteous  captain  would  like 
MacSwiney  and  his  retinue  and  friends  to  do  him  the  honour  of 
a  visit  aboard,  and  to  partake  of  some  rare  wine.  They  came — 
and  with  them  the  noble  boy,  erect  and  eagle-eyed,  bright,  proud 
and  confident,  "of  a  countenance  so  alluring  that  none  could  look 
at  him  without  loving  him."  When  the  guests  sat  them  down  to 
wine  in  the  captain's  state  cabin,  they  suddenly  found  themselves  en- 
trapped and  captured  by  fifty  soldiers  who  were  conjured  out  of 
the  ship's  bowels.  MacSwiney  and  the  others  were  released,  and 
given  hostages,  but  the  boy's  release  could  not  be  purchased.  It 
was  for  him  the  ship  had  come.  Red  Hugh  was  carried  away  to 
Dublin  and  placed,  a  prisoner,  in  the  Birmingham  tower  of  the 
castle.  In  Fanat,  throughout  all  Tir-Conaill,  and  indeed  through 
Eirinn  there  was  w^eeping,  wrath,  shame  and  anger.     In  Donegal 

379 


38o  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

Castle  the  boy's  mother,  the  dauntless  Inghin  Dubh,  "Dark  Daugh- 
ter" of  MacDonneU  of  the  Isles,  now  devoted  her  life  to  keep  Tir- 
Conaill  for  the  boy.  She  negotiated  and  plotted  for  his  release — 
in  vain. 

After  three  years  the  boy  made  a  wonderful  and  daring  escape 
on  a  December  night — but  alas!  was  retaken.  After  another  year, 
this  time  spent  in  irons,  in  company  with  Henry  and  Art,  the  sons 
of  Shane  O'Neill,  both  in  irons  also,  he  made  another  daring  at- 
tempt— and  this  time  succeeded  in  freeing  all  three. 

A  file  had  been  passed  in  to  him.  It  was  Christmas  Eve,  1591, 
a  dark  snowy  evening.  Christmas  cheer  was  flowing  among  the 
jailers  and  guards.  Now,  the  boys  thought!  Outside  the  Castle, 
in  a  friend's  stable,  four  horses  bitted  and  saddled  have  stood  for 
three  nights.  The  faithful  horse-boy  is  waiting.  While  the  feast 
was  being  celebrated  with  wine  and  jollity  by  the  Elizabethan 
Soldiers  in  the  Castle,  the  boy  industriously  worked  the  file.  "Link 
after  link  yielded  to  the  fierce  attrition  and  the  hungry  gnawings 
of  the  sharp  toothed  steel,  and  Red  Hugh  stood  forth  free !  Free, 
and  the  guard  giving  no  sign!  Henry  O'Neill  stretched  out  his 
hands,  while  Art  held  the  lamp.  Swiftly  the  good  file  did  its  work, 
and  Henry,  unfettered,  snatched  the  lamp  from  his  brother's  hands. 
Art  was  the  last  freed,  and  Hugh,  youngest  of  the  three,  did  all 
the  filing  with  his  own  sinewy  untiring  hands."  (Standish 
O'Grady.) 

Free  now,  unshackled,  swift  hands  tore  down  the  hangings  of 
the  bed,  knotted  them  together,  and  the  rope  was  ready.  The  hang- 
ings secured,  Henry  went  first,  then  Red  Hugh,  and  last  of  all 
Art,  who  in  his  descent  loosened  a  stone  which  fell  and  struck 
him.  They  flung  their  cloaks  from  them  when  they  reached  the 
open  air,  stole  to  the  moat,  and  entered  the  icy  water.  The  snow 
was  still  falling;  waiting  on  the  bank,  whitened,  listening  for  the 
strokes  of  the  swimmers,  the  horse-boy  stood.  He  carried  three 
pairs  of  strong  shoes;  their  horses  had  unfortunately  been  taken 
away.  Swiftly  their  guide  led  them  through  the  dark  streets  and 
alleys  to  the  outer  rampart.  And  there  Henry  O'Neill  was  miss- 
ing, having  fallen  behind  and  lost  his  way.  There  was  no  time  to 
return;  to  look  for  him.     The  Castle  and  death  were  behind.^ 

They  were  over  it;  out  into  the  deeper  darkness;  past  the  out- 
skirts of  the  city;  into  the  open  country,  on  towards  Slieve  Ruadh, 
the  Three  Rock  Mountain;  snow  everyAvhere.     They  passed  over 


1  Henry  O'Neill  succeeded  in  getting  to  Ulster  and  was  imprisoned  by  the 
Earl  of  Tyrone,  who  considered  him  a  rival  as  the  son  of  Shane  who  had  slain  the 
Earl's  father. 


RED  HUGH  381 

bogs  glimmering  white,  through  ravines;  up  among  the  snow  drifts 
on  the  slope,  the  hardy  tireless  horse-boy  leading,  Red  Hugh's  pace 
"vigorous  and  swift."  But  Art — his  strength  and  wind  had  given 
way — dropped  behind.  The  swift-paced  Red  Hugh  fell  back  to 
his  side,  supported  and  cheered  him;  kept  slow  step  with  his  slow 
step.  Soon  Art  could  only  limp,  and  moved  haltingly  along,  with 
an  arm'on  Red  Hugh's  shoulder  and  another  on  the  horse-boy's. 
Dawn  came;' Christmas  Day;  in  the  city  bells  were  heralding  the 
Birth;  in  the  Castle  there  was  wrath  and  fear — and  hot  pursuit. 
Then  Art  could  walk  no  longer.  Red  Hugh  and  the  horse-boy 
carried  him,  Red  Hugh  himself  with  blistered  feet  and  his  own 
strength  failing.  All  day  they  were  on  the  white  mountains,  linger- 
ing, resting,  advancing,  till  at  last  Red  Hugh  could  go  no  further, 
and  the  horse-boy  left  them,  hastening  if  he  might  to  save  them  and 
bring  help  from  Feach  O'Byrne.  Between  the  two  loughs,  Dan 
and  Glendalough,  under  a  rock,  or  in  an  open  cave,  it  is  thought, 
the  boys  waited.  They  slept  heavily  that  night,  and  awoke  in 
the  morning  to  a  second  day  of  cold  and  hunger.  For  forty  hours 
they  had  eaten  no  food.  Their  cloaks  were  gone,  shed  by  the 
Castle  moat;  they  had  only  their  doublets  and  hose. 

The  day  passed,  the  helpless  boys  waiting  in  the  snow,  and  the 
furious  foe  engirdling  the  white  mountains.  When  the  morning 
of  the  third  day  came  Art  was  dying.  Red  Hugh  ate  leaves,  and 
brought  some  to  Art.  "Eat  something,  no  matter  what,"  he  said. 
"See  the  brute  animals.  Art,  they  feed  on  leaves  and  grass.  True, 
we  are  rational,  yet  also  we  are  animals." 

But  Art  was  beyond  such  food,  beyond  any  food  indeed.  White 
death  there  by  the  rock  was  numbing  body  and  brain.  The  snow 
began  to  fall  again.  Evening  came.  Red  Hugh  lay  down  by  Art's 
side;  the  boys  clasped  their  arms  about  each  other.  The  snow 
covered  them. 

In  the  closing  twilight  Feach's  soldiers  found  them  in  that 
embrace.  Not  at  once,  so  hidden  were  they  under  the  snow.  By 
the  light  of  their  lanthorns  the  four  soldiers  groped  about,  finding 
the  search  not  easy.  "So  overlaid  were  they  with  the  snow  as  if 
with  blanket  which  had  congealed  around  them,  and  frozen  to 
them  their  skirts  of  fine  linen,  and  their  moistened  shoes  and  leather 
covering  of  their  feet,  and  they  themselves  were  completely  covered 
with  snow  and  there  was  also  no  life  in  their  members,  but  they 
were  as  dead." 

Their  arms  were  disentwined,  their  bodies  chafed,  spirits  put  be- 
tween their  lips,  "the  men  deeply  grieving  as  they  uncovered  the 
white  faces,  and  the  limp  motionless  limbs  of  the  noblest  born 


382  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

youths  in  all  the  land,  the  heir  of  Tir-Conaill  and  the  son  of  Shane." 
Art  passed  away.  Red  Hugh  revived,  spoke,  asked  for  his  dying 
friend.  Passionately  he  wept  when,  all  saving  efforts  failing.  Art 
died.  He  refused  to  eat  or  drink;  he  himself,  famishing,  cold,  just 
snatched  from  Death.  For  a  time  the  men  respected  his  grief,  then 
removed  Art's  body  from  his  sight,  persuaded  him  with  kindly  in- 
sistence to  eat  and  drink  a  little.  They  wrapped  him  in  their  cloaks, 
made  a  litter  of  their  spears,  and  bore  him  "within  the  rim  of  the 
broad  shield  extended  over  that  region" — the  shield  of  Feach — his 
feet  swollen  within  the  horse-boy's  shoes,  and  brought  him  to  Feach's 
house;  Feach,  of  whom  Spenser  wrote  that  he  "overcrowded  high 
mountains  and  dictated  terms  of  peace  to  mighty  potentates." 

Red  Hugh's  escape  sent  a  thrill  through  Ireland.  Messengers 
rode  north  and  south  and  east  and  west  with  the  joyous  word. 

After  hairbreadth  escapes  the  boy  eventually  reached  the  North. 
On  a  grey  of  speed  and  endurance  Red  Hugh  rode  with  yellow- 
haired  Turlough  Boy  O'Hagan  into  Dungannon — to  Hugh  O'Neill, 
"Earl"  of  Tir-Owen.  An  alliance  was  made  between  him  and  the 
earl,  he,  the  boy  of  eighteen,  who  had  been  so  deeply  injured,  and 
the  grave  sagacious  man,  who  foresaw  that  the  English  State  was 
working  secretly  for  his  overthrow;  to  whom  the  time  must  come 
when  he  would  have  to  defend  his  life,  his  territory,  his  people. 
That  alliance  buried  forever  clan-diplomacies  and  feuds  between  the 
two  great  houses. 

O'Neill  sent  him  on  to  the  Lord  of  Fermanagh,  Hugh  Maguire, 
a  very  tall,  handsome,  gay-spirited  young  man,  valiant  in  arms, 
who  when  a  lord  Deputy  proposed  to  send  a  sheriff  into  Fermanagh, 
suggested  to  the  Viceroy  that  he  had  better  let  him  know  the  price  of 
the  sheriff's  head  first.  Accompanied  by  a  fleet  of  boats.  Red  Hugh 
was  carried  in  Maguire's  state  barge  in  triumphal  processsion  down 
the  Erne  to  a  point  on  the  western  shore.  There  gentlemen  of  Tir- 
Conaill  met  him,  and  he  went  to  his  own  castle  of  Ballyshannon. 
There  was  joy  in  its  hall;  feasting,  the  music  of  war-pipes;  vows 
to  follow  him;  men's  courage  renewed.  He  was  laid  on  a  "bed  of 
healing,"  with  swollen  feet — one  permanently  lamed  by  those  nights 
in  the  snow.  But  not  long  did  he  lie  there.  Bingham's  captain  was 
besieging  Donegal  castle.  Within  it  his  brave  mother,  Inghin 
Dubh,'  waited  for  succour.  The  captain  had  gathered  much  spoil, 
intending,  the  castle  taken,  to  bring  those  beeves  to  Connacht  and 
Bingham.  Red  Hugh  rose,  laughed  at  his  surgeons,  called  out  his 
men,  and  marched  to  Donegal.     He  recovered  the  spoil,  freed  the 

2  Literally  Dark  Daughter. 


RED  HUGH  383 

castle  and  the  Dark  Daughter,  and  drove  the  captain  and  his 
soldiers  out  of  Tir-Conaill.  What  a  meeting  then  between  him  and 
his  dauntless  mother.  For  the  four  years  of  his  captivity,  aided 
faithfully  by  MacSwiney  of  the  Battle  Axes,  she  had  never  ceased 
to  try  to  obtain  his  release  and  keep  the  chieftaincy  for  him. 

On  a  May  day  the  lad  was  made  The  O'Donnell.  Sir  Hugh, 
his  father,  gladly  gave  place  to  a  son  so  fit  to  rule.  A  weak, 
hesitating  man,  he  had  let  his  wife,  the  Dark  Daughter,  strike  the 
blows  for  her  stolen  son.  Now  a  mild  old  man,  tired  of  a  vexatious 
world  where  treachery  and  dark  ways  prevailed,  he  was  about  to 
seek  the  goal  of  old  war-worn  Irish  princes,  the  rest  and  shelter  of 
a  monastery. 

Therefore  on  that  May  day,  young,  valiant,  beautiful,  but  lame 
in  one  foot — the  mark  of  his  captivity — the  boy  with  gifts  of  mind 
and  body  that  had  made  men  look  to  him  as  the  hope  of  Ireland, 
stood  on  the  Rock  of  Doone,  the  immemorial  throne  of  the  O'Don- 
nells,  the  white  wand  in  his  hand,  symbol  of  Authority  and  of  what 
his  rule  must  be,  white  and  straight;  and  turning  thrice  from  left  to 
right,  and  thrice  from  right  to  leftv,  in  honour  of  the  Holy  Trinity, 
he  viewed  from  every  point  his  territory.  Then  as  he  stood  still, 
erect  and  kingly,  the  rnaugurator  called  "O'Donnell!"  giving 
him  a  title  higher  than  any  the  foreigners  could  give,  the  ancient 
title  of  his  ancestors,  the  princes  of  Tir-Conaill.  And  each  man 
among  the  high  officials,  according  to  rank,  cried  out  "O'Don- 
nell!" and  the  voices  of  hundreds  of  clansmen  carried  "O'Don- 
nell !"  far  into  the  distance.  Thus  Red  Hugh's  star  rose  and  shone 
high  in  the  north  over  Ireland;  and  still  shines  in  the  dark  sky  of 
her  history. 

The  Nine  Years'  War  had  begun.  A  spear  darted  through  Tir- 
Conaill.  The  invader  was  driven  out;  chiefs  who  had  given  their 
allegiance  to  the  foreigner  were  taught  that  the  O'Donnell  was 
their  chief  and  prince.  He  swept  through  Ulster,  and  drove  out 
the  English  sheriffs.  He  entered  Connacht  and  hurled  Bingham's 
forces  before  him.  Hugh  O'Neill  watched  events;  waited,  held  his 
hand,  still  uncertain;  could  he  and  those  like  him  live  under  English 
rule  or  not?  He  visited  London,  answered  to  the  queen  the  charges 
made  against  him  and  won  her  favour  for  the  time.  But  his  destruc- 
tion was  decided  upon.  He  was  to  be  inveigled  to  Dublin  to  explain 
certain  fresh  charges,  a  safe  conduct  being  given  him.  Then,  by 
Elizabeth's  order,  he  was  to  be  seized.  It  was  feared  he  might  not 
come.  But  he  came,  walking  into  the  Council  Chamber  as  a  man 
who  had  nothing  to  dread.  He  w'ould  have  been  arrested  had  not 
the  Black  Earl  of  Ormond  declared  that<he  "would  not  use  treachery 


384  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

to  any  man."  Later  he  warned  O'Neill  to  leave  Dublin  that  night  as 
the  Deputy  was  preparing  to  prevent  his  getting  away  from  the 
city. 

So  the  issue  of  an  independent  Ireland  or  a  conquered  country 
was  now  to  be  put  to  the  sword.  Almost  for  the  first  time  since 
the  invasion  Ireland  had  a  statesman  who  saw  the  root  of  her  weak- 
ness, and  who  placed  the  politics  of  the  nation  before  the  politics 
of  the  clan. 


CHAPTER  XLV 

THi:  NINE  years'  WAR 

The  war  was  not  only  one  of  independence  but  a  religious  war  as 
well.  Men  looked  to  Spain,  the  great  Catholic  country;  would  she 
help?  Messengers  crossed  and  re-crossed  the  seas.  On  one  side 
was  the  entire  power  of  England  aided  by  her  Irish  auxiliaries. 
That  fact,  the  Irish  auxiliaries,  had  kept  the  English  forces  from 
being  driven  out  of  Ireland.  Another,  the  Irish  during  the  cen- 
turies had  not  realised  (maintaining  as  so  many  of  them  did  their 
own  independence)  that  the  invasion,  and  the  subsequent  colonies, 
were  calculated  and  unswerving  attempts  to  shatter  the  whole  fab- 
ric of  Irish  civilisation,  and  supplant  it  by  an  alien  one.  In  the  six- 
teenth century  the  mass  of  the  people  had  not  fully  realised  it  yet. 
They  were  but  beginning  to  do  so. 

And  those  auxiliaries — Irishmen  ranked  with  Henry's  or  Eliza- 
beth's troops,  winning  victories  over  their  countrymen,  let  the  fact 
explain  itself.  I  think  it  explains  itself  primarily  by  clan-politics, 
which  had  so  often  guided  the  actions  of  the  chiefs.  The  policy  of 
centralisation,  attempted  by  one  or  two  of  the  Irish  kings,  had 
never  developed.  "Despotism  tends  to  centralisation,  freedom  of 
the  people  to  decentralise,"  says  Eoin  MacNeill.  And  he  says, 
"among  the  Celts  as  among  the  Greeks  of  antiquity  and  the  Italians 
of  the  Middle  Ages,  the  instinct  of  local  freedom  usually  prevailed 
over  the  policy  of  centralisation,  and  what  we  may  call  neighbour- 
hoods, in  which  the  people  knew  all  about  each  other,  so  to  speak, 
formed  themselves  into  states  for  the  regulation  of  their  own  af- 
fairs. The  principle  was  the  same  as  that  which  measures  the 
areas  of  local  district  councils  in  our  time,  but  the  district  council 
of  antiquity  had  all  but  sovereign  powers." 

The  instinct  of  local  freedom  had  gathered  round  the  Norman 
houses  in  Ireland  during  the  centuries.  Thus  Irish  soldiers,  always 
true  to  their  leaders,  marched  with  the  Earl  of  Ormond,  or  the 
Earl  of  Kildare,  or  other  Norman  lord  who  paid  allegiance  to 
England;  or  followed  the  "queen's"  O'Reilly,  or  "queen's"  Mac- 
Mahon,  or  other  chief,  as  affection,  or  the  love  of  warfare,  or  the 

385 


386  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

pay  of  the  mercenary,  induced  them.  But  local  freedom  was  only 
the  skin  of  the  nation.  The  heart  was  true  to  nationality.  The 
bards  voiced  its  beat.  They  wrote  not  only  in  praise  of  their  own 
tuath  and  chief,  of  Offaly,  or  Thomond,  or  Tir-Owen,  or  other 
portions  of  Ireland,  but  of  Ireland  as  a  whole,  as  a  national  unit.^ 

O'Neill  cast  off  the  title  of  Earl,  and  was  proclaimed  The 
O'Neill.  Ulster  was  already  organised;  a  Northern  Confeder- 
acy was  formed.  His  weapon  was  ready.  Those  companies  whom 
he  had  trained  were  keen  steel  fit  for  use.  Seven  miles  from  his 
castle  a  fortress  was  held  by  the  English.  It  stood  by  the  Abhainn- 
Mor.  The  great  river,  Ulster  called  it;  the  Blackwater,  the  English. 
Men  said  they  gave  it  that  name,  not  because  of  its  turgid  waters 
but  because  they  had  so  often  met  disaster  and  defeat  on  its  banks. 
O'Neill's  men  stormed  the  fortress,  drove  out  the  English  garrison, 
levelled  the  fort,  and  burnt  the  bridge.  The  queen's  forces  held 
Monaghan.  He  marched  thither;  gave  battle  to  Norris,  the  Eng- 
lish general,  who  was  advancing  to  its  relief,  and  defeated  him. 
Hugh  Maguire,  finest  horseman  in  Ireland,  twice  rode  down  with 
his  cavalry  on  the  English  musketeers,  and  twice  broke  them. 
Monaghan  fell;  the  English  commander  was  allowed  to  go  free. 

England  proclaimed  O'Neill  an  enemy  and  a  traitor.  Armies 
were  sent  against  him.  He  evaded  or  defeated  the  armies.  He 
showed  generalship  of  a  high  order.  She  recalled  her  best  soldiers 
from  the  Spanish  war  In  Belgium,  and  flung  them  into  Ireland.  She 
sent  skilful  commanders  against  him,  Norris  and  Russell  and  Bag- 
enal.  Generals  and  soldiers  failed  to  break  his  power.  Then 
Elizabeth  opened  negotiations,  offering  fair  and  honourable  terms. 
O'Neill  knew  how  to  meet  them;  how  much  to  trust.  A  message 
came  from  Spain :  Fight  on !  Spanish  soldiers  are  coming.  O'Neill 
broke  off  the  negotiations  and  the  war  was  renewed.  Sligo  had 
fallen,  taken  by  Red  Hugh;  Bingham's  army  was  in  retreat  fol- 
lowed by  O'Donnell  who  "harried  It  with  missiles."  Norris  and 
his  veterans  marched  out  of  Athlone  to  meet  and  crush  Red  Hugh. 

Here  are  moving  pictures,  snatched  out  of  the  Nine  Years' 
War.  A  river  in  Mayo,  a  village;  on  the  south  bank  an  army  of 
ten  thousand  horse  and  foot;  men  in  scarlet  or  buff,  tunics,  with 
puffed  sleeves,  and  iron  breast-plates  and  backs;  forests  of  weapons; 
bright  pennants,  and  the  banner  of  Saint  George.  A  great  and 
well  ordered  army.     The  general  in  shining  steel,  wide  ruff,  and 

1  "The  names  of  Erin,  Banba,  Fodhla,  the  Land  of  Conn,  are  in  their  mouths 
every  moment,  and  to  the  last  they  persisted  in  their  efforts  to  combine  the  Gael 
against  the  Gall."    Literary  History  of  Ireland.     Hyde. 

For  this  reason  Spenser  hated  them.  "They  are  tending  for  the  most  part  to 
hurt  the  English,  for  the  maintenance  of  their  own  lewde  libertie,"  he  says. 


THE  NINE  YEARS'  WAR  387 

plumed  helmet;  officers  in  shining  steel  and  feathered  caps.  The 
general  is  Sir  John  Norris,  who  in  France  and  Belgium  had  earned 
a  great  name,  come  out  of  those  countries  to  clear  Ulster  and 
Connacht  of  the  rebels,  his  laurels  now  a  little  draggled  by  his  late 
encounters  with  O'Neill.  On  the  other  bank  are  the  Irish  horse 
and  foot,  about  five  thousand  men.  The  boy  who  had  broken 
England's  gyves  from  his  wrists  is  there;  the  army  is  his;  every- 
where he  has  led  it  to  victory.  His  cavalry  are  armed  with  head 
pieces,  shirts  of  mail,  a  sword,  a  skian,  a  spear.  Very  skilful  horse- 
men, who  ride  upon  saddles  without  stirrups,  and  who  carry  the 
lances  not  under  the  arm  when  riding  to  the  charge,  but  by  the 
middle,  above  the  arm.  And  his  infantry — those  picked  and 
selected  men  of  mighty  bodies,  the  "greatest  force  of  the  battle" — 
they  are  the  gall-oglach  (gallowglasses),  "great  scorners  of  death," 
men  choosing  to  die  rather  than  yield,  "so  that  when  it  came  to 
handy  blows  they  are  quickly  slain  or  win  the  field."  And  his  light 
infantry,  the  ceitherne  (Kernes),  with  targets  of  wood,  barbed 
darts  and  muskets :  and  the  horse-boys,  "not  less  serviceable  in  the 
meating  and  dressing  of  horses,  than  hurtful  to  the  enemy  with 
their  darts."  The  Robe  flows  between;  along  its  banks  there  is 
fighting  for  a  day  and  a  night.  A  pause;  Norris's  drums  beat  a 
parley;  the  boy  and  the  veteran  meet.  There  is  a  truce  all  day; 
every  day;  but  fierce  fighting  at  night,  attacks  on  each  other's  camps ; 
captures  of  out-posts  and  scouts;  hand  to  hand  encounters.  And 
each  day  till  sun-down  the  truce  lasts;  and  Red  Hugh  and  his  chiefs 
and  his  friend,  "the  ever  valiant  Maguire,"  the  gay  young  Lord 
of  Fermanagh  who  is  heart  and  soul  in  the  war,  discuss  terms  of 
peace  with  Norris.  Did  ever  boy  commander  and  experienced 
general  meet  thus  as  equal  peers  in  war  before?  A  month  passes, 
and  the  terms  come  to  nothing.  A  messenger  gallops  into  the  Irish 
camp;  he  brings  news;  a  Spanish  ship  is  in  Rathmullan  Bay;  Spain 
has  promised  help.  Norris  raises  his  camp  and  retires,  rear  and 
wing  harassed  by  the  swift-following  ceitherne.  But  to  neither 
wing  nor  rear  does  he  send  help.  Behold  that  high  hedge  in  front; 
he  will  entrap  the  pursuers  across,  then  turn  and  cut  them  down. 
Young  falcon  eye  sees  the  danger.  That  is  Red  Hugh  on  that 
galloping  horse.  He  holds  in  the  men;  he  bids  none  cross.  So 
Norris,  baulked  of  his  plan,  continues  his  retreat  in  wrath,  utter- 
ing terrible  imprecations  against  fate  which  had  condemned  him 
"to  lose  In  Ireland,  the  smallest  speck  of  the  wide  world,  that 
fame  which  his  valour  and  military  skill  had  earned  for  him  In 
France  and  Belgium." 

Red  Hugh  went  like  a  flame  through  the  west.     He  scattered 


388  iTHE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

his  enemies,  and  drove  Bingham  before  him.  He  re-captured  Sligo 
castle;  defeated  Clifford,  the  English  governor  of  Connacht,  in  the 
Curlew  pass;  brought  the  Burkes — the  turbulent  haughty  Norman 
clan — to  his  standard  and  to  accept  his  right  to  choose  and  in- 
augurate their  chief;  and  for  every  day  of  his  captivity  he  paid 
by  the  stroke  of  his  sword. 

The  war  spread  to  Leinster;  for  young  Eoiny  O'More,  son  of 
Rory  O'More,  had  returned  to  Leix,  a  boy  men  thought  "not  yet 
of  an  age  for  war."  Faithful  friends  had  brought  him  when  a 
little  child  to  Feach  O' Byrne  who  had  guarded  him  in  his  Wicklow 
fortress.  But  Feach  could  no  longer  protect  him  for  Feach  was 
dead,  killed  in  an  ambush,  and  his  sons,  Felim  and  Raymond, 
gallant  young  men  fighting  the  enemy,  could  not  take  care  of  a  boy 
considered  too  young  for  arms.  So  he  was  sent  back  to  Leix. 
There  he  declared  he  was  a  man  and  would  lead  men.  His  father's 
clan  gathered  round  him,  rejoiced,  and  made  him  their  chief.  The 
English  governor  of  Leix  sent  a  force  to  seize  him.  They  were 
beaten  with  the  loss  of  fifty  men.  "A  stirring  youth  who  hath 
lately  taken  weapon,"  wrote  old  Fitzwilliam  to  London,  "the 
O'Mores  look  to  him  to  be  their  captain."  Before  he  was  of  age 
Eoiny  had  won  a  name  for  skill  and  daring.  He  recognised 
O'Neill's  authority;  visited  the  north,  and  received  his  consent  to 
strike  a  blow  at  the  English  forces  in  Munster.  With  eight  hundred 
foot  and  a  handful  of  horse  the  boy  darted  into  the  province. 
Ormond,  in  command  of  the  queen's  troops,  was  too  late  to  oppose 
him.  Eoiny  and  his  men  shot  past.  There  was  alarm;  rapid 
musterings.  The  Lord  President  Thomas  collected  soldiers  in 
haste  and  waited  at  Mallow  to  beat  the  audacious  Leinster  lad. 
The  lad  came  up  very  readily.  A  herald  rode  to  the  gate  and 
handed  in  a  letter.  Eoiny  O'More  challenged  the  Lord  President 
to  bring  out  his  army  and  give  battle.  He  wrote  several  "bold 
letters."  Norris  took  counsel;  left  a  small  garrison  in  Mallow 
and  retreated  to  Cork  followed  by  Eoiny  whose  light-armed  men 
skirmished  with  his  rear.  That  retreat  rang  through  Munster. 
Men  enrolled;  leaders  and  captains  were  found;  messages  were 
sent  to  O'Neill.  The  boy's  dart-like  stroke  had  re-kindled  the 
war  in  the  province. 

In  the  North  a  beautiful  woman  flits  into  the  war  scene — ar 
English  girl,  a  beauty  of  nineteen.  Her  name  was  Mabel  Bagenal. 
Her  father,  one  Nicholas  Bagenal,  having  killed  a  man  of  positior 
in  England,  had  sought  refuge  in  Ireland.  The  earl's  grandfather, 
Conn  the  Lame,  had  befriended  him,  and  had  obtained  his  pardor 
from  Henry  VIII.     Bagenal  got  large  grants  of  forfeited  lands 


THE  NINE  YEARS'  WAR  389 

became  a  foe  of  O'Neill's  and  died  Marshal  of  Elizabeth's  forces 
in  Ireland. 

In  the  summer  of  1591,  Hugh  O'Neill,  still  in  friendship  with 
the  queen  and  her  Deputy,  met  the  beauty,  and  they  fell  in  love  with 
each  other.  Her  friends  approved.  The  marriage  was  a  great 
one  for  the  girl.  Up  there  in  Tyrone  she  would  be  a  countess  and 
something  more.  But  she  had  a  brother,  Sir  Henry  Bagenal, 
Marshal  of  Ireland,  O'Neill's  secret  enemy.  When  the  earl  asked 
for  her  hand,  not  directly  refusing,  he  raised  difficulties  about  the 
"incivilities"  of  the  earl's  country.  By  "incivilities"  he  meant  bar- 
barism, the  word  so  frequently  used  by  the  English  when  the  two 
civilisations  met.  He  sent  her  to  her  sister,  living  near  Dublin, 
who  encouraged  the  lovers.  Their  betrothal  took  place,  and  O'Neill 
gave  the  girl  a  gold  necklace  of  great  value.  A  month  later  O'Neill 
went  to  a  dinner  at  this  sister's  house  with  a  retinue  of  English 
friends.  People  dined  at  noon.  In  the  long  August  afternoon 
when  the  feast  was  over,  the  guests  wandered  on  the  lawns  and 
played  at  games.  But  the  girl  slipped  out  of  the  house  to  where  a 
pillioned  horse  and  a  gentleman  of  O'Neill's  suite  were  waiting. 
There  was  a  swift  ride  to  a  friend's  house.  O'Neill  followed.  The 
Bishop  of  Meath,  the  "queen's"  bishop  married  them,  and  the  earl 
took  his  bride  north,  built  a  fine  house  for  her,  and  "furnished  it  out 
of  London," 

Bagenal  was  now  his  mortal  enemy.  The  beautiful  girl  lived 
to  see  her  husband  throw  off  his  English  title  and  unfurl  the  banner 
with  the  Red  Hand  of  O'Neill.  A  little  change  of  fate — and  she 
might  have  been  a  queen.    She  became  a  Catholic,  and  died  in  1596. 

Two  years  later  O'Neill  and  Bagenal  met.  Not  alone.  To 
that  encounter  each  brought  an  army.  Bagenal  at  the  head  of 
the  queen's  forces  had  been  sent  to  crush  a  prince  who  aimed  at  an 
independent  Ireland.  So  far  O'Neill  had  been  the  victor  in  Ulster. 
So  victorious  had  he  been  that  several  attempts  at  negotiation  had 
been  made  by  the  English.  He  had  refused  to  meet  the  queen's 
commissioners  except  at  the  head  of  his  army.  Once  he  had  dictated 
terms;  the  Catholic  Church  was  to  be  left  undisturbed;  no  sheriff 
admitted  into  Irish  territories;  and  payment  made  to  him  of  his 
wife's  dowry  which  Bagenal  had  kept.  While  he  was  moving  thus 
triumphantly  through  Ulster  "every  blow  he  dealt  was  re-echoed  by 
Red  Hugh  in  Connacht." 

It  was  1598,  the  sixth  year  of  the  war;  the  month  August. 
Bagenal  was  to  relieve  Portmore,  held  by  a  queen's  garrison,  now 
starving,  and  wipe  "the  rebels"  out  of  existence.  He  had  already 
made  a  successful  stroke.     He  had  got  provisions  into  Armagh, 


390  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

occupied  by  queen's  troops,  and  had  surprised  O'Neill's  camp. 
From  the  latter  he  had  been  quickly  dislodged,  and  fell  back  on 
Armagh. 

Before  sunrise  he  marched  out  of  that  city  to  attack  O'Neill. 
His  English  soldiers  were  veterans  who  had  fought  in  France,  or 
had  been  picked  from  Belgian  garrisons.  His  Irish  auxiliaries  were 
mercenaries  who  had  given  proof  of  their  valour.  The  son  of  the 
"queen's"  O'Reilly  was  with  them;  a  young  man  so  extremely  hand- 
some, of  splendid  figure,  called  the  "Fair."  This  battle,  the  big- 
gest of  the  war  in  the  North,  is  called  the  Battle  of  the  Yellow 
Ford. 

Bagenal  went  out,  his  horse  and  foot  sheathed  in  mail,  heavily 
armed.  It  was  an  army  gleaming  with  crested  plumes,  silken 
sashes,  military  ornaments.  Brass  cannon  it  had,  mounted  on 
wheels,  drawn  by  horses.     These  made  the  army  formidable. 

In  the  Irish  camp  a  council  of  war  was  held.  The  stars  had 
not  waned  when  the  leaders  met.  Before  the  tent  a  guard  was 
drawn;  around  it  were  gathered  high-born  faces,  "the  youth  of  the 
nobility  of  Ulster,"  and  "young  Connachtmen  of  by  no  means 
ignoble  birth."  The  lines  of  the  camp,  covering  the  field,  stretched 
far  in  the  dim  dawn;  men  standing  to  their  horses;  close-knit  ranks 
of  gall-oglach;  light  armed  foot;  all  waiting  for  the  command;  to 
accept  battle  or  to  retire. 

For  patrols  had  brought  O'Neill  information  of  the  heavy 
muskets  carried  by  Bagenal  soldiers;  of  the  veterans  trained  on 
the  continent;  of  the  disciplined  Irish  mercenaries;  of  the  brass 
cannon.  Was  it  right  to  risk  a  battle?  Red  Hugh  was  with  him. 
He  had  marched  up  from  Connacht  with  three  thousand  men,  one 
thousand  Connacians,  two  thousand  Ultonians.  And  there  was 
Angus  MacDonnell,  Red  Hugh's  cousin,  son  of  the  famous  Sorley 
Boy  whom  Shane  the  Proud  had  once  taken  prisoner.  And  Hugh 
Maguire,  lord  of  Fermanagh,  first  cavalry  officer  in  Ireland.  As 
O'Neill  hesitated  a  man  stood  up.  He  was  a  high  official,  Feareasa 
O'Clery,  hereditary  historian  of  Tir-Conaill.  He  held  a  vellum 
in  his  hand,  centuries  old.  Why  did  the  great  O'Neill  doubt,  the 
descendant  of  many  kings,  he  asked;  why  the  noble  O'Donnell, 
his  prince,  son,  too,  of  kings;  why  the  Maguire,  the  high-born  and 
generous;  why  MacDonnell  of  the  Isles;  why  the  captains,  sons 
of  heroes,  gathered  at  that  council?  Listen  to  the  words  of  Ber- 
chan,  one  of  the  four  prophets  of  Ireland.  And  the  men  listened. 
To  Berchan,  nme  centuries  before  had  been  given  a  vision  flung  far 
in  time.  He  had  caught  the  sounds  of  a  battle  as  he  walked  by  the 
Yellow    Ford;    strange    thunderings;    battle-shouts    of    men;    the 


THE  NINE  YEARS'  WAR  391 

cla^h  of  arms;  the  charge  of  horse.  And  on  him  had  come  the 
spirit  of  prophecy;  whereupon  he  wrote  down  that  there  far  in  the 
future  the  men  of  Erin  would  meet  and  defeat  their  foes. 

This  decided  O'Neill.  The  prophecy  was  read  to  the  men; 
none  doubted  its  fulfilment  that  day.  O'Neill  made  them  a  speech 
— one  sentence  golden:  "Victory  lies  not  in  senseless  armour,  nor 
in  the  vain  din  of  cannon,  but  in  living  and  courageous  souls." 

He  awaited  battle  on  the  ground  on  which  the  army  stood. 
Across  the  plain  that  lay  before  the  camp  a  deep  trench  had  been 
dug  and  an  embankment  four  feet  high  made.  Bogs  lay  on  each 
side. of  the  plain,  and  a  muddy  yellow  stream  flowed  into  the  trench. 
Beyond  the  plain  was  a  scattered  wood  of  hawthorns  and  junipers. 
Beyond  this  again  pits  had  been  dug  and  covered  with  hay  and 
brambles.  A  body  of  light  armed  troops  were  stationed  in  the 
wood,  "beardless  youths,"  about  five  hundred,  armed  with  muskets. 
Bagenal  had  to  pass  through  the  wood.  The  August  morning 
was  bright  and  fine.  By  seven  his  vanguard,  musketeers  and  horse, 
was  seen  marching  up  the  road.  In  the  main  body — pikemen  in 
three  columns  formed  the  centre;  cavalry  and  a  second  division  of 
musketeers  the  rear.  The  "beardless  youths,"  posted  among  the 
trees,  fired  on  the  van.  Then  they  darted  from  tree  to  tree  firing 
repeatedly  from  snaphance  or  matchlock.  The  van  could  not 
charge;  could  not  dislodge  them.  Bagenal  galloped  up;  tried  to 
Jkeep  his  men  steady;  tried  to  clear  the  wood.  But  the  smooth  bold 
young  faces  mocked  his  ei^orts.  "Very  angry,"  says  the  historian, 
"were  Bagenal  and  his  veterans  at  being  attacked  and  harassed  by 
such  boyish  and  silly  sort  of  men." 

In  time  he  extricated  his  troops,  and  got  on  the  plain.  The 
beardless  ones  held  the  ground  in  front.  Bagenal  ordered  his 
cavalry  to  charge.  Men  and  horses  fell  into  the  pits,  and  the  boys 
fired  on  those  who  came  to  their  rescue.  There  were  skirmishes, 
retirements,  charges,  advances  of  fresh  battalions,  but  it  was  not 
till  eleven  o'clock,  four  hours  after  he  had  entered  the  wood,  that 
Bagenal's  army  found  itself  in  front  of  O'Neill's  camp. 

There  was  the  ditch.  It  was  lined  by  O'Neill's  men.  The 
battle  raged  here.  The  brass  cannon  soon  made  a  breach;  three 
of  Bagenal's  divisions  got  over.  The  Irish  pikemen  who  had 
retired  in  disorder  before  the  cannon  re-formed  and  rushed  upon 
the  musketeers.  Bagenal,  oppressed  by  the  weight  of  his  armour 
and  the  heat  of  the  fight,  raised  his  visor.  A  bullet,  then  entering, 
ended  his  career.  The  Irish  horse  charged;  the  queen's  musketeers 
broke  and  fled;  their  cavalry  joined  in  the  flight.  A  number  were 
cut  down  as  they  tried  to  re-cross  the  ditch.     The  three  divisions 


392  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

were  panic-stricken,  broken  and  flying.  Nothing  could  stop  the 
helter-skelter.  The  Yellow  Ford  was  fought  and  won.  Portmore 
and  Armagh  surrendered  to  O'Neill. 

The  brilliant  victory  freed  Ulster.  It  made  an  immense  sen- 
sation in  England.  It  was  talked  of  on  the  continent.  "The  gen- 
eral voice,"  says  the  English  contemporary  historian,  Moryson, 
"was  of  Tyrone  after  the  defeat  of  the  Blackwater,  as  of  Hannibal 
among  the  Romans  after  the  defeat  at  Cannae." 

O'Neill's  authority  was  recognised  over  the  greater  part  of 
Ireland.  He  strengthened  his  defences,  appointed  or  dismissed 
officials,  nominated  chiefs,  acted  with  justice  and  wisdom.  No 
English  forces  could  stand  before  him.  The  confederation  of  the 
chiefs  seemed  firmly  knit.  Ireland  appeared  about  to  achieve 
her  freedom. 

For  a  time  the  question  was  alone  put  to  the  sword.  Elizabeth, 
an  old  woman  now,  with  the  levity  of  youth  among  her  courtiers, 
an  ungovernable  temper  when  roused,  sent  Essex,  her  favourite, 
to  re-conquer  Ireland.  He  came  with  the  largest  army  yet  sent  to 
the  country.  O'Neill  outwitted  him  at  every  move;  beat  his  troops; 
reduced  him  to  impotency.  Once  they  had  an  interview  on  the 
banks  of  the  Lagan,  O'Neill  learnt  his  ambitions,  mastered  his 
thoughts;  turned  his  mind  practically  Inside  out.  He  dictated 
terms;  Essex  accepted  them  as  far  as  he  could  without  royal 
authority.  When  the  enraged  Elizabeth  heard  of  them  she  re- 
called Essex,  whose  head  went  to  the  block. 

Then  O'Neill  made  something  like  a  royal  progress  from  the 
north  to  the  south.  The  southern  noblemen  and  gentlemen  visited 
him  on  the  banks  of  the  Lee.  He  Issued  a  proclamation  styling 
himself  Defender  of  the  Faith.  He  showed  himself  a  statesman 
and  soldier.  When  he  returned  to  the  North  his  power  was  con- 
firmed. 

If  the  sword  failed  there  were  other  methods  for  England  to  use. 
Mountjoy  and  George  Carew  were  sent  to  Ireland.  These  men 
were  to  break  up  the  confederation.  Craft,  treachery,  offers  of 
friendship  (not  to  be  kept),  gold,  bribes,  were  their  weapons. 
Letters  of  betrayal  were  forged  purporting  to  come  from  a  member 
of  the  confederation.  In  time  these  methods  succeeded.  The 
confederation  was  weakened.  There  were  serious  defections,  and 
O'Neill  and  O'Donnell  were  eventually  left  to  carry  on  the  fight  In 
Ulster.  This  they  did  heroically.  O'Donnell  held  the  coast  lines 
on  the  north  against  an  English  force  that  had  landed  there;  O'Neill 
the  southern  frontier.    "They  fought  as  it  were  back  to  back  against 


THE  NINE  YEARS'  WAR  393 

the  opposite  lines  of  attack."  Through  the  spring  and  summer  of 
1 60 1  that  fight  went  on.  By  September  little  had  been  gained  by 
the  English  except  in  Munster.  Then  came  the  long  promised  aid 
from  Spain;  three  thousand  men  were  landed  at  Kinsale — instead 
of  the  five  thousand  which  O'Neill  had  warned  must  be  the  minimum, 
if  landing  was  made  in  the  south.  The  English  troops  were  at 
once  concentrated  in  the  south,  and  Kinsale  invested  by  an  English 
fleet.  The  general  in  command  of  the  Spaniards*  was  unfit  for  the 
work;  an  ill-tempered,  impatient  man  with  no  grasp  of  generalship. 
He  was  dismayed  and  angry  at  finding  himself  besieged  instead  of 
meeting  friends.  Sorely  against  their  will  he  forced  the  Northern 
Chiefs  to  march  and  fight  their  way  south  to  him.  And  then,  again 
contrary  to  O'Neill's  expert  advice,  forced  them  to  attack  his 
besiegers  (under  Carew)  when  it  were  wiser  to  besiege  them.  A 
series  of  fatal  mistakes,  aggravating  d'Aquila's  bad  generalship, 
lost  them  a  battle  that  they  could  have  won — and  which,  being  won, 
would,  in  all  probability,  have  left  Ireland  an  independent  king- 
dom. 

By  error  and  accident  it  was  lost.  A  council  was  held  that 
night.  Though  O'Neill  wished  to  continue  the  war  in  Munster, 
as  some  of  the  northern  chiefs  for  private  reasons  decided  to  return 
to  their  own  territories,  Hugh  O'Neill  was  forced  to  fall  back  on 
Ulster.  O'Donnell  sailed  for  Spain  to  see  the  king,  and  ask  for 
further  help.  After  bright  promises,  delays,  disappointments  he 
fell  ill  on  his  way  to  see  the  King  again,  died,  and  was  buried  with 
princely  honours  in  the  Cathedral  of  St.  Francis,  Valladolid. 

For  three  hundred  years  his  death  was  supposed  to  be  from 
natural  cause.  Then,  by  chance,  it  was  discovered  in  an  English 
State  paper  that  Carew  with  Mountjoy's  approval  had  sent  an 
agent  to  Spain  to  poison  Red  Hugh.  He  was  twenty-eight  when 
he  died.  His  captivity  when  a  boy,  his  escape,  his  brilliancy  as  a 
commander,  his  many  victories,  his  unalterable  hatred  of  the  in- 
vader, his  loyalty  to  O'Neill,  the  whole  romance  of  his  story  has 
attracted  Irish  hearts  to  him  through  the  centuries  since  his  death. 
"He  was  the  sword,  as  O'Neill  was  the  brain,  of  the  Ulster  con- 
federation." His  voice  was  sweet  and  musical.  He  loved  jus- 
tice and  was  faithful  to  his  promises.  He  showed  courage  and 
resource  in  the  presence  of  difficulties;  was  quick  to  seize  oppor- 
tunities; maintained  rigid  discipline  in  his  army;  was  patient  in 
hardships;  courteous  and  affable  in  manner;  absolutely  open  and 
sincere.  He  never  married;  his  private  life  was  without  a  stain. 
One  who  knew  him  said  "he  was  a  great  despiser  of  the  world." 


394  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

Noble,  generous,  with  tireless  activity,  daring,  with  his  handsome 
person,  his  splendid  spirit,  as  one  of  the  last  of  Ireland's  princes, 
his  name  has  been  a  star  in  the  nation's  memory. 

Three  strongholds  remained  for  the  Irish  in  Munster  after 
d'Aquila  had  capitulated,  getting  off  safe  with  his  men.  They  held 
out,  hoping  for  new  aid  from  Spain.  Each  was  isolated.  In  time 
they  fell.  The  defence  of  Dunboy  castle  by  Donal  O'Sullivan  and 
his  captain,  MacGeoghegan,  and,  when  it  fell,  of  O'Sullivan's  march 
with  one  thousand  persons  including  women  and  children  from 
Kerry  to  O'Rourke's  castle  in  Leitrim,  is  a  great  epic,  unknown 
outside  Ireland.  It  has  all  the  elements  of  the  great  Tragedies; 
indomitable  souled  men;  defiance  of  fate;  encounters  with  foes; 
encounters  with  the  elements,  with  storm  and  frost  and  snow;  men 
with  dying  bodies  and  unquenchable  spirit,  battling,  marching, 
praying.  Of  the  company  scarce  one  hundred  reached  O'Rourke's 
country. 

O'Neill  fought  his  way  up  to  Ulster,  fought  there,  held  his  own 
for  months.  When  news  came  of  O'Donnell's  death  and  he  knew 
the  cause  was  lost,  he  accepted  terms  offered  him  by  the  Lord 
Deputy.  His  territories  were  to  be  restored  to  him;  the  Catholic 
religion  given  free  exercise  within  them;  a  fresh  patent  of  earldom 
drawn  out.  Red  Hugh's  younger  brother,  Ruari  O'Donnell,  had 
already  submitted,  obtained  terms,  and  was  made  Earl  of  Tir- 
Conaill. 

Before  the  treaty  was  signed  Elizabeth  died — a  maniac.  James 
of  Scotland,  who  succeeded  her,  formed  a  plan  for  planting  Ulster 
with  Scotch  and  English  settlers.  But  the  two  Earls  were  in  the 
way.  It  was  necessary  to  destroy  them.  The  method  was  the  old 
one.  They  were  to  be  charged  with  a  plot.  An  anonymous  letter 
found  by  the  Council  Chamber  in  Dublin  Castle  revealed  the  plot. 
According  to  it  O'Neill  intended  to  seize  the  Castle,  slay  the 
Deputy,  and  start  another  rebellion. 

The  letter  really  emanated  from  London.  It  was  devised  by 
Cecil,  the  Secretary  of  State;  St.  Lawrence,  Lord  Howth,  was  to 
carry  out  the  plot  and  to  inveigle  O'Neill  and  O'Donnell  to  a  meet- 
ing in  his  house.  It  was  sufficient.  They  were  cited  to  appear 
in  London  to  answer  the  charge.  With  his  perfect  knowledge  of 
the  English  Government's  craft,  and  aware  that  the  planters  were 
waiting  for  the  word  to  fall  upon  O'Donnell's  and  his  own  terri- 
tories, O'Neill  knew  that  their  destruction  had  been  decided  upon. 
Their  case  was  desperate.  Safety  alone  was  In  flight.  Yet  the 
thought  filled  them  with  bitter  sorrow. 

Into  exile  they  must  go.     There  were  those  who  would  wel- 


THE  NINE  YEARS'  WAR  395 

come  them  on  the  continent:  the  Archdukes  in  Brussels;  the  King 
of  Spain;  the  Pope  in  Rome.  And  there  were  Irish  swordsmen 
in  the  continental  armies.  A  chance  might  arise.  If  O'Neill  was 
old,  he  was  yet  unbroken;  and  there  were  his  sons,  Hugh  and 
Shane  and  Brian,  and  his  nephew  Art;  to  them,  or  to  one  of  them, 
might  be  given  the  task  to  take  up  that  sword  that  he  had  laid 
down,  when  he  accepted  Mountjoy's  terms. 

A  French  ship  entered,  anchored  in,  Lough  Swilly.  O'Neill 
journeying  northward  at  the  news,  stayed  at  a  friend's  house  on 
the  way  "wept  abundantly  when  he  took  his  leave,  giving  every 
child  and  every  servant  in  the  house  a  solemn  farewell,  which  made 
them  all  marvel,  because  in  general  it  was  not  his  manner  to  use 
such  compliments."  He  remained  two  nights  in  his  own  home, 
Dungannon  castle.  There  must  have  been  anguish  in  his  soul. 
Statesman,  soldier,  victorious  general  he  had  been;  now  all  was 
over.  On  the  border  of  old  age,  beset  with  cruel  enemies,  what 
fate  might  await  him?  And  Ireland — Tyrone?  The  wolves  were 
out,  the  bitter  planters,  the  greedy  adventurers;  who  could  resist 
them? 

It  was  1607.  He  journeyed  to  Lough  Swilly  with  his  wife 
Catherine,  daughter  of  MacGuiness,  Lord  of  Iveagh,  his  three 
sons,  other  relations  and  attendants.  Ruari  O'Donnell  was  al- 
ready there  with  his  two  brothers,  his  sister  Nuala,  his  hereditary 
bard  and  attendants.  And  there  was  Conor  Maguire,  brother  of 
Hugh  now  dead;  fifty  persons  in  all  in  the  flight.  The  Flight  of 
the  Earls  it  is  called  in  Irish  history.  It  stirred  darkly  the  hearts 
of  the  Irish.  The  ominous  news  went  from  province  to  province. 
The  bards  dirged  it.  Men  knew  that  the  last  bulwark  against  the 
Saxon  sheriff  and  the  Saxon  Law  had  fallen.  "It  is  certain  that 
the  sea  has  not  borne,  and  the  wind  has  not  wafted  in  modern 
times,"  wrote  the  Four  Masters  nearly  thirty  years  later,  "a  num- 
ber of  persons  in  one  ship  more  eminent,  illustrious,  noble  in  point 
of  genealogy,  heroic  deeds,  valour,  feats  of  arms,  and  brave 
achiev^ements  than  they.  Would  God  had  permitted  them  to  re- 
main in  their  inheritance."  ^ 

^  THE  PRINCES  OF  THE  NORTH 

BY  ETHNA  CAREER Y 

Summer  and  winter  the  long  years  have  flown 
Since  you  looked  your  last  for  ever  on  the  hills  of  Tyrone; 
On  the  vales  of  Tyrconnell,  on  the  faces  strained  that  night 
To  watch  you,  Hugh  and  Rory,  over  waves  in  your  flight. 

Not  in  Uladh  of  your  kindred  your  beds  hath  been  made, 

Where  the  holy  earth  laps  them  and  the  quicken-tree  gives  shade ; 


396  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

After  a  fearfully  perilous  voyage  they  landed  in  France.  They 
visited  different  courts,  in  time  settling  in  Rome  where  the  Pope 
gave  them  a  handsome  pension.  O'Donnell  died  within  a  year; 
O'Neill  in  1616.  English  spies  surrounded  him  till  his  death. 
Their  reports  mention  that  in  the  evenings,  after  dining,  O'Neill 
had  but  one  topic:  "his  face  would  glow,  he  would  strike  the  table, 
he  would  say  that  they  would  yet  have  a  good  day  in  Ireland."  On 
his  death  every  honour  paid  to  royalty  was  paid  to  him.  He  was 
buried  in  the  Franciscan  Church  of  San  Pietro  di  Montorio,  on 
the  Janiculum  hill.  One  of  his  sons  had  died  before  him;  and  an- 
other, Brian,  page  to  the  Archdukes  in  Brussels,  was  murdered  by 
agents  of  the  English  Government. 

The  Nine  Years'  War  was  the  last  stand  that  Ireland  as  a  na- 
tion under  her  own  laws  made  against  England  and  English  laws. 
After  the  battle  of  Kinsale  the  new  rule  rushed  in.  Not  every 
thing  native  went  down  at  first;  the  schools  for  a  time  continued. 
Wherever  breathing  space  was  found  they  arose  and  flourished. 
They  kept  the  learning  and  the  traditions  of  the  past.  They  pro- 
duced a  generation  of  scholars  who  saved  from  utter  destruction 
the  records  of  Irish  civilisation  and  Irish  history.  "During  the 
first  half  of  the  seventeenth  century,  the  Irish,  heavily  handicapped 
as  they  w^ere,  and  deprived  of  the  power  of  printing,  nevertheless 
made  tremendous  efforts  to  keep  abreast  of  the  rest  of  Europe  in 

But  your  dust  lies  afar,  where  Rome  hath  given  space 
To  the  tanist  of  O'Donnell,  and  the  Prince  of  Nial's  race. 

O,  sad  in  green  Tyrone  when  you  left  us,  Hugh  O'Neill, 

In  our  grief  and  bitter  need,  to  the  spoiler's  cruel  steel ! 

And  sad  in  Donegal  when  )-ou  went,  O !  Rory  Bait, 

From  your  father's  rugged  towers  and  the  wailing  of  your  clanl 

Our  hearts  had  bled  to  hear  of  that  dastard  deed  in  Spain ; 
We  wept  our  Eaglet,  in  his  pride  by  Saxon  vileness  slain ; 
And,  girded  for  revenge,  we  waited  but  the  call  of  war 
To  bring  us  like  a  headlong  wave  from  heathery  height  and  scaur. 

Ochon  and  ochon!  when  the  tidings  travelled  forth 

That  our  chiefs  had  sailed  in  sorrow  from  the  glens  of  the  North; 

Ochon  and  ochon!  how  our  souls  grew  sore  afraid. 

And  our  love  followed  after  in  the  track  your  keel  had  made! 

And  yet  in  green  Tyrone  they  keep  your  memory  still, 
And  tell  you  never  fled  afar,  but  sleep  in  Aileach  Hill — 
In  stony  sleep,  with  sword  in  hand  and  stony  steed  beside, 
Until  the  Call  shall  waken  you — the  rock  gate  open  wide. 

Will  you  come  again,  O  Hugh,  in  all  your  olden  power, 

In  all  the  strength  and  skill  we  knew,  with  Rory,  in  that  hour 

When  the  Sword  leaps  from  its  scabbard,  and  the  Night  hath  passed  away, 

And  Banba's  battle-cry  rings  loud  at  Dawning  of  the  Day? 

— From  "The  Four  Winds  of  Eirinn." 


THE  NINE  YEARS'  WAR  397 

science  and  literature.  It  was  indeed  an  age  of  national  scholar- 
ship which  has  never  since  been  equalled.  It  was  this  century  that 
produced  in  rapid  succession  Geoffrey  Keating,  the  Four  Masters, 
and  Duald  MacFirbis,  men  of  whom  any  age  or  country  might 
be  proud,  men  who  amid  the  war,  the  rapine,  and  conflagration 
that  rolled  through  the  country  with  the  English  soldiers,  still  strove 
to  save  from  the  general  wreck  those  records  of  their  country  which 
to-day  make  the  name  of  Ireland  honourable  for  her  antiquities, 
traditions,  and  history,  in  the  eyes  of  the  scholars  of  Europe."  * 

Not  till  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century  were  these  schools 
finally  crushed.  The  hedge-schools  were  their  shadowy  children. 
While  the  Irish  language  was  the  language  of  the  mass  of  the  peo- 
ple the  histor}'  and  traditions  of  the  country  were  familiar  to  them. 
To  the  1 8th  century  belong  the  majority  of  those  manuscripts  writ- 
ten in  beautiful  script,  on  coarse  paper  stained  brown  by  turf-smoke, 
bound  in  untanned  sheep-skin  covers,  which  re-tell  the  Heroic  Tales 
and  folklore  of  Ireland.  And  so  vivid  and  strong  was  oral  tradi- 
tion enshrined  in  the  language  that  a  poor  blind  wandering  poet  in 
the  early  years  of  the  19th  century  can  relate  in  verse  after  verse 
the  history  of  his  country  from  the  mythic  invasions  to  the  Tithe- 
war  of  his  own  day. 

At  the  end  of  the  Elizabethan  wars  the  conquest  of  Ireland 
appeared  completed.  The  beginning  of  the  17th  century  saw  the 
overthrow  of  the  clan  and  communal  system,  the  destruction  of 
the  great  Gaelic  Houses,  and  the  establishment  of  centralisation 
by  a  despotic  power.  The  centralisation,  carried  out  rigorously, 
placed  the  government,  patronage,  power,  and  the  ownership  of 
the  land  in  the  hands  of  the  English  colonists.  The  standing  fact, 
however,  is  that  the  conquest  was  not  completed.  It  was  surface 
deep,  no  more.  On  that  surface  the  English  Law  ran,  and  her 
armed  forces  moved.  But  the  soul  of  Ireland  was  unconquered. 
For  two  centuries  after  the  conclusion  of  the  Elizabethan  wars  the 
great  bulwark  of  Irish  nationality  was  the  Irish  language.  Eng- 
land recognised  this;  she  made  every  effort  to  destroy  it.  The 
memory  of  the  Brehon  Laws  survived  to  the  19th  century,  and 
showed  itself  in  the  Land  League  and  the  people's  claims.  Ire- 
land's body  was  in  chains,  but  her  soul  and  mind  were  free. 

FOR  THE  ELIZABETHAN   PERIOD: 

Carew's  Manuscripts. 

Dymmok's  Treatise. 

Hyde's  Literary  History  of  Ireland. 

*  Douglas  Hyde,  "Literar>'  History  of  Ireland." 


398  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

Sir  John  Davies*  Letters. 

Mountjoy's  Report  to  English  Privy  Council. 

Rev.  C.  P.  Meehan,  M.  R.  I.  A.,  Irish  Franciscan  Monasteries. 

O'Clery's  Life  of  O'Donnell. 

Edmund  Spenser's  View  of  the  State  of  Ireland. 

Don  Philip  O'Sullivan's  History  of  the  Catholic  War  in  Ireland. 

Pacata  Hibernia. 

Fynes  Morryson. 

Sir  William  Stanley's  Letters. 


CHAPTER  XLVI 

SUPPRESSING    THE    RACE 

Through  these  many  dread  centuries  England's  energies  were  con- 
centrated upon  an  effort,  seemingly,  to  annihilate  the  Irish  race. 

Says  Edmund  Burke  (Letter  to  Sir  Hercules  Langrishe)  : 
"All  the  penal  laws  of  that  unparalleled  code  of  oppression  were 
manifestly  the  effects  of  national  hatred  and  scorn  towards  a  con- 
quered people  whom  the  victors  delighted  to  trample  upon  and 
were  not  at  all  afraid  to  provoke.  They  were  not  the  effect  of 
their  fears,  but  of  their  security  .  .  .  whilst  that  temper  pre- 
vailed, and  it  prevailed  in  all  its  force  to  a  time  within  our  mem- 
ory, every  measure  was  pleasing  and  popular  just  in  proportion 
as  it  tended  to  harass  and  ruin  a  set  of  people  who  were  looked 
upon  as  enemies  to  God  and  man;  indeed,  as  a  race  of  savages 
who  were  a  disgrace  to  human  nature  itself." 

Yet  with  that  sublime  disregard  of  humour  which  is  the  privi- 
lege of  an  elect  people,  one  old  English  historian  and  champion 
piously  exclaims  anent  "how  much  Ireland  is  beholden  to  God  for 
suffering  them  to  be  conquered,  whereby  many  of  their  enmities 
were  cured — and  more  might  be,  were  themselves  only  pliable." 

Differing  from  most  other  conquered  peoples  the  Irish  have 
been  made  to  suffer  through  the  centuries  not  only  from  the  con- 
queror's dreadful  sword  but  perhaps  even  more  from  the  con- 
queror's far  more  dreadful  "justice."  The  laws  Imposed  upon 
Ireland  from  the  Norman's  first  coming,  down  till  to-day  or  yes- 
terday, far  surpassed  in  ferocity  any  of  the  repressive  systems 
temporarily  imposed  upon  any  other  of  the  sorest  suffering  con- 
quered ones  of  the  world. 

For  many  cruel  centuries  British  law  in  Ireland  only  took  no- 
tice of  the  native  as  a  subject  on  which  to  exercise  its  repressive 
or  exterminating  power.  We  have  record  of  a  trial  In  Waterford 
as  early  as  13 lo — when  the  British  law  was  still  new  to  the  nation 
— in  which  Robert  le  Waleys,  a  Briton,  was  charged  with  the  mur- 
der of  John,  the  son  of  Ivor  MacGillemory.  The  defence  taken 
was  that  while  admitting  the  prisoner  had  killed  John,  yet  it  was 

399 


400  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

no  murder,  since  the  slain  one  was  only  an  Irishman!  To  meet 
this  effective  line  of  defence  the  public  prosecutor  contended  that 
the  man  killed  was  not  Irish  but  Ostman  (Dane).  In  the  same 
era  we  find  Donal  O'Neill,  in  his  remonstrance  addressed  to  Pope 
John  XX,  stating  that  the  murder  of  an  Irishman  was  not  a  felony, 
and  "it  is  no  more  sin  say  even  some  of  their  religious  to  kill  an 
Irishman  than  to  kill  a  dog."  "They  were  out  of  the  protection 
of  the  law,"  says  Sir  John  Davies,  "so  that  every  Englishman 
might  oppresse,  spoile,  and  kill  them  without  controulement."  ^ 

And  Sir  Richard  Cox,  himself  one  of  the  elect,  records:  "If 
an  Englishman  be  damnified  by  an  Irishman  not  amenable  to  law, 
he  may  reprise  himself  on  the  whole  tribe  or  nation." 

Says  the  English  historian  Leland:  "Every  inconsiderable 
party,  who,  under  pretence  of  loyalty,  received  the  king's  com- 
mission to  repel  the  adversary  In  some  particular  district,  became 
pestilent  enemies  to  the  inhabitants.  Their  properties,  their  lives, 
the  chastity  of  their  families,  were  all  exposed  to  barbarians,  who 
sought  only  to  glut  their  brutal  passions,  and  by  their  horrible  ex- 
cesses, salth  the  annalist,  purchased  the  curse  of  God  and  man." 

The  solemn  and  well  considered  statutes  of  the  realm  were 
likewise  well  designed  to  make  smooth  the  lot  of  English  exiles 
among  the  wild  Irlshrle.  "It  shall  be  lawful,"  says  one  of  these 
statutes  (5  Ed.  IV)  "to  all  manner  of  men  that  find  any  thieves 
robbing  by  day  or  by  night,  or  going  or  coming  to  rob  or  steal, 
having  no  faithful  man  of  good  name  in  their  company,  in  Eng- 
lish apparel,  upon  any  of  the  liege  people  of  the  king,  to  take  and 
kill  them,  and  to  cut  off  their  heads,  without  any  Impeachment  of 
our  sovereign  lord  the  king,  his  heirs,  officers,  or  ministers,  or  of 
any  others."  In  plain  language  this  empowered  any  of  the  British 
in  Ireland  to  kill  at  sight  any  Irishman  whom  he  wished  to  kill. 

In  the  reign  of  the  third  Edward  was  passed  the  famous  Statute 
of  Kilkenny  for  reclaiming  or  preserving  the  English  In  Ireland 
from  Irish  witchery.  Although  the  beneficent  laws  had  branded 
Irishmen  outlaws  in  their  own  country,  and  the  rulers  had  pro- 
claimed them  savages,  barbarians,  it  was  noticed  that  their  man- 
ners, their  customs,  their  dress,  their  ways,  their  language,  had 

*  Davies,  in  his  "Discoverie,"  said  that  the  plagues  of  Egypt  were  short,  but 
the  plagues  of  Ireland  lasted  four  hundred  years.  It  was  three  hundred  years  ago 
that  Davies  wrote  this  when  the  said  plagues  were  only  beginning  to  get  the  stride 
which  carried  them  through  centuries  after  with  ever-increasing  impetus.  Davies, 
then,  had  just  aided  in  imposing  on  the  stricken  country  one  of  the  worst  of  the 
plagues — the  British  Undertaker  on  whom  was  bestowed  the  lands  of  which  his 
master,  James  the  First,  robbed  the  Ulstermen. 


SUPPRESSING  THE  RACE  401 

uncanny  attraction  for  the  Anglo-Norman  settlers  who  quickly 
became  Irish  in  all  these  things;  so  the  Statute  of  Kilkenny  was 
in  1367  considered  necessary.  This  Statute  made  it  high  treason 
to  adopt  the  Irish  dress,  speak  the  Irish  language,  practise  the 
Irish  customs,  avail  of  the  Irish  laws  (which  were  "wicked  and 
damnable"),  follow  Irish  fosterage  or  gossipred,  or  intermarry 
with  the  Irish.  Yet,  despite  this  Statute,  and  many  others  to 
the  same  purport  passed  again  and  again  in  later  generations,  the 
ways — and  the  women — of  the  outlawed  "barbarian"  still  be- 
witched and  won  the  hearts  of  the  Anglo-Normans,  till  at  length 
they  became — in  the  historic  phrase  used  in  the  English  complaint 
"ipsis  Hibernlcis  Hiberniores" — more  Irish  than  the  Irish  them- 
selves. They  had  become  savage  of  the  savage,  adopting  all  the 
"savage"  manners,  customs,  dress,  language. 

Languages  it  should  be  said,  for  the  Irish  "savages"  spoke 
Irish  and  Latin  indifferently.  Sir  Richard  Cox  complained  that 
"every  cowboy  in  Ireland"  tried  his  tongue  at  Latin.  Sir  John 
Perrott  (1585)  reported  of  one  of  "the  degenerate  English" — 
the  term  applied  to  those  who  had  voluntarily  resigned  their  Eng- 
lish heritage,  and  assimilated  with  the  Irish — "I  found  MacWil- 
liam  verie  sensible,  and  though  wanting  the  English  tongue  yet 
understanding  the  Latin." 

When  the  De  Burghos  renounced  England  to  become  Irish  in 
all  things  (under  the  name  of  MacWilliam)  they  came  before  the 
English  Castle  at  Athenry,  and  in  sight  of  the  garrison  there, 
threw  off  their  English  dress,  and  donned  the  Irish  costume. 

In  1569  one  of  the  Galway  English,  Dominick  Linche,  makes 
complaint  to  the  English  Privy  Council  that  "the  brothers  of  the 
erle  of  clan-Rickerde,  yea,  and  one  of  his  uncles,  and  he  a  byeshop 
(bishop)  can  neither  speak  nor  understand  anything  of  the  Eng- 
lish language."  Their  languages,  like  that  of  the  Irish  of  their 
class,  were  Irish  and  Latin,  In  1535  a  Welsh  officer  marching 
in  the  South  with  Lord  Butler,  wrote  in  surprise  of  the  type  of 
"degenerate  English"  which  he  met.  One  of  them,  a  brother-in- 
law  of  Lord  Butler,  whose  name,  had  he  not  fallen  away,  would 
have  been  FitzGerald,  but  who  now  wore  the  Irish  name  of  Mac- 
Shean,  could  speak  never  a  word  of  English,  "but  he  made  the 
troops  good  cheer  in  the  gentlest  fashion  that  could  be."  Refine- 
ment and  gentility,  in  a  man  who  scorned  the  English  language, 
were  amazing  to  find! 

And  in  1589,  after  Munster  had  been  successively  devastated 
by  first  ruthless  war,  then  famine,  and  then  planted  with  English 


402  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

undertakers,  one  of  the  latter,  Robert  Paine,  writing  from  Limer- 
ick to  his  partners  in  England,  says  that  "English  is  being  taught 
to  Irish  pupils  there  through  the  medium  of  Latin."  (Paine's 
"Brief  Description  of  Ireland  in  1589.") 

"The  verie  English  of  birth,"  complains  Campion,  "convers- 
ant with  the  brutish  sort  of  that  people  [the  Irish]  become  de- 
generate in  short  space,  and  quite  altered  into  the  first  ranke  of 
Irish  rogues."  Yet,  elsewhere  we  discover  from  Campion  re- 
garding these  brutish  Irish:  "They  speake  Latine  like  a  vulgar 
tongue,  learned  in  their  common  schools  of  leachcraft  and  law, 
whereat  they  begin  children,  and  hold  on  sixteene  or  twentie  years 
conning  by  roate  the  aphorisms  of  Hypocrates,  and  the  Civill 
Institutions."" 

After  the  new  religion  had  been  introduced  to  Ireland  new 
doors  were  open  for  the  persecution  of  the  Irish  Race,  and  fresh 
inspiration  for  the  work  was  supplied.  By  virtue  of  Henry's  war- 
rant, the  churches  and  monasteries  were  robbed  of  their  riches, 
shrines  were  defiled,  sacred  relics  were  burned  or  scattered,  beau- 
tiful statues  were  smashed,  orders  of  religious  were  expelled  from 
hundreds  of  their  houses — which  went  to  enrich  his  minions — and 
beautiful  churches  were  wrested  from  the  people. 

And  as  the  Reformation  progressed  in  age,  its  ingenious  meth- 
ods for  bringing  the  knowledge  of  the  true  God  to  the  people 
progressed  likewise.  Some  of  the  subjects  chosen  for  inducting 
of  religion  into,  "were  burned  before  a  slow  fire;  some  were  put 
on  the  rack  and  tortured  to  death;  whilst  others,  like  Ambrose 
Cahill  and  James  O'Reilly,  were  not  only  slain  with  the  greatest 
cruelty,  but  their  inanimate  bodies  were  torn  into  fragments,  and 
scattered  before  the  wind."  The  fate  of  the  gentle  and  saintly 
Archbishop  Plunkett  is  only  too  well  known:  "His  speech  ended 
and  the  cap  drawn  over  his  eyes,  Oliver  Plunkett  again  recom- 
mended his  happy  soul,  with  raptures  of  devotion  into  the  hands 
of  Jesus,  his  Saviour,  for  whose  sake  he  died — till  the  cart  was 
drawn  from  under  him.  Thus  then  he  hung  betwixt  Heaven  and 
earth,  an  open  sacrifice  to  God  for  innocence  and  religion;  and 
as  soon  as  he  expired  the  executioner  ripped  his  body  open  and 

2  And  the  prejudiced  Campion  admits  of  these  savages:  "The  people  are 
thus  inclined;  religious,  franke,  amorous,  irefull,  sufiferable  of  paines  infinite,  very 
•glorious,  great  givers,  passing  in  hospitalitie ;  the  lewder  sort  are  sensual,  but 
reformed,  are  such  mirrours  of  holinesse  and  austeritie,  that  other  nations  retain 
but  a  shewe  or  shadow  of  devotion  in  comparison  of  them.  Abstinence  and 
fasting  is  to  them  a  familiar  kind  of  chastisement.  They  are  sharp-witted,  lovers 
of  learning,  capable  of  any  studie  whereunto  they  bend  themselves,  constant  in 
travaile,  adventurous,  intractable,  kinde-hearted,  secret  in  displeasure." 


SUPPRESSING  THE  RACE  403 

pulled  out  his  heart  and  bowels,  and  threw  them  in  the  tire  already 
kindled  near  the  gallows  for  that  purpose."^ 

Under  Elizabeth  it  was  enacted  that  every  Romish  priest  found 
in  Ireland  after  a  certain  date  should  be  deemed  guilty  of  re- 
bellion, that  he  should  be  hanged  till  dead,  then  his  head  taken  off, 
his  bowels  taken  out  and  burned,  and  his  head  fixed  on  a  pole  in 
some  public  place. 

Keating  tells  us  how  Bishop  Patrick  O'Healy  and  Cornelius 
O'Rourke  were  put  to  the  rack,  had  their  hands  and  feet  broken 
by  hammers,  needles  thrust  under  their  nails,  and  were  finally 
hanged  and  quartered. 

It  was  under  Elizabeth  that  the  price  fixed  on  the  head  of  a 
priest  was  made  uniform  with  that  on  the  head  of  a  wolf.*  And 
under  her  was  passed  the  law  of  Recusancy  fixing  heavy  penalties 
upon  all  delinquents  who  refused  to  attend  Sabbath  services  in  the 
church  of  the  new  religion. 

It  was  not  alone  the  religion  of  the  Irish  people  that  was  then 
sought  to  be  wiped  out,  but  their  very  life.  Her  armies  with  torch 
and  sword,  converted  a  smiling  fruitful  country  into  a  fearful 
desert.  Edmund  Spenser  in  his  "View  of  the  State  of  Ireland" 
thus  graphically  pictures  a  little  of  what  Elizabeth  accomplished: 
"Notwithstanding  that  the  same  was  a  most  rich  and  plentiful 
country,  full  of  corne  and  cattel,  yet,  ere  one  yeare  and  a  half, 
they  were  brought  to  such  wretchedness  as  that  any  stony  heart 
would  rue  the  same.  Out  of  every  corner  of  the  woods  and  glenns, 
they  came  creeping  forth  upon  their  hands,  for  their  legs  could 
not  bear  them;  they  looked  like  anatomies  of  death;  they  spake 
like  ghosts  crying  out  of  their  graves;  they  did  eate  the  dead 

3  The  following  are  a  few  samples  of  the  tens  of  thousands  of  such  efforts 
for  the  reforming  of  the  Irish. — Two  Franciscans  were  taken  and  thrown  into 
the  sea,  and  another  was  trampled  to  death  by  horses.  Three  laymen,  at  Smer- 
wick,  had  their  legs  and  arms  broken  with  hammers,  and  then  were  hanged,  and 
similar  torture  was  inflicted  on  the  abbot  of  Boyle.  Three  Franciscans,  at  Abbey- 
Icix,  were  first  beaten  with  sticks,  then  scourged  with  whips  until  the  blood  came, 
and  finally  were  hanged.  One  Roche  was  taken  to  London  and  flogged  publicly 
through  the  streets,  and  then  tortured  in  prison  until,  he  died ;  another  being 
flogged,  had  salt  and  vinegar  rubbed  into  his  wounds,  and  then  was  placed  on 
the  rack  and  tortured  to  death.  And  Collins,  a  priest  at  Cork,  was  first  tortured, 
then  hanged,  and  whilst  he  yet  breathed,  his  heart  was  cut  out  and  held  up, 
soldiers  around  crying  out  in  exultation.  Long  live  the  Queen. — From  "Our 
Martyrs,"  quoted  by  E.  A.  D'Alton  in  his  "History  of  Ireland." 

*  Five  pounds  was  the  usual  price  for  both — but  Burton's  Parliamentary  Diary 
of  June  10th,  1567,  records  the  words  of  Major  Morgan,  M.P  for  Wicklow — who 
was  protesting  in  Parliament  against  striking  more  taxes  on  Ireland — "We  have 
three  beasts  to  destroy  that  lay  burdens  upon  us;  the  first  is  a  wolf  upon  whom 
we  lay  five  pounds ;  the  second  beast  is  a  priest  on  whom  we  lay  ten  pounds — if 
he  be  eminent,  ruore;  the  third  beast  is  a  Tory,"  etc. 


404  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

carrions,  happy  where  they  could  finde  them;  yea,  and  one  another 
soone  after;  insomuch  as  the  very  carcasses  they  spared  not  to 
scrape  out  of  their  graves,  and,  if  they  found  a  plot  of  water- 
cresses  or  shamrocks,  there  they  flocked  as  to  a  feast  for  the  time; 
yet,  not  able  to  continue  there  withal;  that  in  shorte  space,  there 
was  none  almost  left,  and  a  most  populous  and  plentiful  countrey 
suddainlie  left  voyde  of  man  and  beast." 

Lecky  in  the  preface  to  his  History  of  Ireland  in  the  Eighteenth 
Century  says :  "The  slaughter  of  Irishmen  was  looked  upon  as 
literally  the  slaughter  of  wild  beasts.  Not  only  men,  but  even 
women  and  children  who  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  English,  were 
deliberately  and  systematically  butchered.  Bands  of  soldiers  tra- 
versed great  tracts  of  country,  slaying  every  living  thing  they  met." 
And  he  also  says :  "The  suppression  of  the  native  race  was  car- 
ried on  with  a  ferocity  which  surpassed  that  of  Alva  in  the  Nether- 
lands, and  which  has  seldom  been  exceeded  in  the  pages  of  his- 
tory." 

The  honest  Scottish  Protestant  Dr.  Smiles  sums  up  the  Eliza- 
bethan work  in  Ireland,  "Men,  women  and  children  wherever 
found  were  put  indiscriminately  to  death.  The  soldiery  was  mad 
for  blood.  Priests  were  murdered  at  the  altar,  children  at  their 
mother's  breast.  The  beauty  of  woman,  the  venerableness  of  age, 
the  innocence  of  youth  was  no  protection  against  these  sanguinary 
demons  in  human  form." 

The  Protestant  Rev.  Dr.  Taylor,  in  his  History  of  the  Ci\al 
War  in  Ireland,  bears  testimony  to  the  fact  that  these  Irish  bar- 
barians, when  opportunity  offered  for  avenging  themselves  on 
their  persecutors,  took  their  revenge  in  a  manner  that  would  have 
done  credit  to  a  civilised  people — say,  to  the  gentle  English.  He 
tells  how,  when  in  the  reign  of  Queen  Mary  the  persecutors  of  the 
Catholics  found  their  occupation  gone,  "The  restoration  of  the 
old  religion  was  effected  without  violence :  no  persecution  of  the 
Protestants  was  attempted;  and  several  of  the  English,  who  fled 
from  the  furious  zeal  of  Mary's  inquisitors,  found  a  safe  retreat 
among  the  Catholics  of  Ireland.  It  is  but  justice  to  this  maligned 
body  to  add  that  they  never  injured  a  single  person  in  life  or  limb 
for  professing  a  religion  different  from  their  own.  They  had 
suffered  persecution  and  learned  mercy,  as  they  showed  in  the 
reign  of  Mary,  and  in  the  wars  from  1641  to  1648."^ 

5  For  more  light  upon  the  subject  of  this  Chapter  see  the  later  Chapter  on 
Cromwell. 


CHAPTER  XLVII 

THE    ULSTER   PLANTATION 

Within  a  decade  after  the  "Flight  of  the  Earls"  came  the  Ulster 
Plantation — a  scheme  of  fatal  and  far-reaching  consequence  for 
the  Island  ever  since. 

It  was  the  Sixth  James  of  Scotland  who,  after  he  became  James 
I  of  England,  perpetrated  this  crime.  The  land-greedy  and  gain- 
greedy  among  his  Scotic  fellow-countrymen,  and  among  the  Eng- 
lish, were  the  instigators.  Upon  Ireland  the  covetous  eyes  of  such 
people  were  ever  turned.  The  flight  of  the  Earls  proved  a  wel- 
come excuse  for  the  wholesale  robbing  of  the  clans.  It  was  a  very 
simple  matter  to  find  that  all  the  Northern  chiefs  had  been  con- 
spiring to  rebel — against  England.  Hence  they  were  "traitors" 
— to  England !  And  naturally  their  estates  were  forfeit  and  for 
distribution  among  James'  hungry  followers. 

That  the  clan-lands  did  not  then,  or  ever  at  any  time,  belong 
to  the  chieftain,  but  to  the  whole  clan  community,  was  a  matter  of 
no  consequence.  According  to  English  law  and  custom  it  should  be- 
long to  the  people's  lords  (chiefs).  And  if  "civilised"  law  did 
not  obtain  in  Ireland,  it  must  be  imposed  wheresoever  British 
profit  could  be  reaped  from  such  imposition. 

The  English  Lord  Lieutenant,  Sir  Arthur  Chichester,  and  the 
Attorney  General,  Sir  John  Davies,  were  the  instruments,  under 
James,  for  giving  effect  to  the  great  Plantation.  The  lands  of 
the  six  counties  of  Donegal,  Derry  (then  called  Coleraine),  Ty- 
rone, Fermanagh,  Cavan  and  Armagh — four  million  acres — were 
confiscated.  (The  lands  of  the  three  remaining  Ulster  counties, 
Antrim,  Down  and  Monaghan  were  bestowed  upon  Britons  at 
other  times.)  The  true  owners,  the  natives,  were  driven  like  wild 
fowl  or  beasts,  from  the  rich  and  fertile  valleys  of  Ulster,  which 
had  been  theirs  from  time  immemorial,  to  the  bogs  and  the  moors 
and  the  barren  crags — where  it  was  hoped  that  they  might  starve 
and  perish.  English  and  Scotch  Undertakers  (as  they  were 
called),  and  Servitors  of  the  Crown,  scrambled  for  the  fertile 
lands  which  were  given  to  them  in  parcels  of  one  thousand,  one 

405 


4o6  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

thousand  five  hundred,  and  two  thousand  acres.  The  County  of 
Coleraine  (Derry)  was  divided  up  among  the  London  trade 
Guilds,  the  drapers,  fishmongers,  vintners,  haberdashers,  etc. — 
who  had  financed  the  Plantation  scheme.  The  Church  termon 
lands  were  bestov/ed  upon  the  Protestant  bishops.  And  thus  a 
new  nation  was  planted  upon  the  fair  face  of  Ireland's  proudest 
quarter. 

The  new  nation  was  meant  to  be  the  permanent  nation  there. 
The  written  conditions  upon  which  the  new  people  got  their  lands 
specifically  bound  them  to  repress  and  abhor  the  Irish  natives — 
conditions  which  through  hundreds  of  years  since  the  new  people 
have  faithfully  endeavoured  to  carry  out.  They  were  bound  never 
to  alien  the  lands  to  Irish,  to  admit  no  Irish  customs,  not  to  inter- 
marry with  the  Irish,  not  to  permit  any  Irish  other  than  menials 
to  exist  on  or  near  their  lands.  And  they  were  bound  to  build 
castles  and  bawns,  and  keep  many  armed  British  retainers — thus 
constituting  a  permanent  British  garrison  which  would  help  to 
tame  if  not  exterminate  the  Irish  race.  Sir  John  Davies,  the  Scotic 
king's  very  faithful  servant,  assures  us  that  his  master  did  tame 
the  whole  race.  In  his  book,  "A  Discoverie  of  the  True  Causes 
why  Ireland  was  never  Subdued  and  Brought  under  Obedience  to 
the  Crowne  of  England  until  the  Beginning  of  His  Majestie's 
Happie  Reign,"  he  says,  "The  multitude  having  been  brayed  as  it 
were  in  a  mortar  with  sword,  pestilence  and  famine,  altogether 
became  admirers  of  the  Crowne  of  England." 

And  when  they  were  made  true  admirers  of  the  Crown  of 
England  it  was  that  their  fertile  possessions  were  given  to  the 
stranger,  and  they  sent  to  co-habit  with  the  snipe  and  the  badger 
among  the  rocks  and  heather.  And  the  faithful  servant,  Sir  John, 
a  pious  Puritan  rogue  who  strained  his  powers  to  rob  and  wrong 
the  natives  even  far  beyond  the  sweeping  robbery  powers  which 
the  "law"  provided  to  his  hand — this  Saint,  In  the  traditional 
British  fashion,  tells  us:  "This  transplanting  of  the  natives  is 
made  by  his  Majestic  like  a  father,  rather  than  a  lord  or  monarch. 
.  .  .  So  as  his  Majestic  doth  In  this  Imitate  the  skilful  husband- 
man who  doth  remove  his  fruit  trees,  not  on  purpose  to  extirpate 
and  destroy,  but  the  rather  that  they  may  bring  forth  better  and 
sweeter  fruit!"  And  when  the  starving  one,  from  his  perch  among 
the  rocks,  glanced  over  the  smiling  valleys  from  which  James  had 
transplanted  him  for  his  own  betterment.  It  is  easy  to  conceive 
the  depth  of  feeling  with  which  he  appreciated  that  kind  father's 
solicitude. 

The  character  of  the  Planters  who  were  given  the  lands  of 


THE  ULSTER  PLANTATION  407 

the  hunted  onc3  is  recorded  for  us  by  the  son  of  one  of  them,  and 
also  by  a  hiter  one  of  their  own  descendants.  Kcid  in  his  "His- 
tory of  the  Irish  Presbyterians"  says:  "Among  those  whom  divine 
Providence  did  send  to  Ireland  .  .  .  the  most  part  were  such  as 
either  poverty  or  scandalous  lives  had  forced  hither," 

And  Stewart,  the  son  of  a  Presbyterian  minister  who  was  one 
of  the  Planters,  writes:  "From  Scotland  came  many,  and  from 
England  not  a  few,  yet  all  of  them  generally  the  scum  of  both 
nations,  who  from  debt,  or  breaking,  or  Heeing  justice,  or  seeking 
shelter,  came  hither  hoping  to  be  without  fear  of  man's  justice." 

Sore  Indeed  was  the  lot  of  the  poor  Irish  in  the  vi^oods,  and 
mountains,  and  moors.  Thousands  of  them  perished  of  starva- 
tion. Other  many  thousands  sailed  away  under  leaders  to  enlist 
in  the  Continental  armies.  To  far  Sweden  alone  went  no  less  than 
six  thousand  swordsmen.  But  the  lot  of  those  who  lived  and  re- 
mained was  sorer  far  than  of  those  who  Avent  either  to  exile  or  to 
death.' 

Hill's  Plantation  of  Ulster. 
Sir  John  Davies'  Irish  Tracts. 
MacNevin's  Ulster  Plantation. 

^  The  great  wrong  inflicted  upon  those  who  were  robbed  of  their  all,  to  en- 
rich James'  Scots  and  English,  is  well  exemplified  in  an  incident  related  by  the 
Loyalist  Duchess  of  Buckingham  (married  to  the  Earl  of  Antrim),  who,  when 
she  was  taking  a  thousand  men  southward,  to  strengthen  the  cause  of  Charles, 
went  aside  at  Limavady  to  see  the  wife  of  O'Cathain,  late  chieftain  of  that  coun- 
try. In  the  ruined  hall  of  the  O'Cathain  castle — once  the  frequent  scene  of  light- 
hearted  revelry,  but  whose  window-casements  now  were  stuffed  with  straw — was 
huddled  CyCathain's  lady  whose  beauty  and  whose  bounty  had  evoked  sweet  tunes 
from  many  harps,  and  inspired  many  a  minstrel's  lav.  Wrapt  in  an  old  blanket, 
she  was  seated  on  her  hams  on  tlie  hearth,  cowering  over  a  miserable  fire  of 
brambles  which  she  had  laboriously  gathered  from  the  woods. 


CHAPTER  XLVIII 

THE    RISING    OF    164I 

But  the  Irish  were  not  content  to  starve  and  die  upon  the  moors, 
while  they  watched  the  usurper  wax  fat  upon  their  fathers'  fertile 
plains.  As  their  suffering  and  starvation  were  prolonged  and 
increased,  their  wrath  against  the  foreign  robber  daily  grew  greater 
also;  and  ere  a  generation  had  elapsed,  it  burst  in  a  fierce  red  flood 
that  swept  the  terrorised  Undertakers  before  it — and  just  nar- 
rowly missed  sweeping  them  from  Ulster  forever. 

The  Rising  of  1641  was  the  natural  outcome  of  the  great 
wrong  of  the  generation  before.  And  the  reader  can  easily  un- 
derstand the  frenzied  fury  with  which  this  rebellion  overswept 
northern  Ireland,  and  the  swift  vengeance  wreaked  by  the  fren- 
zied ones  upon  the  callous  robber  and  oppressor — a  vengeance, 
however,  lacking  the  calculated  savagery,  and  unspeakable  brutal- 
ity, which,  in  return  the  Scottish  and  English  troops  visited  upon 
the  native  population,  of  both  sexes  and  all  ages,  during  the  fear- 
ful decade  that  followed. 

To  Rory  O'Moore,'  of  the  Offaly  family  of  the  O'Moores, 

1  RORY  O'MOORE 

(An  Ulster  Ballad  of  the  Rising) 

On  the  green  hills  of  Ulster  the  white  cross  waves  high, 
And  the  beacon  of  war  throws  its  flames  to  the  sky ; 
Now  the  taunt  and  the  threat  let  the  coward  endure, 
Our  hope  is  in  God  and  in  Rory  O'Moore ! 

Do  you  ask  why  the  beacon  and  banner  of  war 
On  the  mountains  of  Ulster  are  seen  from  afar? 
'Tis  the  signal  our  rights  to  regain  and  secure, 
Through  God  and  our  Lady  and  Rory  O'Moore ! 

For  the  merciless  Scots,  with  their  creed  and  their  swords, 
With  war  in  their  bosoms,  and  peace  in  their  words, 
Have  sworn  the  bright  light  of  our  faith  to  obscure, 
But  our  hope  is  in  God  and  Rory  O'Moore, 

Oh !  lives  there  a  traitor  who'd  shrink  from  the  strife 
Who,  to  add  to  the  length  of  a  forfeited  life, 
His  country,  his  kindred,  his  faith  would  abjure? 
No !  we'll  strike  for  our  God  and  for  Rory  O'Moore ! 

408 


THE  RISING  OF  1641  409 

a  cultured  and  travelled  gentleman,  is  chiefly  due  the  credit  for 
that  great  resurgence  of  the  Irish  race.  For  years  he  patiently 
worked  both  among  the  leading  Irish  families  at  home,  Irish  Gen- 
erals In  the  Continental  armies,  and  other  representative  Irish 
exiles  and  sympathisers  in  the  European  countries — to  bring  about 
the  overthrow  of  the  British  power  in  Ireland.  And,  plans  being 
all  matured,  the  Rising  broke  in  Ulster  on  the  night  of  the  21st 
October,  1641. 

The  Rising  of  that  memorable  night  was  a  wonderfully  drama- 
tic coup.  Leaders  of  the  old  Ulster  families — Phelim  O'Neill, 
Magennis,  O'Hanlon,  O'llagan,  MacMahon,  McGuire,  O'Quinn, 
O'Farrell,  O'Reilly — at  the  head  of  their  cohorts,  staunch,  wild- 
eyed,  long  repressed,  burst  from  their  fastnesses  in  the  hills  and 
the  woods  with  one  loud,  long,  strong,  victory  shout  that  might 
well  have  been  heard  by  the  straining  exiles  on  the  Continent — 
and  in  a  few  hours  made  Ulster  their  own  again.  Practically  in 
one  night  they  may  be  said  to  have  reconquered  their  province, 
having  sent  the  Planters  scurrying  into  the  few  Ulster  cities  that 
they  still  could  hold — Enniskillen,  Derry,  Coleraine,  Belfast.  Out-, 
side  these  few  places  Ulster  was  Ireland's  again,  as  far  south  as, 
and  Including,  the  city  of  Dundalk.  And  in  a  few  days  Phelim 
O'Neill  was  proclaimed  head  of  a  numerous  Ulster  army  of  30,000 
men — of  whom,  however,  two-thirds  were,  for  want  of  arms,  in- 
effective.^ 

It  was  Ulster  only  that  had  risen  that  night.  The  other  quar- 
ters remained  quiescent  because  of  a  miscarriage  of  plans.  The 
seizing  of  Dublin  Castle,  which  was  to  be  their  rising  signal,  was 
frustrated — through  a  traitor,  Connelly.  MacMahon  and  Mc- 
Guire who  (with  O' Moore)  were  to  have  taken  the  Castle,  were 

2  Joy!  joy  the  day  is  come  at  last,  the  day  of  hope  and  pride, 
And  see!  our  crackling  bonfires  light  old  Banna's  joyful  tide, 
And  gladsome  bell,  and  bugle  horn,  from  Inbhar's  captured  towers. 
Hark !  how  they  tell  the  Saxon  swine,  this  land  is  ours,  is  ours  ! 

Glory  to  God !  my  eyes  have  seen  the  ransomed  fields  of  Down, 
My  ears  have  drunk  the  joyful  news,  "Stout  Phelim  hath  his  own." 
Oh  I  may  they  see  and  hear  no  more,  oh !  may  they  rot  to  clay, 
When  they  forget  to  triumph  in  the  conquests  of  to-day. 

Now,  now  we'll  teach  the  shameless  Scot  to  purge  his  thievish  maw, 
Now,  now  the  courts  may  fall  to  pray,  for  justice  is  the  law. 
Now  shall  the  Undertaker  square  for  once  his  loose  accounts, 
We'll  strike,  brave  boys,  a  fair  result  from  all  his  fake  amounts. 

Our  standard  flies  o'er  fifty  towers,  o'er  twice  ten  thousand  men  ; 

Down  have  we  plucked  the  pirate  Red.  never  to  rise  again ; 

The  Green  alone  shall  stream  above  our  native  field  and  flood — 

The  spotless  Green,  save  where  its  folds  are  gemmed  with  Saxon  blood! 


4IO  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

themselves  taken.  But  O' Moore  fortunately  escaped.  It  was 
some  months  before  Leinster  and  Munster  took  up  arms  for  Ire- 
land.    And  later  still  when  Connacht  joined. 

For  purpose,  now,  of  inciting  the  English  at  home  to  wipe  out 
the  Irish — and  thus  pro\-ide  more  estates  for  the  covetous  in 
Britain,  there  was  invented  a  story  of  a  fearful  massacre  of  almost 
all  the  Protestants  of  Ireland,  on  the  night  of  the  Rising.  Not 
only  did  the  eager  English  readily  believe  it,  but  after  a  while, 
the  parties  in  Ireland  who  started  the  stor>'  almost  came  to  be- 
lieve it  themselves.  And  many  thousands  of  good,  sincere  Irish 
Protestants,  and  many  thousands  of  ardent  English,  to  this  day 
believe,  the  tale  of  a  wild  and  indiscriminate  massacre.  So  far 
went  this  effort  to  lay  unbridled  savagery  at  the  doors  of  the  Irish 
people,  and  so  far  succeeded,  that  many  earnest  and  sincere  his- 
torians, accepting 'the  carefully  prepared  ''facts"  put  upon  record 
for  the  purpose,  themselves  believed,  and  through  succeeding  gen- 
erations and  centuries  perpetuated  the  memory  of,  "the  great 
Popish  Massacre."  Many  ludicrous  estimates  of  the  numbers  of 
thousands  and  hundreds  of  thousands  of  Protestants  massacred 
in  Ulster  on  the  night  of  21st  October,  1641,  were,  in  succeeding 
decades,  given  to  the  world  by  both  innocent  and  crafty  English- 
men and  xA.nglo-Irish.  But  it  was  left  to  the  magnifying  mind  of 
the  great  Milton  Cwhen  he  was  Cromwell's  secretary)  to  give  to 
Europe  the  astounding  information  that  the  savage  Irish  papists 
had  massacred  610,000  Irish  Protestants  in  the  great  massacre — 
a  prodigious  feat  surely  for  the  Papists,  seeing  that  in  all  Ireland 
at  that  time,  there  were,  as  the  English  authorities  afterv/ards  ad- 
mitted, less  than  200,000  Protestants  altogether. 

The  Rev.  Ferdinand  Warner,  Protestant  minister,  \n  fas  "His- 
tory' of  the  Irish  Rebellion"  written  shortly  after  the  event,  says: 
''It  is  easy  enough  to  demonstrate  the  falsehood  of  the  relation  of 
every  English  historian  of  the  rebellion" — and  he  calculates  that 
4.028   Protestants  were  killed  within  the   first   two  years   of   the 
war,  and  8,000  died  of  ill-usage.     But  the  Cromwellian  commis- 
sion appointed  after  the  war  to  investigate  all  murders  and  in- 
Down  from  the  sacred  hills  whereon  a  Saint  communed  with  God, 
Up  from  the  \-ale  where  Bagnall's  blood  manured  the  reeking  sod. 
Out  from  the  stately  woods  of  Truagh.  M'Kenna's  plundered  home, 
Like  Malin's  waves,  as  fierce  and  fast,  our  faithful  clansmen  come. 

Then,  brethren,  on ! — CNeill's  dear  shade  would  frown  to  see  our  pause — 
Our  banished  Hugh,  our  martyred  Hugh,  he's  watching  o'er  your  ca4ise — 
His  gen'rous  error  lost  the  land — he  deem'd  the  Xorman  true, 
Oh,  forward !  friends,  it  must  not  lose  the  land  again  in  you ! 

—Charles  Gavan  DuFr- 


THE   RISING  OF  1641  411 

juries  intiicted  upon  all  the  British  settlers  in  Ireland,  during  the 
whole  ten  years'  war — a  commission  animated  by  plenty  of  healthy 
prejudice,  and  eager  to  accept  anything  in  the  shape  of  evidence 
against  the  Irish — found  2,109  murders  in  the  ten  years  of  war. 
And  it  has  been  since  shown  that  in  this  number  the  same  murder, 
dressed  up  in  various  ways,  was  counted  several  times." 

After  the  legend  of  "the  great  Popish  Massacre"  was  once 
started  it  grew  with  the  rapidity  of  a  rolling  snow-ball — till,  at  the 
hearings  of  the  Commission  ten  years  later,  excited  and  imagina- 
tive witnesses.  Including  Dr.  Maxwell  the  Protestant  rector  of 
Tynan,  made  oath  to  the  fantastic  happenings  which  make  those 
records  a  source  of  entertainment  to  the  curious,  ever  since.* 

Finally  this  long  cherished  and  widely  advertised  great  Popish 

3  The  reports  of  the  Lords  Justices  to  the  English  Parliament,  and  other  state 
documents  of  the  end  of  October  and  beginning  of  Xovember.  ten  to  twelve  davs 
after  "the  massacre,"  make  no  mention  of  the  tremendous  killing — for  the  good 
reason  that  the  clever  propagandists  who  originated  the  idea,  had  not  yet  been 
inspired  to  its  conception  as  a  fine  means  of  spurring  English  to  the  extirpation 
of  the  Irish — and  quieting  the  conscience  of  Europe  during  the  extirpation. 

In  December  the  Lords  Justices  issued  a  commission  to  the  Dean  of  Kilmore 
and  seven  other  Protestant  clergymen  to  make  diligent  inquiry  about  Protestants 
who  were  "robbed  and  plundered."  There  is  no  mention  of  any  of  them  being 
murdered. 

Six  days  after  the  Rising.  Lord  Lieutenant  Chichester  wrote  to  the  King: 
"They  took  four  considerable  towns,  and  have  but  killed  one  man."  The  Scot- 
tish settlers,  in  particular,  were,  strange  to  say.  spared.  One  of  the  Irish  proclama- 
tions of  the  time  decreed  the  penalty  of  death  to  any  native  who  should  molest 
a  Scotsman  "in  body,  goods,  or  lands."  The  historian.  Leland.  says :  "In  the 
beginning  of  the  rebellion  it  was  determined  by  the  Irish  that  the  enterprise  should 
be  conducted  in  every  quarter  with  as  little  bloodshed  as  possible."  The  Bishops' 
Synod  at  Kells  in  the  following  March  condemned  all  acts  of  private  vengeance 
and  all  who  usurped  other  men's  estates.  And  the  Irish  National  S^^lod  in  May 
went  so  far  as  to  issue  a  decree  of  excommunication  against  any  such  guilty  one. 

*The  Rev.  Dr.  Maxwell.  Rector  of  Tynan  (afterwards  the  Bishop  of  Kilmore). 
swore  to  apparitions,  "by  day  and  by  night  walking  upon  the  river,  sometimes 
brandishing  their  swords,  sometimes  singing  psalms,  and  at  times  shrieking  in  a 
most  fearful  and  hideous  manner.  I  never  heard  any  man  so  much  as  doubt  the 
truth  thereof." 

Catherine,  the  relict  of  William  Coote.  late  of  County  Armagh,  a  carpenter 
"being  duly  sworn  and  examined,  saith :  -A-bout  the  twentieth  December  she  saw 
the  vision  of  a  man  stand  upright  in  the  river,  with  hands  uplifted  to  heaven,  etc.. 
etc."  The  English  army  and  her  husband  also  saw  it.  The  fervent  ghost  was 
standing  in  that  trying  position,  testifieth  said  Deposition,  "from  the  20th  Decem- 
ber to  the  end  of  Lent" ! 

Elizabeth,  wife  of  Captain  Price  of  Armagh,  "deposeth  and  saith  that  she 
and  other  women  went  unto  the  aforesaid  bridge  at  twilight  in  the  evening,  and 
saw  a  woman  standing  out  of  the  water,  waist  high,  crying  out :  'Revenge ! 
Revenge !'  Whereat  this  deponent  and  the  rest,  being  touched  to  a  strong  amaze- 
ment and  fright,  walked  from  the  place."  Out  of  respect  for  the  ghost  they 
showed  no  indecent  haste. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Creighton  of  Virginia,  in  Cavan.  "deposeth  that  women  brought 
into  his  house  a  voung  woman  almost  naked  whom  the  rogues  had  attempted  to 
kill.  She  had  said :  'You  can't  kill  me  miless  God  gives  you  leave.'  And  al- 
though one,  I  think,  ran  his  sword  through  her  three  times,  she  was  not  hurt— ie, 
being  much  confounded,  went  away."  If  the  demonstration  had  not  confounded 
him.  we  might  well  conclude  that  he  was  a  difficult  subject. 


412  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

Massacre  may  be  disposed  of  In  the  words  of  the  zealous,  old- 
time,  Protestant  historian,  Rev.  Dr.  Taylor  (in  his  "Civil  Wars 
of  Ireland")  :  "The  Irish  massacre  of  1641  has  been  a  phrase 
so  often  repeated  even  in  books  of  education  that  one  can  scarcely 
conceal  his  surprise  when  he  learns  that  the  tale  is  apocryphal  as 
the  wildest  fiction  of  romance."  He  also  says:  "The  stories  of 
massacre  and  of  horrid  cruelty  were  circulated  in  England  because 
it  was  to  the  interest  of  the  patriot  party  in  Parliament  to  propa- 
gate such  delusion." 

The  Scottish  troops  and  Scottish  planters  are  on  the  other  hand 
accused  by  the  Irish  of  sallying  out  from  Carrickfergus  and  driv- 
ing Irish  women  and  children,  variously  estimated  at  1,000  and 
at  several  thousand,  to  dreadful  death  over  the  fearful  Gobblns 
cliffs  on  the  peninsula  called  Island  Magee.^ 


5  The  present  writer  is  unable  to  say  how  much  truth,  if  any,  is  in  this  charge. 
The  pro  and  con  have  been  as  hotly  disputed  as  those  of  "the  Great  Popish 
Massacre." 

The  singer  of  Ireland's  woes  and  Ireland  s  joys,  Ethna  Carbery,  believing  the 
truth  of  it,  sang  a  fierce  song  of  it — 

BRIAN  BOY  MAGEE 

I  am  Brian  Boy  Magee— my  father  was  Eoghan  Ban— 

1  was  wakened  from  happy  dreams  by  the  shouts  of  my  startled  clan ; 

And  I  saw  through  the  leaping  glare  that  marked  where  our  homestead  stood, 

My  mother  swing  by  her  hair— and  my  brothers  lie  in  their  blood. 

In  the  creepy  cold  of  the  night  the  pitiless  wolves  came  down — 

Scotch  troops  from  that  Castle  grim  guarding  Knockfergus  Town ; 

And  they  hacked  and  lashed  and  hewed,  with  musket  and  rope  and  sword, 

Till  my  murdered  kin  lay  thick  in  pools  by  the  Slaughter  Ford. 

I  fought  by  my  father's  side,  and  when  we  were  fighting  sore 
We  saw  a  line  of  their  steel,  with  our  shieking  women  before. 
Tlie  red-coats  drove  them  on  to  the  verge  of  the  Gobbins  grey, 
Hurried  them— God !  the  sight !  as  the  sea  foamed  up  for  its  prey. 

Oh,  tall  were  the  Gobbins  cliflfs,  and  sharp  were  the  rocks,  my  woe  I 
And  tender  the  limbs  that  met  such  terrible  death  below ; 
Mother  and  babe  and  maid  they  clutched  at  the  empty  air, 
With  eyeballs  widened  in  fright,  that  hour  of  despair. 

(Sleep  soft  in  your  heaving  bed.  O  little  fair  love  of  my  heart! 
The  bitter  oath  I  have  sworn  shall  be  of  my  life  a  part; 
And  for  every  piteous  prayer  you  prayed  on  your  way  to  die, 
May  I  hear  an  enemy  plead  while  I  laugh  and  deny.) 

In  the  dawn  that  was  gold  and  red,  ay,  red  as  the  blood-choked  stream, 
I  crept  to  the  perilous  brink— great  Christ  1  was  the  night  a  dream? 
In  all  the  Island  of  Gloom  I  only  had  life  that  day— 
Death  covered  the  green  hill-sides,  and  tossed  in  the  Bay. 

I  have  vowed  by  the  pride  of  my  sires— by  my  mother's  wandering  ghost- 
By  my  kinsfolk's  shattered  bones  hurled  on  the  cruel  coast— 
Bv  the  sweet  dead  face  of  my  love,  and  the  wound  in  her  gentle  breast- 
To  follow  that  murderous  band,  a  sleuth-hound  that  knows  no  rest. 


THE  RlSliNG  OF  1641  413 

The  fearful  cruelties  perpetrated  by  Sir  Charles  Coote,  leader 
of  the  llnglish  army  in  Lcinstcr,  and  by  St.  Legcr,  English  com- 
mander in  Munster,  it  was,  combined  with  fear  for  themselves  and 
their  estates,  that  at  length  drove  the  Anglo-Irish  Catholic  lords 
of  the  Pale  and  their  fellows  of  Munster,  leisurely  to  join  in  the 
Rebellion — after  the  great  success  in  Ulster  gave  them  confidence 
of  a  like  success  elsewhere.  Connacht  was  for  a  much  lon'^cr 
time  restramed  from  casting  its  lot  with  the  rest  of  Ireland — 
mainly  through  the  influence  of  the  leading  and  loyal  Catholic 
lord  there,  Clanrickardc  (British  Deputy),  the  head  of  the  Burke 
family. 

When  the  Lords  Justices  Parson  and  Borlase  sent  out  Coote 
to  ravage  Wicklow  he  was  ordered  to  spare  none  above  a  span 
high.  And  it  is  related  by  various  historians  that  Avhen  his  soldiers 
caught  Irish  babes  upon  their  spears  for  sport,  he  said  he  "liked 
such  frolics."" 

The  Irish  army  of  Leinster  securely  held  for  Ireland  almost 
all  of  that  province  except  Dublin  and  a  little  radius  around  it, 
which  Ormond  and  Coote  were  enabled  to  raid.     Philip  O'Dwyer 

I  shall  go  to  Phelim  O'Neill  with  my  sorrowful  tale,  and  crave 
A  blue-bright  blade  of  Spain,  in  the  ranks  of  his  soldiers  brave, 
And  God  grant  me  the  strength  to  wield  that  shining  avenger  well — 
When  the  Gael  shall  sweep  his  foe  through  the  yawning  gates  of  Hell. 

I  am  Brian  Boy  Magee!     And  my  creed  is  a  creed  of  hate; 

Love,  Peace,  I  have  cast  aside — but  Vengeance,  Vengeance  I  wait  I 

Till  I  pay  back  the  four-fold  debt  for  the  horrors  I  witnessed  there. 

When  my  brothers  moaned  in  their  blood,  and  my  mother  swung  by  her  hair. 

8  From  Dublin,  under  date  2Sth  Februar}-,  1642.  the  Government  issued  for 
the  guidance  of  its  generals,  the  very  clear  and  explicit  command,  "to  wound, 
kill,  slay  and  destroy  by  all  the  ways  and  means  you  may.  all  the  rebels  and 
adherents  and  relievers;  and  burn,  spoil,  waste,  consume  and  demolish  all  places, 
towns  and  houses,  where  the  said  rebels  are  or  have  been  relieved  and  harboured, 
and  all  hay  and  corn  there,  and  kill  and  destroy  all  the  men  inhabiting,  able  to 
bear  arms."     (Carte's  "Ormond.") 

Sir  Charles  Coote,  typical  of  the  English  generals  in  this  war,  employed  rack 
and  dungeon  and  roasting  to  death,  for  appeasing  of  the  turbulent  natives.  He 
stopped  at  nothing — even  hanging  women  with  child. 

Lord  Garendon.  in  his  narrative  of  the  events  of  the  time,  records  how,  after 
Coote  plundered  and  burned  the  town  of  Clontarf,  "he  massacred  townpeople,  men. 
and  women,  and  three  suckling  infants."  And  in  tliat  same  week,  says  Clarendon, 
men,  women  and  children  of  the  village  of  Bullock  frightened  of  the  fate  of 
Clontarf,  went  to  sea  to  shun  the  fury  of  the  soldiers  who  came  from  Dublin 
under  Colonel  Clifford.  But  being  pursued  by  the  soldiers  in  boats  and  over- 
taken, they  were  all  thrown  overboard — and  drowned." 

Coote  and  Clifford  were  not  better  or  worse  than  the  average  of  the  pacifiers 
of  Ireland.  One  could  quote  here  more  instances  of  the  blood-freezing  kind  than 
would  fill  a  large  book.  But  for  our  purpose  one  or  two  samples  are  as  good 
as  a  thousand.  Castlehaven  sets  down  an  incident  characteristic  of  the  humanity 
of  the  English  troopers.  He  tells  how  Sir  .Arthur  Loftus,  Governor  of  Naas, 
marched  out  with  a  party  of  horse,  and  being  joined  by  a  party  sent  out  by 
Ormond    from    Dublin :     "They   both   together   killed    such   of   the    Irish   as  they 


414  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

in  the  south  had  taken  Cashel.  And  when  the  nobiHty  arose  there, 
they  easily  held  the  greater  part  of  the  province,  driving  St. 
Leger,  the  English  Deputy,  back  into  Cork.  The  greater  part 
of  Connacht  was,  soon  after,  under  control  of  the  Irish  rebels. 

And  when  the  great  and  historic  Synod  met  in  Kilkenny  in  May 
of  '42,  and  nobility,  gentry  and  lay  leaders,  foregathered  with  the 
ecclesiastics  of  the  country,  and  formed  the  Confederation  of 
Kilkenny,  the  Irish  practically  owne.d  Ireland,  English  power 
merely  clinging  by  its  teeth  to  some  outer  corners  of  the  country. 

met  .  .  .  but  the  most  considerable  slaughter  occurred  in  a  great  strait  of  furze, 
situated  on  a  hill,  where  the  people  of  several  villages  had  fled  for  shelter."  Sir 
Arthur  surrounded  the  hill,  fired  the  furze,  and  at  the  point  of  the  sword  drove 
back  into  theflames  the  burning,  men.  women  and  children  who*  tried  to- emerge — 
till  the  last  child  was  burned  to  a  crisp.  Saj's  Castlehaven  in  his  Memoirs,  "I 
saw  the  bodies — ^and  the  furze  still  burning." 

It  should  be  particularly  noted  that  the  suckling  infant  sometimes  aroused  in 
the  British  soldiers  the  same  blood-thirst  that  did  the  fighting  rebel.  The  butcher- 
ing of  infants  was  more  diligently  attended  to  during  this  period  than  in  any 
previous  or"  subsequent  English  excursion  througlr  Ireland.  It  is  matter  of  rec- 
ord that  in  the  presence  and  with  the  toleration,  of  their  officers — in  at  least  one 
case  with  the  hearty  approval  of  a  leader — the  common  soldiers  engaged  in  the 
sport  of  tossing  Irish  babes  upon  their  spears.  The  old  English  historian,  D"r. 
Nalson,  in  his  history  of  the  Civil  Wars  (Introduction  to  his  second  volume) 
states — "I  have  heard  a  relation  of  my  own,  who  was  a'  captain  in  that  service  (in 
Ireland)  relate  that  .  .  .  little  children  were  promiscuously  sufferers  with  the 
guilty,  and  that  when  any  one  who  had  some  grains  of  compassion  reprehended 
the  soldiers  for  this  unchristian  inhumanity,  they  would  scoffingly  reply,  'Why? 
nits  will  be  licel'  and  so  despatch  them." 


CHAPTER  XLIX 

THE   WAR   OF   THE    'FORTIES 

The  Confederation  of  Kilkenny  proved  to  be  perhaps  more  of  a 
curse  than  blessing  to  Ireland.  The  establishing  of  the  Confed- 
eration was  the  establishing  of  a  Parliament  for  Ireland.  As,  to 
please  the  Catholic  Anglo-Irish  (the  "New  Irish")  lords  and  gen- 
try, the  Confederation  proclaimed  its  stand  "for  faith,  country, 
and  king^'' — meaning  King  Charles  of  England — so  also  to  please 
the  sam.e  party  the  susceptibilities  of  their  king  was  supposed  to 
be  saved  from  hurt,  by  naming  it  a  Confederation  instead  of  a 
Parliament. 

In  England  Charles  and  his  Parliamentary  Government  were 
now  at  bitter  odds — beginning  the  great  civil  conflict  there.  Most 
of  the  Anglo-Irish,  including  all  of  the  Catholic  Anglo-Irish, 
espoused  King  Charles'  cause.  And  though  to  appease  his  Puri- 
tan opponents  he  loudly  proclaimed  his  hostility  to  popery,  and 
refused  to  relax  the  anti-popery  laws,  the  Catholic  Anglo-Irish — 
whose  affections  for  English  royalty  could  seldom  be  shaken — 
held,  not  him,  but  the  minions  of  the  Parliamentary  party,  respon- 
sible for  all  of  Ireland's  woes.  And  they  fostered  the  belief  that 
Charles  was  a  friend  of  Ireland  and  of  the  Catholic  faith.  It 
was  the  same  absurd  loyalty,  which,  crossing  Ireland's  national 
claims,  was,  for  centuries  before,  handed  down  through  all  gen- 
erations of  this  particular  portion  of  the  Irish  public. 

A  portion  of  the  Old  Irish,  the  real  Irish,  now,  as  always,  tak- 
ing this  absurd  loyalty  by  contagion,  believed  also  in  a  crossed 
fealty.  But  the  vast  majority  of  these  wasted  no  love  and  no  rever- 
ence upon  a  foreign  king  who  held  them  by  force.  Yet  for  unity's 
sake  they  yielded  the  point  to  the  New  Irish,  and  subscribed  to 
the  battle-cry  "for  faith,  for  country,  and  for  king." 

The  Confederation  of  Kilkenny  then,  which  might  have  been 
a  great  blessing  to  Ireland,  eventually  proved  to  be  Ireland's  curse 
— in  this,  the  country's  greatest,  fiercest  struggle.  Not  entirely 
because  the  New  Irish  In  it  were  given  their  way  from  the  start: 
but  more  because  a  clique  of  the  most  unnatlonal  and  reactionary 

415 


4i6  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

of  them  secured  inside  control — the  control  of  the  Supreme  Coun- 
cil of  the  Confederation's  General  Assembly. 

Ormond,  the  head  of  the  main  branch  of  the  Butler  family, 
who  was  then  the  chief  power  in  Ireland  standing  for  King  against 
Parliament,  found  this  clique  to  be  his  ready  tool — even  though 
he  was  a  bitter  hater  of  popery  and  opponent  of  all  concessions 
to  popery.  He  was  reared  in  England,  a  ward  of  the  British  Gov- 
ernment— reared  Protestant,  and  imbued  with  the  deepest  animus 
against  the  religion  to  which  the  Butler  family  had  hitherto  clung. 
The  President  of  the  Supreme  Council,  Lord  Mountgarrett,  was 
kinsman  to  Ormond — being  head  of  the  Kilkenny  family  of  the 
Butlers.  Consequently,  Ormond,  while  bitterly  hating  Irishism 
and  Catholicism,  was  able  to  work  this  Irish  Catholic  Parliament 
to  his  own  and  England's  advantage.  And  through  the  cruel  wars 
of  the  'Forties  the  protest  of  the  great  majority  of  the  Assembly 
who  were  truly  Irish,  and  of  the  great  bodies  of  truly  Irish  fight- 
ing men  in  the  field,  could  but  seldom  counteract  the  prejudicial 
machinations  of  the  Ormondite  faction. 

When  Father  Peter  Scarampi,  envoy  of  the  Pope,  came  there 
with  moral  and  material  help  for  the  Irish  rebels,  the  Ormondist, 
pro-British,  faction  quickly  disgusted  him,  and  put  him  on  the  side 
of  the  Irish  Nationalists.  And  the  same  happened,  when,  in  suc- 
cession to  the  envoy  came  the  Papal  Nuncio,  Rinuccini,  who  even- 
tually had  to  break  openly  with  the  Ormondist  faction,  leave  them 
in  disgust,  and  denounce  them. 

As  matters  got  more  and  more  critical  for  King  Charles  in 
Britain  and  his  following  there  .lost  power,  he  was  more  and  more 
willing  to  court  the  Kilkenny  Confederation  through  his  repre- 
sentative Ormond.  And  the  Kilkenny  Supreme  Council  was  al- 
ways eager  to  act  the  part  of  the  willing  coy  maiden  whenever 
Ormond  whispered — even  though  his  anti-Catholic  bias  made  him 
presume  to  tone  down  each  grudging  little  concession  that  his  mas- 
ter would  yield.  They  were  again  and  again  right  heartily  willing 
to  accept  from  Charles  bare  toleration  for  their  religion — without 
actual  repeal  of  the  anti-popery  laws — and  a  mere  modicum  of 
their  other  liberties  as  Irishmen.  As  was  ever  the  case  with  the 
New  Irish,  if  their  property  and  their  religion  were  left  unmolested 
they  were  tolerably  content  to  be  ruled  by  England  as  England 
wished.  Now  they  were  content  to  let  England  hold  the  Irish 
church  lands  for  use  of  her  foreign  church,  and  hold  Ireland  in 
the  fetters  of  Poyning's  law.^ 

^This  famous  (or  infamous)  law  established  the  supremacy  of  the  Enplish 
Parliament  over  the  Irish  Parliament  within  the  four  seas  of  Ireland,  forbidding 


THE  WAR  OF  THE  'FORIIIS  417 

The  Supreme  Council  wasted  the  energies  of  Irelantl  and  damp- 
ened the  spirits  of  the  fighters  by  years  of  futile  negotiation  with 
Ormond  and  his  king,  and  practically  threw  away  in  a  truce  two 
valuable  years  of  the  middle  'Forties.  And  at  times  when  they 
were  pushed  to  positive  action,  they  took  action  that  was  misguided. 
They  never  for  an  instant  forgot  that  they,  the  Anglo-Irish,  were 
the  elect.  Their  forefathers  had  been  set  over  the  Old  Irish,  the 
mere  Irish;  and  now  the  mere  Irish — who  were  of  course  the  bulk 
and  backbone  of  this  war — should  be  content  to  take  a  subordinate 
position  in  guiding  the  war.  And  armies  of  Old  Irish,  led  by  Old 
Irish  generals,  must  not  be  permitted  to  take  too  much  of  the 
glory  from  their  own  pet  Anglo-Irish  commanders. 

Altogether  their  snobbery,  their  bias,  and  oftentimes  their  fool- 
ish trustingness — verging  on  stupidity — in  Charles  and  his  min- 
ions, combined  to  make  a  mess  of  Ireland's  case,  and  to  render 
fruitless  long  and  sore  years  of  struggle,  which,  without  this  Old 
Man  of  the  Mountain  upon  the  nation's  neck,  might  have  been 
crowned  by  complete  success. 

They  manacled,  and  thwarted,  the  great  Irish  figure  of  the 
'Forties,  him  who,  but  for  them,  could  have  been  Ireland's  saviour 
— the  truly  admirable  man  and  signally  great  military  leader, 
Owen  Roe  O'Neill.  With  Owen  Roe's  coming  arose  Ireland's 
bright  star  of  hope — and  with  his  passing,  that  star  set. 

Owen  Roe  was  a  nephew  of  Hugh  O'Neill,  "Earl  of  Tyrone," 
who  fled  at  the  century's  beginning,  and  had  died  abroad.  Owen 
Roe  was  a  young  man  at  time  of  the  Flight  of  the  Earls,  had 
fought  in  that  last  disastrous  fight  at  Kinsale,  and  going  abroad 
also,  had  won  signal  distinction  as  a  military  commander  in  the 
Spanish  Netherlands — especially  in  his  brilliant  defence  of  Arras 
where  he  successfully  held  three  armies  at  bay.  He  had  never 
ceased  to  hope  that  he  would  yet  be  the  means  of  freeing  his 
Fatherland.  And  through  the  years  in  which  his  sword  had  been 
in  the  service  of  Spain,  his  heart  was  ever  wath  Ireland.  He  came 
to  his  own  North,  when,  close  following  its  first  bright  burst  the 
clouds  of  despair  had  come  down,  and  begun  to  sit  heavy  on  it 
again. 

For  the  Ulster  army  did  not  maintain  its  first  successes.  Its 
leader,  Phelim  O'Neill,  was  only  a  lawyer,  not  a  military  com- 
mander.   After  Ulster  had  been  won  for  him,  he  wasted  his  army 

« 

the  latter  to  begin  legislating  on  any  Irish  subject  without  first  getting  permission 
from  the  former  to  do  so,  and  givmg  the  former  absolute  and  unquestioned  veto 
over  every  enactment  of  the  latter — thus  making  the  Irish  "Parliament"  ao  Irish 
farce. 


41 8  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

sitting  lon^  before  Drogheda,  which,  without  siege  guns,  he  could 
not  take.  And  when  eventually  he  raised  the  siege,  and  faced  an 
enemy  army  that  had  been  forming  in  the  North,  his  own  wasted 
force  was  not  only  defeated,  but  almost  Aviped  out.  Then  were 
the  Irish  of  Ulster  overwhelmed  with  despair,  and  considering 
making  the  best  of  the  bad  terms  which  they  could  now  get  from 
the  enemy,  when  suddenly,  from  the  Boyne  to  the  sea,  the  province 
quivered  with  a  magic  thrill  as  from  mouth  to  mouth  was  passed 
the  word  "Owen  Roe  is  come!"" 

On  the  6th  July,  1642,  with  a  hundred  officers  In  his  company, 
the  long-wished  for  saviour  stepped  off  a  ship  at  the  old  castle  of 
MacSwiney,  at  Doe,  in  the  North  of  Donegal.  At  Charlemont 
he  was  given  command  of  the  Northern  army — the  little  that  was 
left  of  it.  And  he  proceeded  at  once  to  build  it  up,  and  train  it 
into  fighting  form.  So  potent  was  the  name  and  fame  of  Owen 
Roe  that  even  while  his  army  was  still  in  embryo.  Lord  Levin, 
from  Scotland,  at  the  head  of  twenty  thousand  men  refused  to 
meet  such  a  formidable  battler  and  strategist. 

Though  the  name  of  O'Neill  helped  to  keep  the  enemy  at  bay 
while  he  built  up  his  army  and  trained  them  on  the  plateau  of 
Southern  Leitrim — from  which  he  made  an  occasional  sally  to 
whip  some  body  of  the  enemy,  and  refresh  their  respect  for  him 
— the  Supreme  Council  at  Kilkenny,  jealous  of  the  popularity  of 

2  THE  COMING  OF  OWEN  ROE 

Ho !  Phelim,  rouse  your  sorrowing  soul,  and  raise  your  head  once  more ! 
Glad  news,  glad  news  for  aching  hearts  comes  from  the  northern  shore ! 
Magennis  and  Maguire,  come  each  from  out  your  'leagured  tower, 
And  spit  upon  their  Saxon  laws — defy  their  Saxon  power ! 
O'Reilly  and  O'Hanlon  come  into  the  light  of  day! 

Come  forth,  come  forth,  and  chase  the  gloom  that  wraps  your  souls  away ! 
Ho !  fling  the  Sunburst  to  the  winds — sound  trumpet  loud,  and  drum ! 
Ho !  ring  thy  echoes,  Ulster,  out,  Owen  Roe,  Owen  Roe  is  come ! 

To  North  and  South,  to  East  and  West,  speed  with  the  joyous  news, 

Press  Heaven's  own  winds  into  your  cause  the  tidings  to  diffuse ; 

On,  on,  o'er  m(nmtain,  moor,  and  march — through  wood,  and  brake,  and  fell — 

On,  on,  as  though  pursued  by  all  the  vengeful  powers  of  hell! 

On,  on,  nor  sleep,  nor  bait,  nor  pause,  till  starts  from  sleep  the  land, 

And  hope  has  gleamed  in  every  heart,  and  steel  in  every  hand. 

And  eyes  are  fired  that  erst  shone  meek,  and  tongues  loosed  that  were  dumb — 

Till  Heaven  is  rent  with  thunders  of  Owen  Roe,  Owen  Roe  is  come ! 

Ho!  proud  and  haughty  Sassenach,  look  to  your  powder  now! 
Look  to  your  spoils,  O  robber!  for,  sore  need  you  have,  1  trow; 
Look  to  your  lives,  ye  sleuth-hounds  false!  for  naught  shall  us  withstand, 
Since  Owen  Roe,  our  own  beloved,  with  Vengeance  is  at  hand ; 
Ho!  Saxons,  tyrants,  spoilers,  by  Liffey,  Foyle.  or  Maigue, 
Where'er  you're  found,  Owen's  heavy  hand  shall  scourge  ye  as  a  plague! 
Oh,  hellish  memories  steel  our  hearts,  our  mercy-sense  benumb ! 
Up  Gaels !     Up  Gaels  !     Revenge !     Revenge !     Owen  Roe,  Owen  Roe  is  come ! 

— Seumas  MacManus. 


THE  WAR  OF  THE  'FOimES  419 

the  great  Irishman,  sometimes  stooped  to  hamper  when  tlicy  should 
have  helped  him,  and  at  length  went  so  far  as  to  slight  and  curb 
him  by  appointing  over  him  as  commander  in  chief,  one  of  their 
own,  Lord  Castlehaven.  But  Owen  Roe  went  steadily  forward 
with  the  work,  that  lay  to  his  hand.  And  in  June  '46  fought  and 
won  his  great  pitched  battle,  the  famous  victory  of  Benburb.  Here 
he  met  and  smashed  the  Scottish  General  Monroe,  who  then  held 
the  British  command  in  Ulster. 

In  this  battle,  O'Neill  had  five  thousand  men  and  no  artillery 
whatsoever.  Monroe  had  six  thousand  men  and  a  good  field  of 
artillery.  Monroe  took  position  in  the  angle  formed  by  the  junc- 
tion of  the  River  Oonah  and  the  Black  Water,  adjacent  to  the 
village  of  Benburb.  He  drew  up  his  army  that  morning,  with  five 
divisions  on  the  front  line  and  four  divisions  in  the  second  line. 
O'Neill's  seven  divisions  were  placed,  four  in  the  first  line  and 
three  supporting  divisions  behind.  Monroe  awaited  the  attack. 
His  men  were  fresh,  and  he  had  the  sun  in  his  favor.  O'Neill, 
who  had  sent  his  cavalry  northward  to  intercept  assistance  coming 
thence  to  his  enemy,  took  pains  to  disappoint  Monroe,  and  to 
keep  his  nerves  and  the  nerves  of  his  troops  on  edge  for  many 
mortal  hours,  while  he  merely  engaged  in  skirmishing.  By  these 
tactics  he  not  only  got  the  accession  of  his  cavalry  (after  their 
successful  Northern  sally)  and  tired  out  Monroe's  army,  but  he 
also  got  the  westering  sun  in  their  eyes.  Then,  everything  being 
favourable,  he  gave  the  word,  "Sancta  Maria !"  and  in  the  name 
of  the  Trinity  launched  an  impetuous  whirlwind  attack  of  such 
mighty  momentum  that  nothing  could  withstand  it.  His  cavalry 
captured  the  enemy's  guns.  His  infantry  overswept  and  over- 
whelmed the  legions  of  Monroe,  cut  most  of  them  down  in  masses, 
and  hurled  the  remainder  into  the  river — in  one  brief  hour  wip- 
ing out  a  splendid  and  well-equipped  army  that  had  been  the  hope 
of  the  British  in  Ulster! 

Thirty-two  standards  were  taken.  Lord  Ardes,  with  thirty- 
two  Scottish  officers  were  captured.  Cannon,  baggage,  two  months' 
provisions,  and  1,500  draft  horses  were  bagged;  3,300  of  the 
enemy  lay  dead  on  the  field.  Many  more  were  drowned  in  the 
river  and  killed  in  the  pursuit.  While  Owen  Roe's  loss  was  seventy 
men  killed  and  a  hundred  wounded. 

All  remaining  Scottish  forces  were,  by  this  signal  victory,  sent 
scurrying  into  the  two  strongholds  of  Derry  and  Carrickfergus. 
The  province  was  Owen  Roe's  and  Ireland's! 

So  would  the  whole  country  soon  have  been — but  unfortunately, 
the  Supreme   Council,   flinging  away  the  golden   opportunity,   not 


420  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

only  sigTied  a  peace  vrlth  Ormond,  acting  for  King  Charles,  but 
went  so  far  as  to  put  under  his  command  all  oi  the  Confederate 
Catholic  Array. 

It  is  little  wonder  that  Xuncio  Rinuccini  and  the  Bishops  rose 
up  against  such  traitorous  peace — and  went  so  far  as  to  excom- 
municate the  traitorous  peacemakers.  Owen  Roe  hurried  south 
with  his  forces  to  overawe  the  traitors,  and  tn*  to  counteract  the 
harm  they  had  done.  In  the  south  with  an  army  whose  numbers 
had  now  mounted  to  12.000  (including  1500  horse)  he  was  joined 
by  General  Preston  and  his  southern  CathoHc  army.  Preston, 
like  Owen  Roe  himself,  had  served  his  military  apprenticeship,  and 
won  well-deserved  fame  for  himself  on  the  Continent.  He  had 
landed  at  Wexford  two  months  after  Owen  Roe  had  landed  in 
Donegal — and,  as  he  was  of  the  New  Irish,  he  was  given  by  the 
Confederacy  a  southern  command.  The  united  forces  of  these 
two  able  commanders  might  well  have  counteracted  the  ill-efiect 
of  the  unworthy  peace  proclaimed  by  the  Supreme  Council.  But 
the  ferment  of  the  Old  Irish  and  New  Irish  jealousy  was  at  work 
even  in  the  combined  forces.  And  on  top  of  this.  O'Neill  discov- 
ered that  Preston  was  being  tampered  with  by  the  Ormond  fac- 
tion. And  Ormond  was  trying  to  negotiate  a  peace  with  him. 
So  he  rose  up  and  went  north  with  his  army  again.  And  the  \'ic- 
tory  that  had  seemed  almost  within  Ireland's  reach,  was  snatched 
away  once  more. 

The  progress  of  events  for  the  ensumg  couple  of  years,  to 
the  coming  of  Cromwell,  was  puzzlingly  kaleidoscopic  in  enect. 
And  probably  never  before  or  since  was  there  such  an  interminable 
tangle  in  the  political  aitairs  of  any  nation.  There  were  half  a 
dozen  distinct  parties  and  as  many  distinct  armies  rending  the  Na- 
tional fabric — ^e  Old  Irish  Nationalists,  the  New  Irish  Nation- 
alists, the  New  Irish  Royalists  (for  Charles),  the  -\nglo-Irish 
Parliamentarians,  the  Scoto-Irish  Royalists,  and  the  Scoto-Irish 
Parliamentarians.  These  many  parties  were  uniting  in  aU  sorts  of 
odd  combinations,  and  dividing  along  the  most  unlooked  for  lines. 
Although  the  Parliamentarians  in  Britain  steadily  treated  all  sec- 
tions of  Irish  as  if  they  were,  not  humans  but  beasts,^  each  of  the 


'^C^'-i.T.  i.'.-Er.'.ev  :r.    —  '-:'~-J-  -_-'"■'   '"r'  "^^  cz-r^-ing  lo}-aI:st  trc-cps  from 

QzlTTzy  '.:  _r:?t:..  c::.-:-:i  cu:  :r:...  i...:r.r£:  :r.e~  seventy  whom  he  considered  to 

" "   ■--^■■-   •■—      •_------       ^--   ---      -.  ..   .\.^    Zr^hsh  Hcuie  of 

■/      -:    i^W&d  into  the 
,     -.-.  --—   ;--    .-.-  ---i  iervicc,  and  a  chain 

~anie. 

-able  polk^,  N^ier  in  his  "Life  of  Montrose" 
Uils  tia  liii:  ■  ODe  dij,  eigfatj  Irish  women  and  children  were  thrown 

over  a  brid^ .  -L 


THE  WAR  OF  THE    FORTIES  421 

two  sections  of  the  Irish  at  times  united  with  the  bitterest  of  the 
anti-Irish  to  fight  the  other. 

But,  every  move  made  by  Owen  Roe,  and  every  combination, 
was  wisely  directed  toward  the  great  end.  At  one  time,  in  the 
summer  of  '48  he  was  bravely  standing  against  the  five  armies  of 
five  other  parties  that  moved  in  unison  against  him.  And  against 
all  five  this  magnificent  general  v/as  able  not  merely  to  hold  the 
field,  but  to  march  south  to  Kilkenny  with  10,000  men — and  from 
there  in  safety  return  to  his  camp  at  Belturbet  again.  From  time 
to  time  during  these  years,  while  he  stood  like  a  rock  defying  the 
storm,  he  saw  one  after  another  of  the  Catholic  commands  dis- 
astrously defeated,  and  almost  annihilated.  He  saw  the  Nuncio 
temporarily  turn  against  him,  himself  declared  a  rebel,  and  out 
of  the  range  of  pardon,  by  the  Confederation! 

Yet  the  noble  man  held  steadily  to  his  task,  and  when  eventu- 
ally Cromwell  came  like  an  avenging  angel  Owen  Roe  was  the 
one  great  commanding  figure  to  which  the  awed  and  wasted  nation 
instinctively  turned. 

But.  as  by  God's  will  it  proved,  their  turning  to  him  was  in 
vain. 

Qarendon  says  that  when  the  Earl  of  Warwick  captured  Irish  frigates  he 
"used  to  tie  the  Irish  sailors  back  to  back,  and  fling  them  into  the  sea." 


CHAPTER  L 

CROMWELL 

For,  Owen  Roe,  the  hope  of  Ireland,  was  not  destined  to  stay  the 
bloody  whirlwind  that  now  entered  Ireland  for  its  final  devasta- 
tion. In  face  of  the  fearful  disaster  that  threatened  in  the  com- 
ing of  Cromwell,  Owen  Roe  not  only  brought  himself  to  league 
with  the  abhorrent  Ormond,  but,  with  characteristic  nobility,  he, 
one  of  the  great  military  leaders  of  the  era,  agreed  to  subordinate 
himself  and  his  army  to  Ormond's  supreme  command. 

But  on  his  way  south  to  join  Ormond  he  fell  ill  in  Cavan,  and 
died — to  the  heartrending  sorrow  of  a  woe-stricken  nation. 
As  they  poisoned  Red  Hugh  O'Donnell  in  Spain,  a  short  time  be- 
fore, the  English  are  accused  of  poisoning  this  man  whose  fight- 
ing qualities  they  feared.  One  of  their  agents  is  said  to  have  pre- 
sented him  with  a  pair  of  poisoned  slippers  at  a  ball  which  he  at- 
tended in  Derry  on  the  eve  of  his  starting  south. ^ 

1  LAMENT  FOR  THE  DEATH  OF  EOGHAN  RUADH  O'NEILL 

"Did  they  dare,  did  they  dare  to  slay  Eoghan  Ruadh  O'Neill?" 
"Yes,  they  slew  with  poison  him  they  feared  to  meet  with  steel." 
"May  God  wither  up  their  hearts !     May  their  blood  cease  to  flow ! 
May  they  walk  in  living  death,  who  poisoned  Eoghan  Ruadh ! 

"Though  it  break  my  heart  to  hear,  say  again  the  bitter  words." 
"From  Derry,  against  Cromwell,  he  marched  to  measure  swords ; 
But  the  weapon  of  the  Sassanach  met  him  on  his  way, 
And  he  died  at  Cloch  Uachtar,  upon  St.  Leonard's  Day." 

"Wail,  wail,  ye  for  the  Mighty  One !     Wail,  wail  yc  for  the  dead  ; 
Quench  tlic  hearth,  and  iiold  the  breath,  with  ashes  strew  the  head. 
How  tenderly  we  loved  him!     How  deeply  we  deplore! 
Holy  Saviour !  but  to  think  we  shall  never  see  him  more  1 

"Sagest  in  the  council  was  he,  kindest  in  the  hall ; 

Sure  we  never  won  a  battle — 'twas  Eoghan  won  them  all. 

Ilad  he  lived — had  he  lived — our  dear  country  had  been  free; 

But  he's  dead,  but  he's  dead,  and  'tis  slaves  we'll  ever  be.  • 

"O'Farrell  and  Clanrickarde,  Preston  and  Red  Hu(.',h. 
Andley  and  McMahon — ye  are  valiant,  wise  and  true; 
But — what,  what  are  ye  all  to  our  darling  who  is  gone? 
The  rudder  of  our  ship  was  he,  our  castle's  cornerstone! 

422 


CROMWKLL  423 

The  fine  and  wcU-traincd  army  ot  Owen  Roc,  of  which  Or- 
mond  is  said  to  have  been  jealous,  was,  after  the  beloved  leader':^ 
death,  broken  up,  and  distributed  among  various  commands. 

Several  months  before  Cromwell's  coming  the  I'apal  Nuncio 
was  declared  a  rebel  by  the  General  Assembly — and,  utterly  dis- 
gusted with  the  whole  horde  of  Anglo-Irish  Catholics  whose  pres- 
ence cursed  the  country,  had  shaken  the  dust  of  the  country  from 
his  feet,  and  sailed  from  Galway.  The  General  Assembly  having 
reaped  rich  promises — and  little  else — from  King  Charles  and 
Ormond,  had  in  return  humbly  and  dutifully  laid  Ireland  at  Charles' 
feet.     His  cause  was  henceforth  their  cause. 

It  was  in  August  of  '40  that  Cromwell  landed  in  Dublin,  with 
eight  regiments  of  foot,  six  of  horse,  and  several  troops  of  dra- 
goons— in  all  seventeen  thousand  of  the  fiower  of  the  Puritan 
army.  They  were  extraordinary  men,  his  Ironsides — Bible-read- 
ing, psalm-singing  soldiers  of  God — fearfully  daring,  fiercely  fanat- 
ical, papist  hating,  looking  on  this  land  as  being  assigned  to  them 
the  chosen  people,  by  their  God.  And  looking  on  the  inhabitants 
rs  idol-worshipping  Canaanites  who  were  cursed  of  God,  and  to 
be  extirpated  by  the  sword.  They  came  with  minds  inflamed  by 
the  lurid  accounts  of  the  "great  Popish  Massacre,"  which  for 
some  years  now  had  been,  by  the  Parliamentarians  sedulously  cir- 
culated among  the  English  people. - 

To  keep  the  men's  venom  at  the  boiling  point  there  were 
chosen  to  travel  with  the  troops,  and  also  to  sail  with  the  fleet, 
Puritan  preachers  of  the  Word  distinguished  for  their  almost  de- 
moniacal hatred  of  the  papistical  Irish.     Stephen  Jerome,  Hugh 

"Wail,  wail  him  through  the  Island !     Weep,  weep  for  our  pride ! 
Would  that  on  the  battlefield,  our  gallant  chief  had  died  ! 
Weep  the  Victor  of  Beann-borb — weep  him,  young  men  and  old ; 
Weep  for  him,  ye  women,  your  beautiful  lies  cold! 

"We  thought  you  would  not  die,  we  were  sure  you  Avould  not  go 
And  leave  us  in  our  utmost  need  to  Cromwell's  cruel  blow. 
Sheep  without  a  shepherd  when  the  snow  shuts  out  the  sky — 
Oh!  why  did  you  leave  us,  Eoghan?  why  did  you  die?" 

— Thomas  Davis. 

-  A  sample  of  this  literature  is  the  pamphlet  published  in  London  in  1647  bv 
a  noted  Puritan  preacher  (and  writer)  Nathaniel  Ward:  "I  beg  upon  my  hands 
and  knees  that  the  expedition  against  them  (the  Irish)  be  undertaken  while  the 
hearts  and  hands  of  our  soldiery  are  hot ;  to  whome,  I  will  be  bold  to  say,  briefly  : 
Iiappy  be  he  that  shall  reward  them  as  they  served  us,  and  cursed  be  he  who 
shall  do  the  work  of  the  Lord  negligently.  Cursed  be  he  who  holdeth  back  the 
sword  from  blood  :  yea  cursed  be  he  that  maketh  not  the  sword  stark  drunk  with 
Irish  blood ;  who  doth  not  recompense  them  double  for  their  treachery  to  the 
Fnglish  ;  but  maketh  them  in  heaps  on  heaps,  and  their  country  the  dwelling  place 
•  >f  dragon.s — an  astonishment  for  nations.  Let  not  that  eye  look  for  pity,  nor 
hand  be  spared,  that  pities  or  spares  them ;  and  let  him  be  cursed  that  curseth 
them  not  bitterlv." 


424  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

Peters,  and  their  like,  noted  for  the  violence  of  their  invective 
against  all  things  Irish  and  Catholic,  preached  a  war  of  extermina- 
tion in  the  most  startling  and  fearful  manner — in  the  pulpit  in- 
voking the  curse  of  God  upon  those  who  should  hold  their  hands 
from  slaying  "while  man,  woman  or  child  of  Belial  remains  alive." 
Peters  exhorted  his  hearers  to  do  as  did  the  conquerors  of  Jericho, 
"kill  all  that  were,  young  men  and  old,  children,  and  maidens." 

The  great  leader  of  the  grim  Ironsides,  himself,  was  destined 
to  leave  behind  him  in  Ireland  for  all  time  a  name  synonymous 
with  ruthless  butchery.^ 

The  first  rare  taste  of  the  qualities  of  this  agent  of  God  the 
Just,  and  first  Friend  of  the  Irish  was  given  to  the  people  at  Dro- 
gheda.  When  he  took  this  city  he  gave  it  and  its  inhabitants  to 
his  men  for  a  three  days'  and  three  nights'  unending  orgy  of  slaugh- 
ter. Only  thirty  men  out  of  a  garrison  of  three  thousand  escaped 
the  sword;  and  it  is  impossible  to  compute  what  other  thousands 
of  non-combatants,  men,  women,  and  children,  were  butchered. 
They  were  slain  in  the  streets,  in  the  lanes,  in  the  yards,  in  the 
gardens,  in  the  cellars,  on  their  own  hearthstone.  They  were  slain 
in  the  church  tower  to  which  they  fled  for  refuge,  in  the  churches, 
on  the  altar  steps,  in  the  market-place — till  the  city's  gutters 
ran  with  red  rivulets  of  blood.  In  the  vaults  underneath  the 
church  a  great  number  of  the  finest  women  of  the  city  sought 
refuge.  But  hardly  one,  if  one,  even  of  these,  was  left  to  tell  the 
awful  tale  of  unspeakable  outrage  and  murder.* 

In  his  despatch  to  the  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Commons, 

3  No  more  illuminating  light  could  be  thrown  upon  the  extraordinary  attitude 
adopted  by  Britain  toward  Ireland,  through  all  the  centuries,  than  to  quote  here 
the  sentiments  of  the  great  Englishman  Carlyle  upon  the  coldest-blooded  butcher 
of  all  the  many  butchers  by  whom  Ireland  has  been  in  seven  centuries  afflicted : 
"Oliver  Cromwell  came  as  a  soldier  of  God  the  Just,  terrible  as  Death,  relentless 
as  Doom  doing  God's  judgments  on  the  enemies  of  God.  ...  It  was  the  first 
King's  face  that  poor  Ireland  ever  saw,  the  first  Friend's  face."  Since  thus  spoke 
one  of  the  very  great  and  noble  of  the  English  people,  there  is  no  reason  for 
being  astonished  at  the  attitude  toward  Ireland  of  the  mass  of  the  British  people. 

4  Arthur  Wood,  the  Historian  of  Oxford,  gives  us  a  narrative  compiled  from 
the  account  of  his  brother  who  was  an  officer  in  Cromwell's  army,  and  who  had 
been  through  the  siege  and  sack  of  Drogheda — which  throws  interesting  sidelight 
upon  the  British  methods,  and  the  quaint  point  of  view  of  the  most  cultured  of 
them.  "Each  of  the  assailants  would  take  up  a  child  and  use  it  as  a  buckler  of 
defence  to  keep  him  from  being  shot  or  brained.  After  they  had  killed  all  in  the 
church  they  went  into  the  vaults  underneath,  where  all  the  choicest  of  women  had 
hid  themselves.  One  of  these,  a  most  handsome  virgin,  arrayed  in  costly  and 
gorgeous  apparel,  knelt  down  to  Wood,  with  tears  and  prayers  begging  for  her 
life;  and  being  stricken  with  a  i)rofound  pity,  he  did  take  her  under  his  arm  for 
protection,  and  went  with  her  out  of  the  church  with  intention  to  put  her  over 
the  works,  to  shift  for  herself,  but  a  soldier,  perceiving  his  intention,  ran  the 
sword  through  her,  whereupon  Mr.  Wood,  seeing  her  gasping,  took  away  her  money, 
jewels,  etc.,  and  flung  her  down  over  the  works." 


CROMWELL  425 

after  Drogheda,  Cromwell  says:  "It  has  pleased  God  to  bless 
our  endeavour  at  Drogheda  .  .  .  the  enemy  were  about  3,000 
strong  in  the  town.  1  believe  we  put  to  the  sword  the  whole  num- 
ber. .  .  .  rhis  hath  been  a  marvelous  great  mercy.  ...  1 
wish  that  all  honest  hearts  may  give  the  glory  of  this  to  God  alone, 
to  whom  indeed  the  praise  of  this  mercy  belongs."  And  again, 
"In  this  very  place  (St.  Peter's  Church),  a  thousand  of  them  were 
put  to  the  sword,  fleeing  thither  for  safety.  .  .  .  And  now  give 
me  leave  to  say  how  this  work  was  wrought.  It  was  set  upon  some 
of  our  hearts  that  a  great  thing  should  be  done,  not  by  power  or 
might,  but  by  the  spirit  of  God.     And  is  it  not  so,  clearly?" 

On  October  2,  1649,  the  English  Parliament  appointed  a  na- 
tional Thanksgiving  Day  in  celebration  of  the  dreadful  slaughter 
— and  by  unanimous  vote  placed  upon  the  Parliamentary  records 
— "That  the  House  does  approve  of  the  execution  done  at  Dro- 
gheda as  an  act  of  both  justice  to  them  [the  butchered  ones]  and 
mercy  to  others  who  may  be  warned  by  it." 

After  Drogheda,  Cromwell,  in  quick  succession  reduced  the 
other  northern  strongholds,  then  turned  and  swept  southward  to 
Wexford — where  he  again  exhibited  to  the  people  the  face  of  the 
King  and  Friend.  Two  thousand  were  butchered  here.  He 
thought  it  a  simple  act  of  justice  to  "the  Saints,"  his  soldiers,  to 
indulge  them  in  the  little  joy  of  slaughtering  the  Canaanites.  He 
writes:  "I  thought  it  not  right  or  good  to  restrain  off  the  soldiers 
from  their  right  of  pillage,  or  from  doing  execution  on  the  enemy." 

Lingard,  in  his  History  of  England  says:  "Wexford  was 
abandoned  to  the  mercy  of  the  assailants.  The  tragedy  recently 
enacted  at  Drogheda  was  renewed.  No  distinction  was  made  be- 
tween the  defenceless  inhabitants  and  the  armed  soldiers,  nor 
could  the  shrieks  and  prayers  of  three  hundred  females  who  had 
gathered  round  the  great  Cross  in  the  market-place,  preserve  them 
from  the  swords  of  these  ruthless  barbarians. "° 

CromwxU  reduced  the  garrisons  of  Arklow,  Innlscorthy  and 
Ross  on  the  way  to  Wexford.  After  Wexford  he  tried  to  reduce 
Waterford,  but  failing  in  his  first  attempt,  and  not  having  time  to 

^  Nicholas  French,  Bishop  of  Wexford  who  escaped  from  the  city,  and  after 
terrible  suffering  and  privation,  escaped  from  the  countr>',  records :  "On  that  fatal 
day,  October  11th,  1649,  I  lost  everything  I  had.  Wexford,  my  native  town,  then 
abounding  in  merchandise,  ships,  and  wealth,  was  taken  at  the  sword's  point  by 
Cromwell,  and  sacked  by  an  infuriated  soldiery.  Before  God's  altar  fell  sacred 
victims,  holy  priests  of  the  Lord.  Of  those  who  were  seized  outside  the  church 
some  were  scourged,  some  thrown  into  chains  and  imprisoned,  while  others  were 
hanged  or  put  to  death  by  cruel  tortures.  The  blood  of  the  noblest  of  our  citizens 
was  shed  so  that  it  inundated  the  streets.  There  was  hardly  a  house  that  was  not 
defiled  with  carnage  and  filled  with  wailing." 


426  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

waste  besieging  it,  passed  onward — and  found  the  cities  of  Cork 
an  easy  prey.  For,  as  Lord  Inchiquin  had  garrisoned  them  with 
English  Protestants,  these  garrisons  readily  sold  the  cities — and 
were  later  well  rewarded  with  large  grants  of  Irish  lands  in  the 
North.  He  rested  at  Youghal,  getting  fresh  supplies  and  money 
from  England.  In  January  he  took  the  field  again,  reduced  Feth- 
ard,  Cashel,  Carrick,  and  eventually  got  Kilkenny  by  negotiation. 

Against  his  new  and  powerful  cannon,  the  ancient  and  crum- 
bling defences  of  the  Irish  cities  were  of  little  avail. 

Perhaps  the  pluckiest  fight  put  up  against  Cromwell  was  by 
Hugh  O'Neill  (nephew  to  Owen  Roe)  at  Clonmel.  With  his  little 
garrison  of  1500  men  he  resisted  magnificently.  He  quickly 
turned  to  splendid  advantage  a  treacherous  trick  by  which  Crom- 
well was  to  be  given  entrance  to  the  city — and  quietly  turning  the 
tables,  entrapped,  fought  and  killed,  five  hundred  of  Cromwell's 
men.  So  finely  did  O'Neill  defend  the  place  that  Cromwell  had 
at  length  to  turn  the  siege  into  a  blockade.  Then  O'Neill,  being 
out  of  provisions,  worked  a  second  clever  bit  of  strategy.  With 
the  garrison,  he  secretly  slipped  away  in  the  night  to  Waterford, 
after  having  arranged  that  when  he  and  his  forces  had  got  twelve 
miles'  start,  the  Mayor  of  the  town  should  obtain  good  terms  from 
the  impatient  and  unwitting  Cromwell.  And,  as  anticipated,  Crom- 
well was  taken  in,  and  eagerly  gave  fine  terms  to  a  town  that, 
without  his  knowing  it,  was  completely  at  his  mercy. 

The  conqueror  then — in  the  end  of  May — sailed  from  Youghal 
for  England,  after  having  in  eight  months,  subdued  almost  all  of 
Ireland,  destroyed  the  effective  Irish  forces,  and  left  the  country 
prostrate  at  the  feet  of  the  Parliament.  Swiftly,  terribly,  and 
effectively  he  had  done  his  fearful  work — "a  very  handsome  spell 
of  work,"  says  the  great  minded  Carlyle." 

«A  few  sidelights  on  the  "handsome  spell  of  work"  (out  of  thousands  which 
happened) : 

At  Cashel,  where  two  thousand  were  slain,  Cromwell's  p^eneral,  Broghill,  took 
the  Bishop  of  Ross,  cut  off  his  hands  and  feet,  and  then  hanged  him.  A  Domini- 
can friar  had  his  fingers  and  toes  cut  off  before  he  was  slain.  And  at  Clonmel,  a 
Franciscan  was  first  drawn  on  the  rack  and  then  had  his  hands  and  feet  burned 
off,  after  which  he  was  liung.  The  parish  priest  of  Arklow  was  tied  to  a  wild 
horse's  tail  and  dragged  to  Gorey,  where  he  was  hanged. 

The  attitude  adopted  by  the  exterminators  towards  those  whom  they  were 
exterminating,  is  illumined  to  us  when  we  know  that  the  most  wildly  grotesque 
stories  told  of  the  latter,  were  greedily  accepted  by  the  former.  In  Nash's  edition 
of  the  Hudibras,.  it  was  gravely  stated  that  when  seven  hundred  Irish  had  been 
put  to  the  sword  by  Inchiquin,  "Among  them  were  found,  when  stripped  divers 
that  had  tails  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  yard  long.  Forty  soldiers,  eye-witnesses, 
testified  the  same  on  their  oaths."  A  Protestant  minister  with  the  troops  in  Mun- 
ster  wrote  home  to  London  that  when  they  had  stormed  a  certain  castle,  many 
of  the  slain  defenders  were  found  to  have  tails  several  inches  long! 


CROMWELL  427 

He  left  in  command  his  general,  Ireton,  who,  on  his  death  soon 
after,  was  to  be  succeeded  by  Cromwell's  son,  Henry. 

It  took  his  successors,  however,  another  two  years  to  finish 
up  the  remnant  of  work  that  he  had  left  unfinished. 

Watcrford,  Limerick,  and  Galway  still  lield  out.  Scattered 
bands  of  fighters  here  and  there,  and  an  army  of  the  North,  about 
five  thousand  foot  and  a  thousand  horse,  under  Heber  MacMahon, 
Bishop  of  Clogher,  kept  Ulster  resistance  still  alive. 

But  MacMahon,  very  little  of  a  military  man,  though  he  swept 
the  enemy  before  him  at  Toome,  at  Dungannon  and  Dungiven, 
was  disastrously  defeated  near  Letterkenny — when  he  had  per- 
sisted in  engaging  the  enemy  under  disadvantageous  circumstances, 
and  against  the  pleadings  of  military  counsellers.  There  he  lost 
half  his  army,  and  with  the  remnant  of  it  was  overcome  at  Ennis- 
killen.  He  was  hanged,  and  his  head  set  above  Derry  gate,  as  a 
warning  to  "traitors" — the  term  always  applied  by  Englishmen 
to  such  Irish  as  perversely  persist  in  doing  their  duty  by  their 
own  country  instead  of  their  country's  conqueror. 

The  few  towns — Waterford,  Limerick,  Galway' — and  the 
scattered  fighting  forces  were  gradually  conquered,  or  capitulated. 
Till  on  the  12th  May,  '52,  Articles  of  Kilkenny  signed  by  the  Par- 
liamentary Commissioners  on  the  one  hand  and  the  Earl  of  West 
Meath  on  the  other — yet  fiercely  denounced  by  the  Leinster  clergy 
— practically  terminated  the  longest,  the  most  appallingly  dreadful 
and  inhumane,  and  the  most  exhausting,  war,  with  which  unfor- 
tunate Ireland  was  ever  visited. 

^  One  of  Galway's  gallant  defenders,  a  young  man,  Geoffrey  Baron,  condemned 
to  the  scaffold  by  the  conquerors — for  the  same  crime  for  which  througli  the  ages 
since,  other  thousands  of  Ireland's  young  men  have  made  sacred  to  us  the  gal- 
lows steps — asked  and  was  permitted  to  dress  for  his  execution.  He  went  to  his 
room,  chose  from  his  wardrobe  a  suit  of  white  taffetie,  and,  so  garbed,  joyously 
climbed  the  gallows  stairs  and  went  to  his  death  for  Ireland. 

Incidentally,  let  it  be  here  set  down  that  on  the  day  these  lines  are  being  penned 
I  lift  the  newspaper,  read  a  report  of  six  young  men — "rebels" — just  hanged  in 
Cork,  and  of  the  chaplain,  Canon  O'Sullivan's  announcement,  "They  went  to  their 
death  like  school-boys  going  on  a  holiday." 

The  centuries  roll  on,  the  struggle  grows  ancient,  but  the  spirit,  proud,  glad, 
indomitable,  weakens  not,  nor  changes  ever. 


CHAPTER  LI 

THE    CROMWELLIAN    SETTLEMENT 

But  Ireland's  sufferings,  great  and  terrible  as  they  had  been,  were 
yet  far  from  ended.  True,  she  had  quaffed  her  chalice  to  the  last 
bitter  drop,  but  it  was  ordained  that  she  must  now  lap  up  the 
poisoned  dregs. 

Peace  had  been  proclaimed  over  the  torn  land.  But  peace  is 
a  bitterly  ironical  term  to  apply  to  the  state  of  things  in  Ireland 
now.  This  may  well  be  realised  by  reading  any  description  of  life 
in  Ireland  during  these  years.  Hear  this  description  of  a  place  in 
time  of  "peace" — taken  from  Lynch's  "Life  of  Bishop  Kirwan"  : 

"Along  with  the  three  scourges  of  God,  famine,  plague,  and 
war,  there  was  another  which  some  called  the  fourth  scourge,  to 
wit,  the  weekly  exaction  of  the  soldiers'  pay,  which  was  extorted 
with  incredible  atrocity,  each  Saturday — bugles  sounding,  and  drums 
beating.  On  these  occasions  the  soldiers  entered  the  various  houses, 
and  pointing  their  muskets  to  the  breasts  of  men  and  women  threat- 
ened them  with  instant  death  if  the  sum  demanded  was  not  imme- 
diately given.  Should  it  have  so  happened  that  the  continual  pay- 
ment of  these  taxes  had  exhausted  the  means  of  the  people,  bed, 
bedding,  sheets,  table-cloths,  dishes,  and  every  description  of  furni- 
ture, nay,  the  very  garments  of  the  women,  torn  off  their  persons, 
were  carried  to  the  market-place  and  sold  for  a  small  sum ;  so  much 
so,  that  each  recurring  Saturday  bore  a  resemblance  to  the  Day  of 
Judgment,  and  the  clangour  of  the  trumpet  smote  the  people  with 
terror,  almost  equal  to  that  of  doomsday." 

When  the  wars  were  ended  and  "peace"  had  been  established 
then  was  the  exhausted  remnant  of  the  nation  condemned  to  shoul- 
der its  bitter  burden — slavery  worse  than  death,  and  a  terrible 
exile,  worse  than  either — the  transplanting  of  all  of  the  Irish  race 
who  were  still  alive,  in  Ulster,  Leinster  and  Munster,  to  the  bar- 
ren bogs  of  Connacht;  so  that  the  smiling  fields  of  the  fertile 
three-quarters  of  Ireland  might  be  divided  among  the  children  of 
the  conqueror.     It  was  the  great  Cromwellian  Settlement. 

428 


THE  CROMWELLIAN  SETTLEMENT  429 

One  of  the  articles  of  the  peace  provided  that  the  Irish  sol- 
diers could,  if  they  would,  enter  the  army  of  any  foreign  power 
friendly  to  England.  'l'hirt)'-llve  hundred  of  them,  under  Colonel 
Edmund  O'Dwyer,  went  to  the  Prince  Conde;  five  thousand  un- 
der Lord  Muskerry,  to  the  King  of  Poland;  smaller  numbers  to 
other  Continental  armies;  and  about  thirty  thousand  to  the  King 
of  Spain. 

Because  by  far  the  greater  portion  of  the  Irish  who  were  able 
to  bear  arms  had  been  killed  off,  few  young  men  now  remained  to 
Ireland.  And  of  these  few  remaining  young  men,  and  of  the 
young  women  and  boys  and  girls,  numbers  were,  during  the  fol- 
lowing years  shipped  Into  slavery  to  the  American  colonies  and 
the  West  Indies.^  The  numbers  thus  sent  to  slavery  are  variously 
estimated  at  between  thirty  thousand  and  eighty  thousand." 

On  the  Continent,  in  almost  every  country,  the  exiled  Irish 
came  in  course  of  time  to  adorn  all  ranks  and  all  classes.  One 
historian  says,  "They  became  Chancellors  of  Universities,  profes- 
sors and  high  officials  in  every  European  state.    A  Kerryman  was 

1  There  is  a  tradition  that,  as  a  result,  on  some  of  the  smaller  islands  of  the 
West  Indies  up  till  a  little  more  than  a  century  ago,  the  negroes  still  spoke 
Gaelic. 

-  Prendergast  in  his  "Cromwellian  Settlement  of  Ireland"  names  four  Bristol 
merchants  who  were  the  most  active  of  the  slave  trading  agents.  For  illustrating 
the  formal  legal  way  in  which  the  horror  was  commercialised  Prendergast  quotes 
"one  instance  out  of  many"-vthe  case  of  Captain  John  Vernon,  who  as  agent  of 
the  English  Commissioners  (who  then  governed  Ireland)  contracted  "under  his 
hand,  of  date  14th  September,  1653"  with  Messrs.  Sellick  and  Leader  of  Bristol 
to  supply  them  with  two  hundred  and  fifty  women  of  the  Irish  nation  above  twelve 
and  under  forty-five  years  of  age.  Also  three  hundred  men  between  twelve  years 
and  forty-five  years  of  age. 

Following  the  conquest  of  Jamaica  in  1655,  after  thousands  of  the  Irish  had, 
through  years  before,  l>een  shipped  into  slavery,  the  Governor  of  that  island  asked 
for  a  thousand  girls  from  Ireland  to  be  shipped  there — to  the  most  appalling  kind 
of  slavery. 

Secretary  Thurloe's  Correspondence,  Vol.  4,  gives  Henry  Cromwell's  reply  to 
this  modest  request — in  his  letter  of  September  11,  1655: 

"Concerninge  the  younge  women,  although  we  must  use  force  in  takeinge  them 
up.  yet  it  beinge  so  much  for  their  owne  goode  and  likely  to  be  of  soe  great  ad- 
vantage to  the  publique,  it  is  not  in  the  least  doubted  you  may  have  such  number 
of  them  as  you  thinke  fitt  to  make  use  upon  this  account.  ...  I  desire  to  express 
as  much  zeal  in  this  design  as  you  would  wish,  and  shall  be  as  diligent  in  prose- 
quution  of  any  directiones  .  .  ,  judgcinge  it  to  be  business  of  publique  concern- 
ment. .  .  .  Blessed  be  God,  I  do  not  finde  many  discouragements  in  my  worke,  and 
hope  I  shall  not,  soe  longe  as  the  Lord  is  pleased  to  keep  my  harte  uprighte  be- 
fore him." 

And  under  date  of  September  18,  1655,  Henry  of  the  Uprighte  Harte,  writ- 
ing from  Kilkenny,  again  to  Thurloe,  says  in  the  course  of  his  letter,  "I  shall  not 
neede  to  repeat  anythinge  about  the  girles,  not  doubtinge  but  to  answer  your  ex- 
pectationes  to  the  full  in  that ;  and  I  think  it  might  be  of  like  advantage  to  your 
affaires  there,  and  to  ours  heer,  if  you  should  thinke  fitt  to  sende  1500  or  2000 
young  boys  of  from  twelve  to  fourteen  years  of  age,  to  the  place  aforementioned. 
We  could  well  spare  them,  and  they  would  be  of  use  to  you ;  and  who  knowes 
but  that  it  may  be  the  meanes  to  make  them  Englishmen,  I  mean  rather  Qiristians." 

Comment  upon  this — especially  the  final  pithy  sentence — would  surely  spoil  it. 


430  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

physician  to  Sobieski,  King  of  Poland.  A  Kerryman  was  con- 
fessor to  the  Queen  of  Portugal,  and  was  sent  by  the  King  on  an 
embassy  to  Louis  the  Fourteenth.  A  Donegal  man  named  O'Gla- 
can  was  physician  and  Privy  Chancellor  to  the  King  of  France, 
and  a  very  famed  professor  of  medicine  in  the  Universities  of 
Tolouse  and  Bologna." 

"There  was  not  a  country  in  Europe,  and  not  an  occupation, 
where  Irishmen  were  not  in  the  first  rank — as  Fieldmarshals,  Ad- 
mirals, Ambassadors,  Prime  Ministers,  Scholars,  Physicians,  Mer- 
chants, Soldiers,  and  Founders  of  mining  industry." 

Of  the  fearful  condition  of  Ireland  now,  Prendergast  gives  us 
a  terrible  picture:  "Ireland,  in  the  language  of  Scripture,  lay  void 
as  a  wilderness.  Five-sixths  of  her  people  had  perished.  Women 
and  children  were  found  daily  perishing  in  ditches,  starved.  The 
bodies  of  many  wandering  orphans,  whose  fathers  had  been  killed 
or  exiled,  and  whose  mothers  had  died  of  famine,  were  preyed 
upon  by  wolves.  In  the  years  1652  and  1653  the  plague,  follow- 
ing the  desolating  wars,  had  swept  away  whole  counties,  so  that 
one  might  travel  twenty  or  thirty  miles  and  not  see  a  living  crea- 
ture. Man,  beast  and  bird  were  all  dead,  or  had  quit  those  deso- 
late places.  The  troops  would  tell  stories  of  the  place  where  they 
saw  a  smoke,  it  was  so  rare  to  see  either  smoke  by  day,  or  fire  or 
candle  by  night.  If  two  or  three  cabins  were  met  with,  there  were 
found  none  but  aged  men,  with  women  and  children;  and  they, 
in  the  words  of  the  prophet,  'became  as  a  bottle  in  the  smoke,' 
their  skins  black  like  an  oven  because  of  the  terrible  famine." 

In  September,  1653,  was  issued  by  Parliament  the  order  for 
the  great  transplanting.  Then  all  the  fertile  fields  of  the  Irish 
natives  of  Ireland  were  declared  to  be  the  property  of  the  British 
soldiers  who  had  won  them  by  the  sword,  and  of  the  English  Ad- 
venturers who  had  purchased  the  sword  and  financed  the  expedi- 
tion into  Ireland — and,  under  penalty  of  death,  all  the  ancient 
inhabitants  were  ordered  to  repair  themselves  from  the  ends  of 
Ireland  to  the  wastes  of  Connacht,  where  their  lot  was  to  be  laid 
henceforth.  Under  penalty  of  death,  no  Irish  man,  woman,  or 
child,  was  to  let  himself,  herself,  itself,  be  found  east  of  the  River 
Shannon,  after  the   ist  May,   1654.^ 

3  Edward  Hetherington  was  hung  from  a  tree  near  his  own  house  while  a 
placard  struck  upon  his  breast,  and  another  upon  his  back,  warned  the  rest  of  the 
Irish  world  that  this  was — "For  not  transplanting." 

Certain  artisans  and  labourers  who  would  be  absolutely  needed  by  the  British 
Settlers  were  excluded  from  the  edict  of  banishment.  There  was  also  a  clause — 
evidently  put  in  more  for  effect  than  for  anything  else — that  people  who  could 
prove  themselves  innocent  of  having  been  rebels  or  having  aided,  harboured,  or 


THE  CROMWELLIAN  SETTLEMENT  431 

To  the  countless  thousands  of  weak,  weary,  and  starving  crea- 
tures— worn  old  men  and  women,  and  weakling  babes — direct  sen- 
tence of  death  would  have  been  ten  times  more  welcome  and  in- 
finitely more  merciful.  That  was  a  fearful  winter  of  '53-'54; 
fearful  for  the  tottering  old  and  the  crawling  young,  who,  from 
the  four  ends  of  Ireland  were  dragging  their  skeleton  frames  over 
the  hills  and  the  plains,  and  forcing  themselves  along  every  high- 
way that  headed  to  the  west,  to  deeper  misery,  more  painful  starva- 
tion, and  slow  and  painful  death.  The  Lord  and  the  commoner, 
the  palsied  old  man  and  the  toddling  orphan  child,  all  alike  were 
driven  forth  from  their  homes,  and  goaded  over  the  blood-stained 
flints  to  their  dread  Siberia.^ 

The  Barony  of  Burren  in  Clare,  to  which  the  first  batch  of 
these  unfortunates  were  consigned,  was  such  a  God-forsaken  re- 
gion that  It  v/as  popularly  said  to  have  not  wood  enough  on  which 
to  hang  a  man,  water  enough  to  drown  him,  nor  earth  enough  to 

sympathised  with  rebels,  and  who  were  guiltless  of  any  offences  against  British 
soldiers,  settlers,  or  sympathisers,  would  be  excluded  from  the  edict  of  banishment. 
This  was  "a  concession  of  mercy"  to  the  Irish  nation.  And  its  value  may  be 
estimated  by  the  fact  that  a  fair-minded  one  of  the  British  Settlers  themselves, 
Vincent  Gookin,  in  his  Vindication  of  the  Irish  Transplanting,  records  his  protest 
against  "the  narrowness  and  straightness  of  the  Parliament's  concessions  of  mercy 
to  that  nation  which  doth  not  declare  one  in  five  hundred  pardonable  either  for 
life  or  estate." 

This  same  Vincent  Gookin  in  endeavouring  to  show  the  vital  necessity  to  the 
new  colonists  of  holding  back  from  banishment  the  working  portion  of  the  Irish 
people,  sheds  light  for  us  upon  the  manual  accomplishments  of  the  common  Irish 
worker  then.  And  his  testimony  is  valuable  in  view  of  the  constant  English  as- 
sertion that  the  Irish  were  in  a  state  verging  on  savagery  (which,  considering  the 
circumstances,  might  well  have  been  the  case).  Gookin  says:  "There  are  few  of 
the  Irish  commonalty  but  are  skilful  in  husbandry,  and  more  exact  than  any  of 
the  English  in  the  husbandry  proper  to  the  country.  .  .  .  There  are  few  of  the 
women  but  are  skilful  in  dressing  hemp  and  flax,  and  making  of  linen  and  woollen 
cloth.  ...  It  is  believed  that  to  every  hundred  men  there  are  five  or  six  carpenters 
at  least  of  that  nation,  and  these  more  handy  and  ready  in  building  ordinary 
houses,  and  more  prudent  in  supplying  the  defects  of  instruments  and  materials, 
than  English  artificers." 

*  From  the  Government  records,  Prendergast  gives  us  samples  of  the  official 
description  of  the  migrating  Irish,  both  the  high  brought  low,  and  the  lowly  still 
lower : 

"Sir  Nicholas  Comyn  of  Limerick  numb  on  one  side  of  dead  palsy,  accom- 
panied only  by  his  wife,  Catherine,  aged  thirty-five,  flaxen  hair,  of  middle  stature, 
and  one  maid  servant,  Honour  MacNamara,  aged  twenty,  brown  hair,  middle 
stature — having  no  substance." 

"Ignatius  Stacpool  of  Limerick,  orphant,  eleven  years  of  age,  flaxen  hair, 
full  face,  low  of  stature ;  Catherine,  his  sister,  orphant,  age  eight,  flaxen  hair,  full 
face — having  no  substance." 

"James,  Lord  Dun  Boyne  in  County  Tipperary,  describes  himself  as  likely  to 
be  accompanied  by  twenty-one  followers,  and  as  having  four  cows,  ten  garans,  and 
two  swine." 

The  grinding  of  the  mills  of  the  gods  brought  it  around  that  among  the  mul- 
titude of  poor  creatures  who,  in  pain  and  suffering,  were  now  driven  from  Cork 
into  exile,  was  the  grandson  of  the  poet  Edmund  Spenser,  who  in  his  time  had 
driven  forth  the  native  Irish  that  he  might  enjoy  the  lands  of  which  he  robbed 
them. 


432  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

bury  him.  Beside  it  Siberia  was  Eden.  And  many  of  those  con- 
signed to  it  returned  to  face  death  at  the  hands  of  the  soldiers. 

And  it  Is  to  be  noted  that  even  Connacht  was  not  entirely  left 
to  them.  For,  not  satisfied  with  obtaining  the  three  more  fertile 
quarters  of  Ireland,  the  covetous  eyes  of  the  British  followed  these 
creatures  even  across  the  Shannon — and  the  one  fertile  county  of 
Connacht,  Sligo,  was  filched  from  them,  as  well  as  many  fruitful 
patches  that  God  had  granted  to  the  remainder  of  Connacht. 

Sir  William  Petty,  in  his  Political  Anatomy  of  Ireland,  esti- 
mated that  the  wars  had  reduced  the  population  of  Ireland  from 
1,466,000  in  '41  to  616,000  in  '52 — so  that  much  more  than  one- 
half  of  the  population  of  the  whole  country  had  been  at  that  time 
exterminated.  And  they  were  probably  dying  more  thickly  during 
the  terrible  transplanting — and  in  the  years  immediately  after, 
when  they  were  cooped  up  in  Connacht,  without  houses,  cattle,  or 
implements  of  tillage,  striving  as  it  were  to  live  on  manna  from 
heaven. 

Petty  also  tells  us  that,  whereas  before  1641  the  British  in 
Ireland  were  to  the  Irish  as  two  to  eleven,  when  the  Cromwellian 
Settlement  was  effected,  three-fourths  of  the  lands,  and  five-sixths 
of  the  houses  belonged  to  the  British  Settlers.  And  when  Petty 
wrote,  in  '72 — after  a  period  of  twenty  years'  rest  during  which 
the  exiled  Irish  had  got  some  time  to  rehabilitate  themselves — he 
records  that  three-fourths  of  the  population  existed  upon  milk  and 
potatoes,  and  lived  in  cabins  that  had  neither  chimney,  door,  stairs, 
nor  window — "So,"  exclaims  Sir  William,  and  we  can  see  the 
pious  and  gallant  Briton  rub  his  hands  for  glee,  "they  will  never 
rebel  again." 

Now,  as  ever  in  Ireland,  the  gloom  is  illumined  by  a  radiance 
behind.  While  things  are  at  their  blackest,  the  people,  like  driven 
animals,  agonising  most  sorely,  both  learning  and  religion  are 
still  cherished — cherished  not  only  by  those  cooped  up  In  Con- 
nacht, but  by  the  dispossessed  who  had  remained  hewers  of  wood 
and  drawers  of  water  for  their  dispossessors;  and  among  the  thou- 
sand who,  escaping  back  from  Connacht,  were  in  every  corner  of 
the  country  insinuating  themselves  into  its  life  once  more.  Keep- 
ing in  mind  that  these  creatures,  under  the  terrible  conditions  pic- 
tured, were  just  clinging  to  a  life  of  unparalleled  hardship,  it  is 
something  noteworthy  and  characteristic  of  the  indomitable  soul 
of  the  race,  to  find  Petty  testifying:  "The  superior  learning 
among  them  is  the  philosophies  of  the  schools  and  the  genealogies 
of  their  ancestors — both  which  look  like  what  St.  Paul  hath  con- 


THE  CROMWELLIAN  SETTLEMENT  433 

demnedl"  The  superior  Briton  in  Petty  makes  him  set  down  the 
priests  as  having  small  learning.  But  he  admits  in  the  next  breath : 
"They  can  often  outtalk  in  Latin  those  who  talk  with  them." 

It  was  shortly  before  this  time  that  King  James'  Commis- 
sioners— the  learned  Protestant  Primate,  Archbishop  Usher,  sad 
to  say,  being  one  of  them — suppressed  the  classical  school  con- 
ducted in  Galway  by  John  Lynch,  the  noted  author  of  Cambrensis 
Eversus — praised  it  and  suppressed  it,  and  bound  over  Lynch  in 
four  hundred  pounds  "to  forbear  teaching." 

And  cooped  together  in  Connacht,  or  scattered  fugitives, 
haunting  the  fields  that  had  once  been  theirs,  they  clung  to  their 
religion  too,  with  a  perseverance  that  was  sublime.  Just  before 
the  Wars  the  people  had  been  venturing,  here  and  there,  to  bring 
their  religion  irito  the  open.  That  good  Puritan,  Sir  William 
Brereton,  in  the  record  of  his  journey  in  Ireland  in  1635,  ex- 
pressed himself  shocked  at  the  painful  sight  that  met  his  eye  at 
Dundalk — "wherein  the  Papists  boldly  dare  to  go  to  Mass  openly." 
And  wherever  they  w^re,  there  also,  lurking  too,  was  the  hunted 
priest  with  price  upon  his  head.'^' 

O'Hagan  (afterwards  Chief  Justice)  in  his  Essay  on  Irish 
History  cites  one  of  the  edicts  of  that  time:  "If  any  one  shall 
know  W'here  a  priest  remains  concealed,  in  caves,  woods,  or  cav- 
erns, or  if  by  any  chance  he  should  meet  a  priest  on  the  highway, 
and  not  immediately  take  him  into  custody  and  present  him  before 
the  next  magistrate,  such  person  is  to  be  considered  a  traitor  and 
an  enemy  of  the  Republic.  He  is  accordingly  to  be  cast  into  prison, 
flogged  through  the  public  streets  and  afterwards  have  his  ears 
cut  off.  But  should  it  appear  that  he  kept  up  any  correspondence 
or  friendship  with  a  priest,  he  is  to  suffer  death." 

Both  the  perseverance  of  the  people  in  their  thirst  for  learn- 
ing and  religion,  and  also  the  hard  lot  of  the  hunted  priest,  then. 


^  Here  are  a  few  sample  disbursements  taken  from  the  Government  records 
for  1657: 

"Five  pounds  to  Thomas  Gregson,  Evan  Powell,  and  Samuel  Ally,  to  be 
equally  divided  upon  them,  for  arresting  a  Popish  priest,  Donogh  Hagerty,  taken 
and  now  secured  in  the  County  jail  at  Clonmel." 

"To  Lieutenant  Edwin  Wood,  twenty-five  pounds  for  five  priests  and  three 
friars  apprehended  by  him — namely,  Thomas  McGeoghan,  Turlough  MacGowan, 
Hugh  Goan,  Terence  Fitzsimmons,  and  another — who  on  examination  confessed 
themselves  to  be  priests  and  friars." 

"To  Humphrey  Gibbs  and  to  Corporal  Thomas  Hill  ten  pounds  for  appre- 
hending two  Popish  priests,  namely,  Maurice  Prendergast  and  Edward  Fahy." 

"To  Arthur  Spollen,  Robert  Pierce,  and  John  Bruen,  five  pounds  for  their 
good  service  performed  in  apprehending  and  bringing  before  the  Right  Honourable 
Chief  Justice  Pepys  on  the  twenty-first  January  last,'  one  Popish  priest,  Edwin 
Duhy." 


434  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

is  well  pictured  for  us  by  a  Jesuit,  Father  Quinn,  who,  in  the  early 
'fifties,  in  a  Latin  report,  from  Galway,  made  to  his  superiors  in 
Rome  (and  preserved  in  St.  Isidore's)  writes: 

"On  a  spot  of  ground  in  the  middle  of  an  immense  bog,  Father 
James  Forde  constructed  for  himself  a  little  hut,  whither  boys 
and  youths  came  and  still  come  to  be  instructed  in  the  rudiments 
of  learning,  virtue,  and  faith.  Then  they  go  from  house  to  house 
and  teach  parents  and  neighbours  what  they  learnt  in  the  bogs. 

"Our  life  is  therefore  daily  warfare  and  living  martyrdom. 
We  never  venture  to  approach  any  houses  of  Catholics,  but  live 
generally  in  the  mountains,  forests,  and  inaccessible  bogs — where 
Cromwellian  troopers  can  not  reach  us.  Thither  crowds  of  poor 
Catholics  flock  to  us,  whom  we  refresh  by  the  Word  of  God  and 
consolations  of  the  Sacraments.  Here  in  wild  mountain  tracts,  we 
preach  to  them  constancy  in  faith  and  the  mystery  of  the  Cross 
of  Our  Lord."  In  spite  of  all  precaution  taken  for  the  secret  ex- 
ercises, Cromwellians  often  discovered  it:  then  the  wild  beast  was 
never  hunted  with  more  fury,  nor  tracked  with  more  pertinacity, 
through  mountains,  woods,  and  bogs,  than  the  priest. 

"I  cannot  omit  a  lamentable  incident  which  occurred  here 
lately,"  says  Father  Quinn,  "three  hundred  Catholics  bound  in 
chains,  were  carried  to  a  desolate  island — where  they  were  aban- 
doned. All  of  them  starved  to  death  except  two  who  swam  away. 
One  sank.     One  reached  land." 

After  the  Puritan  fury  had  expended  Itself,  and  the  native 
Irish  were  everywhere  mysteriously  springing  up  again — out  of 
the  bowels  of  the  earth  as  it  seemed — we  have  interesting  testi- 
mony of  the  rapid  recovery  of  the  race,  and  revival  of  its  religion, 
from  the  French  traveller  Janvin  de  Rochefort,  who  went  through 
Ireland  in  1668.  He  found:  "Even  in  Dublin  more  than  twenty 
houses  where  Mass  is  secretly  said,  and  in  about  a  thousand  places, 
subterranean  vaults  and  retired  spots  in  the  woods."  Spending 
a  Sunday  in  Drogheda  he  was  told  he  could  hear  Mass  two  miles 
outside  the  city — where  he  found  it  being  celebrated  in  a  poor 
chamber  in  a  mean  hamlet.  He  v/as  astonished  at  the  numbers  he 
saw  flocking  through  the  woods  and  across  the  mountains  to  at- 
tend. And  he  adds:  "Here  I  saw,  before  Mass,  fifty  who  con- 
fessed and  afterwards  communicated  with  devotion  truly  Catho- 
lic." 

Like  all  the  many  other  Enghsh  attempts  of  the  like  kind,  the 
Cromwellian  Settlement  did  not  settle — and  the  Cromwellian  ex- 
tirpation did  not  extirpate — the  perverse  race. 


THE  CROMWELLIAN  SETTLEMENT  435 

For  the  wars  of  the  Torties  and  Cromwellian  Settlement  see  the  followinj^ : 
Belling's  History  of  the  Irish  Confederation. 
Meehan's  Confederation  of  Kilkenny. 
Warner's  History  of  the  RcbeUion. 
Carte's  Life  of  the  Duke  of  Ormond. 
Green's  Short  History  of  the  FJnglish  People. 
Lord  Mag^uirc's  Narrative. 
Murphy's  Cromwell  in  Ireland. 
Taylor's  Life  of  Owen  Roe. 
Leland's  History  of  Ireland. 
Lingard's  History  of  England. 


CHAPTER  LII 

THE  WILLI  AMITE  WARS 

When  to  England's  throne  and  Ireland's  governorship  came 
James  II  (1685),  his  first  act  was  to  suspend  the  Penal  Laws 
against  Catholics  and  Dissenters — whereby  he  filled  the  majority  of 
his  English  subjects  and  the  Puritan  settlers  in  Ireland  with  horror. 
Furthermore,  he  decided  to  effect  a  reform  in  the  government  of 
Ireland. 

So,  he  sent  over  Richard  Talbot,  later  known  in  Irish  history 
as  the  Duke  of  Tyrconnell.  Talbot  had  been  attached  to  King 
Charles's  suite  since  the  Restoration.  He  was  an  Irishman  and  a 
Catholic;  "a  large  powerful-looking  man,  brilliant  and  handsome 
in  his  youth"  says  Gramont  in  his  "Memoirs,"  *'of  nobility,  not  to 
say  haughtiness  in  his  manners."  It  was  recorded  of  him  that  he 
always  paid  his  debts.  He  was  fifty  years  of  age  when  the  king 
chose  him  for  the  service.  A  tall  cavalry  officer  of  Irish  birth,  then 
in  England,  captain  in  Hamilton's  dragoons  by  name  Patrick  Sars- 
field,  held  an  opinion  later  that  Tyrconnell  lacked  decision  and 
boldness. 

However,  on  being  appointed  to  the  command  of  the  army  in 
Ireland,  and  in  the  following  year  to  the  Lord  Lieutenancy,  he 
showed  no  lack  of  decision.  He  had  been  at  the  sack  of  Drogheda, 
a  boy  of  sixteen.  That  memory,  and  the  king's  cause  to  serve, 
caused  him  speedily  to  make  a  radical  change  in  the  army.  The 
Puritan  element  was  removed  from  the  ranks;  regiments  were  re- 
cruited from  Irish  Catholics;  the  Cromwelllan  officers  were  replaced 
by  Irishmen.  "I  have  put  the  sword  In  your  hands,"  he  is  reported 
to  have  said  to  the  Irish  Privy  Council;  and  the  statement  was  true. 

He  went  further.  The  charters  of  the  Corporations,  all  framed 
In  favour  of  the  foreigner,  the  English  settler,  were  called  In.  He 
appointed  Catholics  as  judges  and  magistrates,  and  placed  Catholics 
on  his  Council.  These  mere  acts  of  justice  appeared  crimes  to  the 
settlers.  To  complete  his  sins  Tyrconnell  sent  three  thousand 
Irish  soldiers  to  England  as  a  reinforcement  for  James's  army. 
Their  arrival  was  regarded  with  horror.  The  English  believed 
them  to  be  bloodthirsty  banditti. 

436 


THE  WILLIAiMITE  WARS  437 

From  the  Hague  a  man  closely  connected  by  birth  and  marriage 
with  the  king  was  watching  in  silence  the  march  of  events.  A  man 
with  a  high  aquiline  nose,  a  pale  face,  with  liglit  brown  hair  and 
penetrating  eyes,  asthmatic,  a  slender  awkward  figure,  ungraceful, 
taciturn,  fond  of  hunting.  Agents  began  to  pass  between  him  and 
certain  Englishmen.  From  Versailles  Louis  XIV  watched  him 
in  turn.  He  bade  his  ambassador  in  London  warn  James  against 
William  of  Orange.  The  warning  was  resented.  Then,  shortly 
after  the  birth  of  the  Prince  of  Wales,  the  blow  fell. 

William  of  Orange  landed  in  England,  and  James's  army 
melted  away.  His  cause  there  became  hopeless;  the  country  went 
over  to  William.  Deserted  by  relations  and  friends,  James  ordered 
his  army  to  be  disbanded.  He  then  fled  from  London,  and  later 
to  France.  Some  jokers,  dressed  as  clowns,  entered  London  and 
said  the  Irish  regiments  had  seized  their  arms  and  were  slaughtering 
all  Protestants.  The  report  was  believed;  a  mad  panic  seized  the 
citizens;  alarm  bells  were  rung;  beacons  kindled  in  the  adjoining 
counties,  and  the  night  was  known  in  England  as  the  "Irish  night." 
It  was  the  12th  of  December,  1688.  Meanwhile  the  disbanded 
Irish  soldiers  were  getting  home  as  best  they  could. 

William  knew  men.  He  offered  Sarsfield  a  colonelcy  in  his 
army,  and  his  favour  generally,  if  he  would  desert  James  and  act  as 
William's  agent  in  Ireland.  The  colonelcy  and  the  favour  were 
spurned.  It  became  evident  now  that  the  issue' between  James  and 
William  would  be  decided  in  Ireland.  To  some  of  the  Irish,  com- 
plete independence,  with  James  for  king,  seemed  a  not  impossible 
hope. 

As  a  body  the  Irish  nation  declared  for  him;  the  English 
settlers,  Elizabethan  and  Cromwellian,  for  William.  Tyrconnell 
at  once  set  about  strengthening  the  Irish  army.  He  empowered 
the  Catholic  nobility  and  gentry  to  raise  regiments.  Foot  and 
Horse  were  soon  enrolled.  Arms  were  deficient;  for  this  reason 
many  of  the  new  levies  were  of  little  practical  aid. 

Within  the  space  of  two  months  fifty  thousand  Irishmen  enlisted 
themselves.  These  men  were  known  as  "Tyrconnell's  blackguards" 
by  the  Williamltes.  Many  were  ragged;  some  half  naked.  Their 
fathers  had  been  robbed  of  all;  their  oppressors  just  allowed  them 
to  exist.  One  of  their  enemies  described  their  appearance.  "Some 
had  wisps  of  hay  or  straw  bands  about  their  heads  Instead  of  hats. 
Others  tattered  coats  or  blankets  cast  over  them  without  any 
breeches.  Stockings  and  shoes  were  strange  things.  As  for  shirts 
three  proved  a  miracle.  However,  they  mustered."  To  the  cold, 
hostile  eye  they  seemed  but  savages.     But  there  was  native  learn- 


438  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

ing,  and  poetry,  and  wonderful  oral  tradition,  wit,  generosity, 
resource  and  clever  brains  among  them  in  spite  of  the  frightful 
poverty  of  their  lives,  and  the  grinding  cruelties  of  their  oppressors. 
They  were  the  material  Avhich,  later,  drilled  and  armed,  was  to 
form  the  Irish  Brigade  in  the  service  of  France,  and  prove  the  best 
fighters  in  Europe. 

War,  thus  declared,  Tyrconnell  sent  to  France  to  invite  James 
to  Ireland.  He  came.  By  a  successful  war  here,  he  hoped  to 
recover  the  crown  of  England.  To  him,  Ireland  was  the  pawn; 
England  the  prize.  He  brought  gifts  from  Louis,  gold,  arms,  and 
ammunition.  He  was  accompanied  by  his  illegitimate  son,  the 
Duke  of  Berwick,  a  boy  of  nineteen,  and  by  four  hundred  French 
officers  and  gunners;  Scotch  and  English  Jacobites;  and  as  Louis's 
agent  and  ambassador  the  Count  d'Avaux.  A  Frenchman,  de 
Rosen,  was  to  command  the  army  that  was  to  advance  on  Derry 
held  by  the  settlers;  a  man  of  fierce  temper,  with  little  ability. 
Another  Frenchman,  also  of  the  party,  was  Boisselaux,  who  proved 
his  worth  at  Limerick,  and  with  James  came  Patrick  Sarsfield. 

The  landing  was  at  Kinsale.  It  was  March  19th,  1689.  Tyr- 
connell met  James  at  Cork.  He  aroused  foolish  enthusiasm 
everywhere.  All  the  way  to  Dublin  he  was  greeted  with  acclama- 
tions of  joy.  Speeches  were  made,  songs  sung;  young  girls  danced 
along  the  road.  Men  took  off  their  serge  coats  and  laid  them  in 
the  mud  before  his  horse's  hoofs;  women  kissed  him  as  the  deliverer 
of  the  country.  James  bore  the  kisses  for  a  short  time;  then 
ordered  that  no  more  kissers  were  to  be  allowed  to  approach  him. 

Dublin  showed  the  same  delight.  It  was  Palm  Sunday  when 
he  entered  the  city.  Embroidered  cloths,  silks,  tapestries  hung 
from  windows;  the  streets  were  freshly  gravelled;  bells  rang;  royal 
salutes  were  fired.  Next  day  he  summoned  a  council.  Five  procla- 
mations were  issued — one,  for  the  summoning  of  a  Parliament. 

His  next  act  was  to  march  against  WlUiamlte  Derry.  Negotia- 
tions had  been  opened  with  Lundy,  who  was  In  command  of  the 
defenders.  Lundy  stipulated  that  while  these  negotiations  were 
going  on  the  Irish  army  was  to  remain  a  distance  of  four  miles 
from  the  city.  De  Rosen  advised  James  to  show  himself  in  force 
before  the  walls.  The  army  was  set  In  motion.  News  reached 
the  city;  the  'prentice  boys  closed  the  gates  in  the  king's  face  with 
shouts  of  "no  surrender!"  From  that  day  Derry  defended  herself 
gallantly  until  she  was  relieved.  It  was  one  of  the  magnificently 
gallant  defences  of  history. 

Disgusted  at  his  reception,  the  king  returned  to  Dublin.  On 
the  7th  of  May  the  Parliament  met.     He  opened  it  robed  and 


THE  WILLIAMITE  WARS  439 

crowned/  It  was  the  first  Parliament  since  the  Parliament  of  the 
Pale  had  been  established  in  the  thirteenth  century  that  represented 
the  Irish  nation.  It  is  known  as  the  Patriot  Parliament.  Its 
detractors  then,  as  now,  point  to  it  as  a  specimen  of  what  an  Irish 
Government  would  be.  "Unruly,  rash,  rapacious,  and  bloody" 
they  call  it. 

James  said  he  had  come  to  venture  his  life  in  defence  of  Irish 
liberties  and  his  own  right.  The  nation,  he  promised,  should 
flourish  under  his  rule.  He  spoke  to  fifty-four  peers  and  two  hun- 
dred and  twenty-four  members  of  the  Commons.  Among  the  peers 
were  Iveagh,  Clare  and  Mountchashel,  whose  regiments  after- 
wards, as  part  qf  the  Irish  Brigade  in  the  service  of  France  were 
to  keep  the  name  of  Ireland  before  Europe.  Among  the  seven 
prelates  was  Anthony  Dopping,  Protestant  Bishop  of  Meath,  who 
led  the  opposition,  and  who,  after  the  last  siege  of  Limerick,  urged 
in  a  sermon,  the  Lord  Justices  to  break  the  Treaty  they  had  signed. 

The  Parliament  passed  in  all  thirty-five  Acts  with  due  deliber- 
ation and  the  advice  of  counsel.  The  most  memorable  are : — The 
Act  that  declared  the  Parliament  of  England  could  not  bind  Ireland, 
or  that  writs  or  errors  of  appeal,  or  the  removing  of  judgments, 
decrees,  and  sentences  given  in  Ireland  could  not  be  brought  to 
England:  The  Act  for  the  repeal  of  the  Act  of  Settlement  that 
had  confirmed  the  Cromwellian  settlers  In  their  possession  of  the 
lands  they  had  seized:  The  Act  for  liberty  of  conscience  which 
repealed  "such  acts  or  clauses  in  any  Act  of  Parliament  which  was 
inconsistent  with  the  same";  The  Act  relating  to  the  army,  and  the 
one  dealing  with  the  payment  of  tithes. 

The  Act  of  supply  for  the  army  is  remarkable  for  Its  equity 
in  the  distribution  of  the  tax.  It  empowered  the  king  to  raise 
£20,000  pounds  a  month  by  land  tax  distributed  over  the  counties 
and  towns  according  to  their  abilities,  the  two  rebellious  counties, 
Derry  and  Fermanagh,  receiving  no  heavier  tax  than  the  others. 
It  provided  against  the  oppression  of  the  tenant,  as  "in  these  dis- 
tracted times,"  it  says,  "the  tenants  might  not  be  able  to  pay  rents, 
the  tax  In  such  cases  was  to  be  paid  by  the  landlord  or  occupier,  who, 
where  the  land  was  let  at  its  value,  was  to  pay  the  whole  tax  (out 
of  the  rent)  ;  v/here  the  land  was  let  at  half  its  value  or  less,  the 
tenant  was  to  pay  a  share."  Thomas  Davis,  commenting  on  this 
Act,  asks,  "Where,  in  distracted  or  quiet  times,  since,  has  a  Parlia- 
ment of  landlords  in  England  or  Ireland  acted  with  equal  liber- 
ality?" 

1  The  crown  was  made  in  Ireland. 


440  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

The  Tithes  which  had  been  borne  by  the  Catholics  in  the  Ascend- 
ancy Parliaments  were  adjusted  fairly;  the  Protestants  were  to 
pay  tithes  to  their  own  church,  the  Catholics  to  theirs.  No  Prot- 
estant bishop  was  to  be  deprived  of  stipend  or  honour.  They  were 
to  hold  their  incomes;  they  were  to  sit  in  Parliament.  The  estates, 
plundered  by  the  Cromwellians  thirty-six  years  before,  were 
restored  to  the  previous  owners,  but  compensation  was  to  be  given  to 
all  innocent  persons.  It  endeavoured  to  make  a  war-navy.  It 
passed  Acts  for  the  relief  and  release  of  "poor  distressed  prisoners 
for  debts";  for  the  settling  of  intestate  estates;  for  delays  in  the 
execution  of  the  laws;  the  unnecessary  arrests  of  judgments,  and  the 
prevention  of  frauds  and  perjuries.  It  prohibited  the  importation  of 
English,  Welsh  and  Scotch  coal.  Large  sums  of  money,  it  declared, 
were  sent  out  of  the  kingdom,  which  hindered  the  industry  of 
labourers  in  supplying  Dublin  and  other  places  with  fuel,  and  gave 
opportunity  to  persons  importing  coal  to  raise  the  prices  when 
they  pleased.  As,  however,  occasion  might  arise  when  it  would 
be  necessary  to  import  coal  the  government  could  issue  a  license 
for  its  importation  then.  The  Irish  coal  pits  were  to  be  worked. 
The  owners  were  not  to  take  dishonest  advantage  of  the  law  to 
raise  their  prices. 

It  further  passed  an  Act  for  the  improvement  of  shipping  and 
trade.  It  drew  attention  to  the  size  and  safety  of  Irish  harbours. 
"They  stand  very  fit  and  convenient  for  trade  and  commerce  with 
most  Nations,  Kingdoms  and  Plantations;  although  this  trade 
and  commerce  had  been  hindered  by  laws,  statutes  and  ordinances 
that  had  prohibited  and  disabled  Irish  men  from  importing  or 
exporting  direct  into  or  from  Ireland,  all  exports  and  imports 
having  to  pass  through  England;  thus  cutting  Ireland  off  from 
direct  communication  with  Europe,  America,  Africa,  Plantations 
and  Colonies."  It  provided  schools  of  navigation  in  Dublin,  Bel- 
fast, Limerick,  Cork  and  Galway,  where  youths  were  to  be 
instructed  in  Mathematics  and  Navigation;  the  instructors  to  be 
paid  out  of  the  public  revenue. 

Such  was  the  Patriot  Parliament  against  which  Its  detractors 
hurled  the  words  "bloody"  and  "rapacious." 

Schomberg,  William's  Dutch  general,  arrived  in  Belfast  Lou2;h 
with  twenty  thousand  men.  He  took  Carrickfergus  after  a  week's 
siege;  the  garrison  were  allowed  to  march  out  with  the  honours  of 
war.  Then  he  formed  his  camp  at  Dundalk.  It  was  ill-omened 
ground.  A  year  before  a  Mr.  Hamilton  "a  sober  rational  man" 
riding  towards  Dundalk  one  evening  saw  several  little  lights  In 
the  air  and  two  large  ones.     He  heard  the  most  dismal  groans 


THE  WILLIAMITE  WARS  441 

coming  from  the  plain.  The  sober  and  rational  man  was  startled, 
as  were  his  companions. 

The  camp  soon  rang  to  groans  and  curses.  The  autumn  rains 
fell;  the  lines  were  flooded.  The  plague  broke  out;  six  thousand 
men  died.  The  living  made  ghastly  revelry;  sang  ribald  songs, 
sitting  on  the  dead  bodies  of  their  comrades,  and  drank  healths  to 
the  devil.  As  the  patrols  came  to  bury  the  dead  they  grumbled 
that  their  seats  should  be  taken  away. 

When  Schomberg  struck  his  camp,  de  Rosen  wouM  have 
attacked  him.  James,  again  with  the  army,  forbade  the  attack. 
Then,  leaving  his  soldiers  to  take  care  of  themselves,  he  returned 
to  Dublin,  where  he  amused  himself  with  "disgraceful  amours." 
"There  were  two  frightfully  ugly  creatures,"  says  the  Duchess  of 
Orleans,  "with  whom  he  was  on  the  most  intimate  terms." 

He  thought  little  of  Sarsfield.  "Sarsfield  is  a  brave  fellow," 
he  said,  "but  very  scantily  supplied  with  brains."  Louis's  ambas- 
sador, d'Avaux,  had  another  opinion.  "Sarsfield  has  valour,"  he 
wrote  to  Louis's  minister,  Louvois — "but,  above  all,  honour  and 
probity  which  is  proof  against  any  assault."  He  had  "all  the  trouble 
in  the  world  to  get  him  iriade  Brigadier."  Tyrconncll  had  opposed 
the  promotion.  Sarsfield  was  a  very  brave  man,  Tyrconnell  said, 
but  he  had  no  head.  d'Avaux  carried  his  point,  and  Tyrconnell 
sent  Sarsfield  with  a  handful  of  men  into  Connacht.  He  raised 
two  thousand  more  men  there  on  his  own  credit,  and  held  Connacht, 
d'Avaux  wished  to  send  him  to  France.  "He  is  a  man  who  will 
always  be  at  the  head  of  his  troops,"  he  wrote  to  the  French  min- 
ister, "and  will  take  great  care  of  them.  First  class  colonels  will 
obey  him  when  they  will  not  obey  another."  He  had  asked  the 
king  for  Sarsfield.  But  the  Connacht  campaign  had  changed  James's 
opinion.  He  grew  very  angry.  He  walked  three  times  around  the 
room;  he  charged  d'Avaux  with  wishing  to  take  his  officers  away. 
"I  bore  it  all  meekly,"  said  d'Avaux,  "having  a  good  notion  of 
my  own  how  to  get  Sarsfield  to  France."  This  was  to  offer  him 
the  chief  command  of  the  Irish  troops  there. 

But  Sarsfield  did  not  go.     His  work,  he  knew,  was  in  Ireland. 

Meanwhile,  in  spite  of  asthma  and  a  continual  cough,  William 
prepared  for  his  campaign  in  Ireland.  He  sent  over  seven  thousand 
men  to  the  aid  of  Schomberg.  In  the  same  month,  March,  seven 
thousand  French  soldiers  under  the  command  of  the  Duke  of 
Lauzun  landed  at  Kinsale  in  exchange  for  five  thousand  Irishmen 
that  had  been  sent  to  France.  Lauzun  was  a  mere  courtier;  a  man 
who  made  a  jest  at  everything.  He  did  not  take  the  Irish  campaign 
seriously;  nor  did  many  of  the  French  officers. 


442  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

But  William  made  no  mistake  about  its  importance.  He 
brought  everything  to  secure  a  successful  issue.  Among  his  arms 
was  the  prototype  of  the  machine  gun.  It  had  been  recently  in- 
vented; a  wheel-engine  that  discharged  150  musket  barrels  at  once, 
and  on  being  turned  the  same  number  again.  The  campaign  was 
opened  by  Schomberg  in  the  spring.  But  not  till  William  landed 
in  June  was  the  advance  made  in  force.  The  prince  stopped 
plundering,  and  hanged  the  plunderers.  He  paid  for  all  he  took. 
He  struck  with  his  own  cane  a  soldier  who  was  robbing  a  woman, 
and  had  him  afterward  hanged. 

James  at  once  abandoned  his  advanced  post  in  the  north.  He 
then  abandoned  every  pass.  He  might  have  annihilated,  certainly 
held  back,  the  enemy  at  the  Pass  of  Molra.  Instead  he  retreated 
to  the  Boyne.  He  had  prepared  for  his  flight.  Ships,  by  his  order, 
lay  ready  at  Waterford  to  carry  him  to  France.  Reluctantly  he 
waited  his  son-in-law  on  the  bank  of  the  river. 

The  battle  of  the  Boyne  was  fought  on  Tuesday,  July  1st,  1690.^ 
It  was  not  the  cardinal  battle  of  the  war.  Aughrim  was  that. 
James  had  about  twenty-six  thousand  men,  many  of  them  raw  levies, 
and  ill  armed.  He  was  also  short  of  guns.  William  had  ten 
thousand  more  men — a  composite  army — Danes,  English,  Dutch 
and  French  Huguenots,  all  highly  drilled,  and  well  armed.  He 
had  also  a  strong  artillery.  By  his  order  his  men  wore  green  sprigs 
in  their  hats.  The  Irish,  in  compliment  to  the  French,  wore  the 
white  cockade. 

James  had  secured  his  retreat  to  Dublin.  He  commanded 
Sarsfield  to  hold  a  body  of  horse  in  the  rear.  Should  the  day 
go  against  him,  he  could  gallop  back  to  the  city.  The  command 
kept  Sarsfield  in  enforced  inaction  during  the  day.  Though  warned 
by  his  Irish  officers  that  the  enemy  would  probably  make  a  flanking 
movement  to  cross  the  Boyne  at  Slane,  James  heeded  not  the 
warning.  At  sunrise  Schomberg's  men  were  seen  along  the  height 
making  in  that  direction.  James  gave  a  hasty  order.  His  whole 
wing,  part  of  the  centre,  and  his  six  remaining  guns  were  sent  to 
meet  the  flanking  division.  It  was  too  late;  the  enemy  had  crossed. 
Other  fords  remained,  were  hotly  contested.  It  was  low  water; 
the  fords  at  Oldbrldge  were  attempted  by  William's  men.  One 
battalion  of  Infantry  held  the  ford  at  Oldbrldge.  "For  a  half  a 
mile  the  Boyne  was  filled  with  thousands  of  armed  men  struggling 
to  gain  the  opposite  bank."    "Schomberg  remained  opposite  to  us," 

2  Old  Calendar.  In  the  New  Calendar,  July  12th,  of  course,  became  the  Boyne 
anniversary  day. 


THE  WILLIAMITE  WARS  443 

says  the  Duke  of  Berwick  in  his  Memoirs.  "He  attacked  and  took 
Oldbridge  in  spite  of  the  resistance  of  the  regiment  there.  Seven 
battahons  went  down  to  the  help  of  the  infantry.  Two  battalions 
of  Irish  Guards  scattered  them;  but  their  cavalry  managed  to  pass 
at  another  ford,  and  proceeded  to  fall  upon  our  infantry.  1 
brought  up  our  cavalry,  and  thus  enabled  our  battalions  to  retire." 
Berwick  and  his  Horse  had  a  very  unequal  combat,  as  the  ground 
was  broken  and  they  were  outnumbered.  "Nevertheless  we  charged 
again  and  again  ten  different  times,"  he  says,  "and  at  length  the 
enemy,  confounded  by  our  boldness,  halted,  and  we  reformed  before 
them,  and  marched  at  a  slow  pace  to  rejoin  the  king." 

The  unequal  battle  raged  all  day.  The  miserable  James  began 
to  look  toward  his  body-guard.  At  five  in  the  evening  he  left  the 
field.  By  the  end  of  the  day  the  Irish  were  forced  to  retire;  the 
majority  doing  so  in  good  order.  The  battle  of  the  Boyne  was 
not  a  decisive  victory  for  the  Prince  of  Orange;  it  was  in  reality 
a  drawn  battle. 

The  king  reached  Dublin  at  ten  o'clock.  He  had  taken  two 
hundred  men  from  the  body-guard,  and  rode  helter-skelter  to  the 
city.  Lady  Tyrconnell  met  him  at  the  Castle-gate.  Upstairs  she 
asked  him  what  he  would  have  for  supper.  "He  then  gave  her 
an  account  of  what  a  breakfast  he  had  got,  which  made  him  have 
little  stomach  for  his  supper."  It  is  said,  when  he  declared  that 
the  Irish  army  had  run  away,  she  answered,  "But  your  Majesty 
won  the  race." 

From  the  aspect  of  his  men,  Dublin  expected  to  see  but  the 
remnant  of  a  broken  army  pouring  into  the  city.  "It  was  greatly 
surprised,"  says  a  Person  of  Quality,  "when,  an  hour  or  two  after, 
we  heard  the  whole  body  of  the  Irish  Horse  coming  In,  In  very 
good  order,  with  kettle-drums,  hautboys,  and  trumpets;  and  early 
the  next  morning  the  French  and  a  great  body  of  the  Irish  Foot. 
These  being  rested  a  little,  marched  out  again  to  meet  the  enemy, 
which  was  supposed  to  draw  near." 

And  while  the  army  went  out  to  meet  his  foes,  James  railed 
at  It.  He  summoned  the  Lord  Mayor  and  Council.  "The  Irish 
had  basely  fled  the  field,"  he  told  them;  henceforth  he  determined 
never  to  lead  an  Irish  army  again;  "And  now  he  resolved  to  shift 
for  himself,  as  they  themselves  must  do."  He  advised  them  to 
submit  to  the  Prince  of  Orange.  Then  he  hurried  to  Waterford, 
took  ship  to  KInsale,  and  thence  to  France. 

The  army  he  had  deserted  and  reviled  marched  west,  discom- 
fited but  not  subdued.     Deeper  hopes  than  the  restoration  of  the 


444  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

Stuarts  stirred  many  of  the  soldiers'  hearts.  James  had  gone! 
Let  him  go !  He  was  no  true  king,  no  leader !  They  would  defend 
Limerick,  Galway,  Athlone,  the  passes  of  the  Shannon! 

The  generals  conferred.  James's  cause  was  lost,  Lauzun  said; 
the  French  troops  must  return  to  France;  favourable  terms  might 
be  made  with  William.  Tyrconnell  now  "grown  stout  and  leth- 
argic" was  in  agreement  with  Lauzun.  But  Sarsfield  stood  firm; 
all  was  not  lost;  the  three  towns,  the  Shannon,  could  and  must  be 
defended. 

Athlone  was  held  by  Colonel  Grace.  Douglas,  William's  gen- 
eral, summoned  the  town  to  surrender.  Grace  fired  a  pistol. 
"These  are  my  terms,"  he  said,  "and  before  I  surrender  I'll  eat 
my  boots!"  So  he  held  Athlone  till  Sarsfield  relieved  it.  And 
now,  through  the  three  quarters  of  Ireland  an  irregular  force  was 
moving,  waging  guerilla  war.  They  were  undrilled,  armed  with 
half  pikes,  sgians,  scythes,  some  muskets.  Irish  history  knows 
them  as  the  Rapparees.  One  of  them,  Hogan,  scout  and  hard- 
rider,  gallops  across  a  page. 

A  council,  final  in  its  decision,  was  held  at  Limerick.  William's 
army  was  advancing  on  the  city.  Make  terms  with  the  Prince  of 
Orange,  Lauzun  and  Tyrconnell  said.  And  Sarsfield,  resolved, 
answered,  "No  terms!"  He  was  supported  by  the  Irish  ofiicers. 
Lauzun  laughed  at  them.  "Why  should  the  English  bring  cannon 
against  fortifications,"  he  said,  "that  could  be  battered  down  by 
roasted  apples!" 

But  Sarsfield  and  his  supporters  won.  An  agent  was  sent 
to  France  to  let  both  kings  know  that  the  Irish  meant  to  defend 
their  country.  A  day  or  two  later,  the  Irish  officers,  backed  by 
the  Irish  army,  declared  that  Sarsfield  should  command  in  chief 
next  to  Tyrconnell.  Disapproving  of  the  appointment,  Tyrconnell 
sent  Sarsfield  off  with  a  handful  of  men  to  watch  the  enemy.  He 
returned  on  William's  approach  to  find  that  Tyrconnell  and  Lauzun 
had  been  making  every  effort  to  persuade  the  officers  to  agree  to 
a  capitulation.  Some,  who  had  estates  to  lose,  had  been  won  over. 
But  the  majority  stood  by  Sarsfield. 

Lauzun  withdrew  to  Galway.  Fle  took  his  French  soldiers, 
eight  guns,  and  a  quantity  of  ammunition. 

On  the  9th  of  August,  William  was  close  to  Limerick.  Three 
regiments  guarded  the  fords.  Without  consulting  his  generals, 
Tyrconnell  drew  them  off,  and  taking  them  with  him  retired  to 
Galway.  Boisseleaux  was  appointed  Governor  of  Limerick.  The 
Duke  of  Berwick,  Sarsfield,  Dorrington  and  three  Brigadiers  had 
command  of  the  army. 


THE  WILLIAMITE  WARS  445 

There  was  truth  In  Lauzun's  taunt.  Limerick  had  no  fortifi- 
cations worth  regarding.  There  was  a  wall  without  ramparts,  and 
"some  miserable  little  towers"  without  ditches.  A  covered  way 
was  built  before  the  great  gate,  horn  shaped,  and  palisaded.  Time 
was  required  to  strengthen  the  defences.  William  was  within  a 
few  miles  of  the  city.  If  he  brought  up  his  great  guns  before  this 
was  done,  men  might  die,  but  Limerick  must  fall. 

The  prince  expected  little  resistance.  He  looked  for  an  early 
capitulation.  He  knew  Tyrconnell's  vacillating  mind  and  that 
Lauzun  was  anxious  to  get  back  to  France.  There  was  Sarsfield, 
unbuyable;  but  a  man  of  sense  would  not  defend  a  lost  cause. 
He  M'ould  offer  fair  terms;  the  Irish  might  practise  their  religion; 
to  those  who  joined  him  he  would  give  rewards. 

So,  confident,  he  drew  near.  He  had  left  his  heavy  battering 
train  at  Cashel.  Within  two  miles  of  Limerick  he  was  attacked 
by  Irish  skirmishers.  Retreating  from  one  strong  position  to 
another,  they  drew  his  men  close  to  the  city  walls.  Then  the  Irish 
guns  opened  fire,  and  the  skirmishers  re-entered  Limerick. 

A  trumpeter  rode  forward.  He  summoned  the  town.  "Open 
your  gates !  Let  the  King  of  England  in  !"  "Limerick  will  not  open 
her  gates;  will  not  surrender!"  Boisseleaux  answered.  William 
had  laid  out  his  camp.  The  city  guns  were  trained  upon  it  and 
so  well  served  that  he  had  to  withdraw  both  his  camp  and  his  light 
artillery. 

Messengers  rode  to  Cashel:  send  up  the  battering  train!  A 
Captain  Pulteny  commanded  it;  heavy  guns,  mortars;  150  waggons 
of  ammunition  for  the  artillery;  tin  boats  to  cross  the  Shannon; 
provisions;  500  draught  horses.  A  deserter  from  the  camp  stole 
into  Limerick.  He  brought  word  of  its  approach.  Sarsfield  acted 
at  once.  He  rode  out  of  Limerick  and  galloped  to  the  cavalry 
camp  on  the  Clare  side.  A  swift  order;  and  six  hundred  men 
stood  to  their  horses.  A  guide  was  found;  Galloping  Hogan, 
Rapparee,  famous  rider  and  scout,  who  knew  every  track  and 
pass. 

They  rode  inland;  then  wheeled  and  kept  in  line  with  the  river. 
A  Williamite  force  held  Killaloe  bridge.  A  ford,  unknown  to  the 
English,  lay  below  Lough  Derg.  It  was  a  bright  night  with  a 
harvest  moon.  They  passed  behind  the  town  of  Killaloe  and  the 
column  crossed  the  river.  Then  it  headed  for  the  Keeper  moun- 
tain, and  lay  that  night  in  a  fold  of  its  shoulder.  The  day  came. 
The  convoy  trailed  out  from  the  southern  mountains  and  along 
the  plain.  Its  guard  marched  at  ease.  That  night  it  encamped  at 
Ballyneety.     Down  from  the  Keeper  rode  Sarsfield  and  his  troop- 


446  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

ers:  scouts  had  brought  them  the  convoy's  watchword — "Sars- 
fjeld!" — good  omen!  Moonlight  and  clouds  whitened  and  dark- 
ened the  plain  in  turn.  Under  the  cloak  of  the  clouds  the  Irish 
advanced.  A  sentry  challenged.  "Advance  and  give  the  wordl" 
"Sarsfield! — Sarsfield  is  the  word  and  Sarsfield  is  the  man!"  and 
the  Irish  Horse  dashed  on  the  convoy.  The  startled  guards 
ran  to  their  picketted  horses;  were  caught  in  their  flight  and  cut 
down;  the  camp  was  captured.  Each  gun  was  loaded  to  the  muzzle, 
its  head  sunk  in  the  ground;  the  tin  boats  were  smashed;  stores, 
ammunition  were  heaped  together,  powder  placed  round,  and  a 
train  laid.  Then  the  Irish  galloped  away;  and  the  roar  ©f  the 
explosion  echoed  across  the  Golden  Valley  to  Limerick  city  and 
William's  camp. 

They  were  met  at  Banagher  Bridge  by  some  Williamite  Horse 
sent  to  intercept  them.  An  Irish  Protestant,  "a  substantial  country 
gentleman,"  who  had  seen  the  Irish  cross  at  Lough  Derg,  had  gone 
to  the  English  camp  and  told  what  he  had  seen.  But  Sarsfield  got 
back  to  Limerick  with  scarcely  any  loss.  The  capture  of  the  guns 
had  been  of  the  first  importance.  William's  siege  operation  had 
to  be  delayed  till  a  new  battering  train  arrived.  This  gave  Limerick 
a  week  in  which  to  strengthen  herself. 

They  made  the  best  of  the  time.  When  William's  heavy  guns 
were  trained  on  the  city  and  his  trenches  advanced.  Limerick  met 
and  bore  the  shock.  Counter  mines  were  laid;  her  guns  answered. 
By  the  second  week,  however,  her  wharfs  were  on  fire,  many 
houses  burnt,  parts  of  her  walls  levelled.  On  Tuesday,  August 
26th,  his  trenches  were  within  four  yards  of  her  counterscarp,  and 
her  palisades  had  been  beaten  down.  All  through  the  night  the 
enemy  poured  in  a  discharge  of  shells  and  red  hot  balls,  and  the 
breach  lay  thirty  feet  wide.  But  behind  that  breach  a  retirade 
had  been  made  and  a  battery  of  guns  planted,  while  others  were 
so  placed  as  to  take  the  stormers  on  both  flanks.  The  bugles  rang 
at  daybreak;  drums  beat.  Men  left  their  trenches  as  the  soldiers 
fell  in;  the  butchers  armed  themselves  with  their  cleavers;  the 
blacksmiths  with  their  hammers.  Women  seized  bottle  and  stoaes, 
and  followed  the  men.  Limerick  was  prepared  to  die  rather  than 
yield. 

The  morning  began  dull  and  cloudy;  a  thick  mist  lay  on  the 
Keeper  mountain.  As  the  day  advanced  the  sun  broke  through 
the  clouds,  and  the  heat  became  intense.  At  two  o'clock  the  guns 
ceased,  and  the  city  was  again  summoned.  For  an  hour  there  was 
a  pause  after  the  confident  demand  and  the  resolute  answer.  Then 
three  guns  were  fired  from  the  enemy's  camp — a  signal!     Imme- 


THE  WILLIAMITE  WARS  447 

diiitely  the  attacking  column,  ten  thousand  stronn;,  moved  forward 
to  the  assault.  The  English  grenadiers,  in  their  piebald  uniform 
of  red  and  yellow,  leapt  out  of  their  trenches,  sprang  upon  the 
counterscarp,  firing  and  throwing  their  grenades.  Driving  the 
defenders  before  them,  they  pressed  on,  reached  the  breach,  and 
poured  into  the  city.  The  masked  battery  opened  upon  them, 
mowed  a  wide  path  through  their  lines;  and,  cut  off  from  their 
supports,  they  were  overpowered,  few  escaping  back  to  their 
trenches. 

The  fury  of  the  fight  raged  at  the  breach.  For  three  hours 
the  Irish  infantry  stood  there,  filling  up  again  and  again  their 
bloody  gaps  as  regiment  after  regiment  of  the  foe  was  brought 
up  and  hurled  against  them.  Slowly,  at  last,  the  line  was  pushed 
back,  and  the  stormers  once  more  entered  the  city.  A  fierce  hand 
to  hand  fight  ensued  in  the  streets.  Boisseleaux  ordered  up  the 
reserves;  those  who  had  been  driven  from  the  breach  rallied.  The 
citizens,  women  as  well  as  men,  rushed  again  to  the  attack.  The 
enemy  was  dislodged  and  forced  back  on  the  gap. 

There  a  deadly  struggle  followed.  William  sent  forward  his 
reserves.  The  Irish  met  and  held  them  in  check;  an  order  was 
sent  to  the  Irish  Horse  to  take  the  foe  in  the  rear.  It  had  been 
inactive  till  then.     Now  its  turn  was  come. 

Galloping  across  Ball's  Bridge,  it  swept  through  the  streets, 
and  passed  out  by  the  sally  port  at  St.  John's  Gate  into  the  covered 
way  which  led  to  the  breach.  Two  regiments  of  Danish  Horse 
stood  in  their  path  as  they  emerged.  The  Irish  charged;  rode 
through  them;  cut  them  down;  swept  on.  Galloping  up  to  the 
breach,  they  took  the  stormers  in  the  rear,  made  a  path  through 
their  ranks,  and  rode  across  with  crimson  sabres  and  exultant 
cheers. 

As  their  suddenness  and  dash  staggered  the  foe,  the  mine  laid 
by  the  defenders  in  the  Black  Battery,  blew  up,  and  a  number  of 
men  of  William's  Brandenberg  regiment  were  killed.  The  Irish 
infantry  rushed  upon  his  reserves,  forced  them  from  the  breach, 
drove  them  across  the  counterscarp,  back  to  the  trenches,  and  fol- 
lowed them  to  their  camp.  The  Horse  charged  the  flying  foe; 
sabring  their  disordered  ranks. 

The  assault  had  failed;  Limerick  was  saved! 

W^illiam  drew  off  his  army,  and  returned  to  England.  A  French 
fleet  carried  Lauzun  and  his  troops  back  to  France.  Tyrconnell 
followed  him  there.  Lauzun  reported  the  king's  cause  lost.  Tyr- 
connell, encouraged  by  the  defence  of  Limerick,  said  that  there 
was  a  chance  of  success  and  asked  for  money  and  men.    In  January 


448  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

of  the  following  year  he  returned  with  money  but  no  men.  The 
Irish  camp  was  divided  into  two  parties;  those  who  wished  to  carry 
on  the  war;  and  those,  men  with  estates,  who  wished  to  make  peace. 
Tyrconnell  fostered  this  party.  The  campaign  of  1690  ended  with 
the  taking  of  Cork  and  Kinsale  by  an  English  fleet  under  the  com- 
mand of  Churchill.  The  Irish  army  was  shut  up  in  Connacht. 
SarsjBeld,  resisting  the  policy  of  despair,  kept  the  passes  of  the 
Shannon.  Little  was  done  from  the  closing  of  the  campaign  till 
the  opening  of  the  next  one  with  the  arrival  of  the  French  general, 
St.  Ruth,  in  the  following  year.  Only  the  indomitable  Rapparees 
kept  up  an  unceasing  guerilla  warfare.  They  harassed  the  Dutch 
general,  Ginckel,  destroyed  his  forage,  watched  for  his  patrols, 
captured  numbers  of  horses. 

In  May,  the  French  general,  St.  Ruth,  landed  in  Ireland.  He 
brought  arms,  ammunition,  clothing  and  provisions,  but  no  troops. 
The  man  was  a  real  soldier;  no  jester  like  Lauzun,  but  of  a  haughty 
and  jealous  nature.  He  knew  what  Irish  troops  could  do.  In  the 
Piedmont  campaign  he  had  seen  enough  of  Irish  valour  to  know 
that  Irish  soldiers  were  the  best  missile  force  in  the  world.  He 
let  Tyrconnell  see,  Viceroy  as  he  was,  that  he,  St.  Ruth,  alone  was 
to  command  the  army. 

The  Irish  held  Athlone.  William's  generals,  Ginckel  and 
Mackay,  with  a  large  and  well  armed  army,  marched  upon  it.  St. 
Ruth  encamped  within  two  miles  of  the  town  on  the  Connacht  side ; 
occupied  the  high  ground  commanding  the  river,  and  strengthened 
the  entrenchments  along  its  bank.  Mackay,  attempting  to  cross 
at  a  place  further  down  the  river,  was  driven  back.  He  then 
determined  to  pass  by  the  bridge.  The  Irish  broke  the  arches. 
He  spanned  therr.  with  beams.  Every  bit  of  his  work  was  hotly 
contested.  The  siege  was  nine  days  old  when  the  bridge  was  nearly 
ready.  One  link  remained  for  completion.  Beams  already  rested 
on  the  broken  arch;  planks  were  being  laid  across;  the  Irish,  driven 
from  their  last  shelter  in  the  trenches,  had  little  power  to  prevent  it. 

But  one  brave  man  dared  to  save  the  town.  His  name  was 
Custume,  a  sergeant  of  dragoons.  He  boldly  called  for  ten  volun- 
teers, with  him  to  break  the  bridge.  He  could  have  had  that 
number  a  hundred  fold.  With  breast  and  back  pieces  on,  the 
eleven  bold  ones,  rushed  upon  the  bridge,  drove  back  the  carpenters, 
began  pulling  up  the  planks,  breaking  down  the  beams,  flinging 
them  in  the  river.  A  tremendous  fire  from  the  English  wiped  out 
eleven  heroes  with  the  job  only  half  done.  Another  eleven  noble 
ones  sprang  out  upon  the  bridge.     Hatchet  and  axe  were  plied  like 


THE  WILLIAMITE  WARS  449 

fury.  The  last  beam  floated  down  the  Shannon;  two  men  returned 
alive;  twenty  wore  the  martyr's  crown, 

Ginckel  made  a  covered  way  to  repair  the  bridge.  Three  Danes 
under  tlie  sentence  of  death  were  offered  their  lives  if  they  would 
find  a  ford.  They  entered  the  river  at  three  places  and  were 
fired  at  as  if  they  were  deserters.  The  water  was  low;  they  got 
across  easily.  An  attempt  to  storm  the  town  was  ordered  for  the 
next  morning.  Ginckel's  men  were  to  cross  at  three  points,  the 
bridge,  the  ford,  and  by  a  pontoon  of  boats.  St.  Ruth  heard  of 
the  intended  assault.  He  threw  reinforcements  into  the  town; 
brought  his  army  from  the  camp,  and  awaited  the  attack  by  the 
river.  No  attack  was  made.  The  Irish  burnt  the  covered  way, 
Ginckel,  held  back  so  long,  was  discouraged.  He  called  a  Council 
of  war.  He  wished  to  retire.  His  generals  advised  him  to  remain. 
In  the  midst  of  the  debate  two  deserters  were  brought  in.  They 
had  important  news,  St.  Ruth,  confident  that  the  siege  was  raised, 
had  marched  back  to  camp,  and  had  left  the  defence  of  the  town  to 
his  rawest  levies.  This  report  decided  Ginckel;  he  ordered  a  fresh 
attack  for  six  that  evening. 

Two  of  the  newly  enlisted  regiments  left  to  defend  the  town 
had  no  bayonets  and  but  a  round  or  two  of  ammunition.  When 
the  attack  commenced  an  urgent  message  was  sent  to  St.  Ruth, 
who  was  about  to  go  out  shooting,  and  who  made  light  of  it. 
"It  was  impossible,"  he  said.  Thus,  in  half  an  hour  Athlone  was 
captured  after  a  stout  defence  of  ten  days. 

The  cardinal  battle  of  the  war  was  now  to  be  fought.  That 
battle  decided  Ireland's  fate.  St.  Ruth  withdrew  his  army  and 
encamped  on  the  Galway  side  of  the  River  Suck.  The  position  was 
admirably  chosen.  It  lay  on  the  side  of  Kilcommodan  Hill,  extend- 
ing for  nearly  two  miles.  At  the  base  of  the  hill,  to  the  east,  a 
small  stream  flowed  through  boggy  ground.  His  right  wing,  spread 
beyond  the  hill,  rested  on  firm  soil,  and  faced  the  river.  His  left 
lay  near  a  half  ruined  castle  protected  in  front  by  a  bog.  The 
centre,  formed  in  two  lines,  was  ranked  behind  breastworks  border- 
ing the  boggy  land.  The  camp  was  entrenched;  two  raths  on  the 
hillside  were  held.  The  slope  of  the  hill,  lined  with  hedges  and 
ditches,  had  openings  cut  through  them  for  the  passage  of  the 
cavalry  and  foot.  The  reserve,  under  Sarsfield,  who  had  received 
strict  orders  not  to  move,  was  stationed  on  the  other  side  of  the 
hill  at  a  considerable  distance  from  the  main  body  of  the  army. 
There  were  but  two  points  near  the  bog  by  which  Ginckel  could 
advance — the  Pass  of  Aughrim  and  that  of  Urrachee,     The  latter 


450  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

ran  to  the  right  of  the  Irish  camp;  the  former  from  Aughrim 
Castle  to  a  piece  of  firm  ground  bordered  by  two  bogs,  and  joined 
by  a  narrow  strip  of  land  to  the  firm  ground  opposite. 

On  the  nth  day  of  July  Ginckel  reached  the  hills  opposite  Kil- 
commodan.  Seeing  the  strength  of  St.  Ruth's  position,  he  hesitated 
to  give  battle.  He  began  a  cautious  advance  on  the  morning  of  the 
1 2th.  In  the  Irish  camp  at  the  same  time,  Mass  was  celebrated. 
A  dense  fog  hung  between  the  two  forces.  By  noon  it  lifted,  and 
Ginckel  saw  the  Irish  massed  in  strong  positions  awaiting  his  ad- 
vance. The  Pass  of  Urrachee  was  the  weakest  point  in  their 
front.  Yet,  there,  some  guns  had  been  placed.  Two  outposts  had 
been  stationed  on  Ginckel's  side  of  the  river.  He  sent  a  small  force 
to  drive  them  in.  An  hour's  fighting  followed.  The  Irish  posts 
were  driven  back;  they  recovered  their  posts.  This  was  but  an 
affair  of  the  advanced  guard.  At  two  o'clock  Ginckel's  army  fell 
into  position.  At  three  he  held  a  council  of  war.  Should  he  attack 
or  not?  he  asked.  For  himself,  he  hesitated.  Mackay  urged  him 
to  accept  battle;  propounded  a  plan.  This  was  to  advance  on  St. 
Ruth's  left,  assault  the  castle  of  Aughrim,  cross  the  bog,  and  attack 
the  Irish  centre.     His  advice  prevailed. 

It  was  near  five  o'clock.  Mackay  took  command  of  the  divi- 
sion that  was  to  force  the  Pass  of  Aughrim.  Ginckel  was  to  direct 
the  movement  on  the  Pass  of  Urrachee;  the  Duke  of  Wurtemberg 
the  centre.  Ginckel  made  a  feint  attack  on  St.  Ruth's  right.  He 
hoped  he  would  draw  oft  some  regiments  from  his  left  to  support 
the  threatened  wing.  The  battle  commenced  with  this  advance.  A 
Danish  regiment  spread  out  as  if  to  out-flank  the  Irish  right.  A 
body  of  Huguenots  advanced  on  the  troops  beyond  the  Pass,  attack- 
ing the  Irish  through  the  hedges.  The  Irish  Horse  charged  them. 
After  a  fierce  fight  the  foe  was  driven  back  to  the  bog.  The 
attack  on  this  point  was  renewed  again.  Mackay  hoped  that  St. 
Ruth  would  draw  off  troops  from  his  right  wing  to  support  his 
left.  Then  the  real  attack  would  be  made  on  Aughrim.  St.  Ruth 
did  as  he  wished.  The  ofllicer  to  whom  he  gave  the  order  took 
the  first  line  as  well.  At  once  Mackay  sent  cavalry  to  force  the 
Pass,  while  he  with  the  main  body  commenced  the  passage  of  the 
bog,  supported  by  two  batteries  of  field  pieces.  The  ground  had 
been  sounded;  found  possible  for  foot.  Opposite  the  Irish  centre 
the  ground  narrowed,  widening  out  by  Aughrim.  His  troops  were 
in  two  divisions;  one  was  to  cross  the  bog  and  attack  the  Irish 
centre,  seize  the  first  hedge  row,  and  halt  till  Mackay  and  his 
cavalry  came  to  their  support. 

Protected  by  the  batteries  the  men  reached  the  base  of  the  hlll. 


THE  WILLIAMITE  WARS  451 

When  within  a  few  yards  of  the  hedge,  the  Irish  opened  fire.  Their 
orders  were  to  draw  the  enemy  up  the  hill.  This  they  did,  then 
stood  their  ground,  and  the  Irish  cavalry  swept  down  upon  both 
flanks  of  the  enemy  and  threw  them  into  disorder. 

While  this  was  happening  Mackay's  second  division  was  get- 
ting through  the  bog.  At  the  first  ditch  the  Irish  met  them,  and 
Mackay's  van  was  broken.  His  other  regiments  were  hurried  up, 
but  the  Irish  held  their  ground.  Mackay  sent  to  the  officer  who 
was  to  force  the  Pass  of  Aughrim,  ordering  him  to  come  to  his 
help  and  not  attack  the  castle.  But  before  the  order  could  be 
obeyed  Mackay's  men  were  forced  back  to  the  bog.  This  was 
the  second  repulse  of  the  enemy  at  Aughrim. 

Seeing  that  Mackay  could  not  break  his  centre,  St.  Ruth  was 
now  certain  of  victory.  "I  shall  beat  them  back  to  the  gates  of 
Dublin!"  he  cried.  It  was  no  boast.  His  troops  had  successfully 
resisted  every  attack.  At  all  points,  save  one,  Ginckel's  army 
had  been  repulsed. 

That  point  was  the  Pass  of  Aughrim.  The  Pass  was  an  old 
broken  road,  narrow,  boggy,  sixty  yards  in  length.  Not  more  than 
two  horsemen  could  ride  on  it  abreast.  It  was  commanded  by  the 
castie,  a  crumbling  building.  Two  regiments  of  Foot,  under 
Colonel  Burke,  were  stationed  there.  Two  guns  commanded  the 
way.  The  men  were  armed  with  French  fire-locks.  There  were 
four  barrels  of  gunpowder  and  ammunition  chests  In  the  castle. 
When  the  chests  were  opened  it  was  found  that  the  bullets  were 
cast  for  English  muskets  and  that  the  cannon  balls  were  two  big 
for  the  guns.  The  soldiers  tore  the  buttons  from  their  coats  and 
chopped  their  ramrods  into  bullets.  The  enemy  came  up  the  Pass 
protected  by  their  own  guns.  The  Irish  fired  their  pellets  with 
little  effect.  Their  guns  had  no  bayonets.  The  Irish  Horse,  posted 
on  the  other  side  of  the  castle,  rode  round  to  the  left  to  check  the 
advance.  They  found  this  way  blocked,  though  St.  Ruth  had  or- 
dered it  to  be  kept  open.  They  had  to  swing  round  and  make  a 
detour  before  they  could  charge.  A  sharp  fight  followed;  the 
enemy's  regiment  were  driven  back  to  the  bog. 

St.  Ruth  had  watched  the  attack  on  the  Pass.  Not  knowing 
that  Burke's  men  had  no  ammunition,  he  had  been  astonished  that 
the  enemy  had  got  up  the  way.  He  sent  an  aide-camp  to  the  cavalry 
reserve  under  Sarsfield.  This  reserve  was  stationed  on  the  other 
side  of  the  hill,  out  of  sight  of  the  battle.  He  ordered  that  half 
of  the  men  were  to  advance.  Sarsfield  was  not  to  command  It.  He 
was  to  remain  with  the  other  half.     By  this  act  Aughrim  was  lost. 

The  detachment  came  up,  reformed  before  St.   Ruth,  and  he 


452  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

placed  himself  at  its  head.  He  rode  slowly  down  the  hill.  His 
brilliant  uniform  glittered  in  the  evening  light.  "The  day  is  ours, 
boys!"  he  cried.  "They  are  broken!  Let  us  beat  them  to  some 
purpose!" 

Then  something  sped  through  the  air  from  the  enemy's  right; 
struck  him  and  carried  his  head  away.  The  dead  man's  horse 
swung  round,  the  body  upright  in  the  saddle  for  a  pace  or  two 
before  it  fell  to  the  ground.  A  paralysis  seized  his  officers.  The 
battle  was  all  but  won;  this  charge  would  have  completed  the 
victory,  yet  his  second  in  command,  de  Tesse,  a  Frenchman,  did 
not  advance.  Instead  of  making  that  charge  for  victory,  he  began 
to  retire.  Ginckel's  almost  beaten  army  saw  the  movement,  pressed 
forward.  Mackay's  Horse  turned  the  left  flank  of  the  Irish.  In 
the  centre  the  Irish  held  the  ground  till  they  were  caught  between 
Ginckel's  and  Mackay's  men.     Then  the  rout  commenced. 

And  Sarsfield,  waiting  for  orders  on  the  other  side  of  the 
hill,  only  knew  the  day  was  lost  as  the  Irish  regiments  broke  over 
the  crest.  To  keep  back  the  foe  was  now  impossible.  But  cool, 
great,  he  kept  his  head,  and  organised  the  retreat  in  so  masterly  a 
way  that  a  document  in  the  French  annals  says — "He  performed 
miracles,  and  if  he  was  not  killed  or  taken  it  was  not  from  any 
fault  of  his  own."     He  led  his  soldiers  in  order  to  Limerick. 

The  Irish  army  gathered  there.  On  the  25th  of  August, 
Ginckel  invested  the  city  on  three  sides.  William  wanted  the  war 
ended;  Ginckel  was  empowered  to  give  favourable  terms.  A  free 
pardon  was  offered  to  all;  the  Catholic  gentry  would  be  restored 
to  their  estates.  The  offer  created  at  once  a  peace  party  within 
the  city.  It  was  opposed  by  Sarsfield.  French  aid  might  come; 
the  army  could  defend  Limerick  again.  He  won,  and  Ginckel's 
summons  was  refused.  Sixty  guns  then  opened  upon  the  city;  an 
English  fleet  bombarded  it  from  the  river.  But  Limerick  remained 
untaken.  Once  more  she  showed  the  soul  of  her  army  and  her 
citizens.  Unable  to  carry  the  town  by  assault,  Ginckel  turned  the 
siege  into  a  blockade.  Then  Luttrel,  an  Anglo-Irish  officer,  long 
suspected,  showed  him  a  pass  over  the  Shannon.  One  morning 
the  Irish  beheld  the  foe  on  the  Clare  side  of  the  river.  Again 
Ginckel  offered  favourable  terms. 

The  peace  party  said  it  was  folly  to  refuse.  This  party,  re- 
sisted, Sarsfield  saw,  would  attempt  to  hand  over  the  city  to  Ginckel. 

Yet  Limerick  made  one  more  fight.  It  was  September  23rd. 
From  dawn  the  bloody  struggle  lasted.  Then  a  parley  was  held; 
firing  ceased.  For  the  third  time  Ginckel  offered  his  terms.  At 
last,  Sarsfield  accepted  them.    When  the  soldiers  and  citizens  heard 


THE  WILLIAMITE  WARS  453 

that  the  defence  had  ended,  they  uttered  loud  cries  of  anger  and 
grief,  many  ran  to  the  ramparts  and  broke  their  weapons  there. 
Limerick  had  capitulated ! 

The  terms  were  to  be  signed  in  the  presence  of  the  Lord 
Justices.  Sarsfield  demanded  that.  They  came  posting  down  from 
Dublin ;  they  put  their  signatures  to  the  treaty.  Irish  Catholics  were 
to  have  the  right  to  exercise  their  religion;  to  have  the  rights  of 
citizens;  to  be  preserved  from  all  disturbances.  By  the  military 
articles,  the  garrison  was  to  march  out  with  arms  and  guns,  bag- 
gage, colours  flying,  drums  beating.  Officers  and  men,  Rapparees 
and  volunteers,  who  wished  to  expatriate  themselves,  were  free 
to  do  so,  and  might  depart  in  companies  or  parties.  If  plundered 
on  the  way,  William's  government  was  to  make  good  their  loss. 
P'ifty  ships  were  to  be  provided  for  their  transportation;  two  men- 
of-war  for  the  officers. 

Ginckel  did  not  want  that  fine  war  material  to  escape.  Would 
the  Irish  regiments  join  France  or  William?  On  the  5th  of  October 
they  were  to  march  out  of  Limerick.  That  day  they  were  to  make 
their  choice.  The  royal  standards  of  England  and  France  were 
set  up  in  a  field.  To  one  standard  or  the  other  each  regiment  was 
to  turn,  Sarsfield,  Ginckel  and  their  staffs  watched  the  scene.  The 
Irish  Foot  Guards  came  first,  the  finest  of  the  regiment,  fourteen 
hundred  strong.  They  marched  to  the  Standards.  Then,  without 
a  pause,  the  splendid  column  wheeled  to  the  side  of  France.  That 
day  of  the  fourteen  thousand  men  of  the  Irish  army,  only  one 
thousand  and  forty-six  men  turned  to  William's  standard. 

A  few  days  later  a  French  fleet  came  up  the  Shannon.  It 
brought  men,  money,  arms,  ammunition,  stores  and  clothing.  The 
news  reached  Sarsfield.  Stunned,  he  remained  silent  for  a  few 
moments.  Then : — "Too  late,"  he  said,  "the  Treaty  is  signed.  Ire- 
land's and  our  honour  is  pledged.  Though  one  hundred  thousand 
Frenchmen  offered  to  aid  us  now,  we  must  keep  our  word!" 

In  his  quarters  Ginckel  heard  that  the  fleet  had  come.  He  was 
alarmed.  Would  Sarsfield  tear  up  the  Treaty?  Would  the  French 
soldiers  land?  W^ould  the  Irish  regiments  listed  for  France,  men 
with  their  arms,  renew  the  fight?  The  cautious  Dutchman,  an 
honest  brave  man,  himself,  feared. 

But  his  anxiety  was  soon  ended.  Sarsfield,  the  unbuyable — 
Sarsfield,  the  man  of  honour — had  forbidden  the  French  to  land. 
Instead,  their  ships  were  to  transport  the  Irish  regiments  to 
France. 

Not  a  man  of  these  saw  Ireland  again. 


CHAPTER  LIU 

THE  LATER  PENAL  LAWS 

When  fire  and  sword  had  signally  failed  to  suppress  the  Irish  race, 
new  means  to  that  end  must  be  found.  So  the  fertile  mind  of  the 
conqueror  invented  the  Penal  Laws. 

Professor  Lecky,  a  Protestant  of  British  blood  and  ardent  Brit- 
ish sympathy,  says  (in  his  History  of  Ireland  in  the  i8th  Century) 
that  the  object  of  the  Penal  Laws  was  threefold: 

( 1 )  To  deprive  the  Cathohcs  of  all  civil  life 

(2)  To  reduce  them  to  a  condition  of  most  extreme  and  brutal 

Ignorance 

(3)  To  dissociate  them  from  the  soil. 

He  might,  with  absolute  justice,  have  substitiited  Irish  for 
Catholics — and  added,    (4)    To   extirpate  the   Race. 

"There  is  no  instance,"  says  Dr.  Samuel  Johnson,  "even  in  the 
Ten  Persecutions,  of  such  severity  as  that  which  the  Protestants  of 
Ireland  exercised  against  the  Catholics."  ^ 

Like  good  wine  the  Penal  code  Improved  with  age.  It  was 
only  in  the  i8th  century  that  it  attained  the  marvellous  perfection 
which  caused  Edmund  Burke  to  describe  it  as  "a  machine  of  wise 
and  elaborate  contrivance,  as  well  fitted  for  the  oppression,  Im- 


1  Dr.  Johnson  evidently  laboured  under  delusion  that  these  dreadful  persecu- 
tions were  entirely  the  fault  of  the  Protestants  of  Ireland,  not  of  the  Government 
of  England.  Lecky,  however,  knew  Irish  history ;  and  this  is  what  he  has  to  say 
of  the  Penal  Code  (in  his  "History  of  Ireland  in  the  18th  Century")  :  "It  was  not 
the  persecution  of  a  sect,  but  the  degradation  of  a  nation.  It  was  the  instrument 
employed  by  a  conquering  race  (the  Anglo-Irish)  supported  by  a  neighbouring 
Power,  to  crush  to  the  dust  the  people  among  whom  they  were  planted.  And,  in- 
deed, when  we  remember  that  the  greater  part  of  it  was  in  force  for  nearly  a  cen- 
tury, that  its  victims  formed  at  least  three-fourths  of  the  nation,  that  its  degrading 
and  dividing  influence  extended  to  every  field  of  social,  political,  professional,  in- 
tellectual, and  even  domestic  life,  and  that  it  was  enacted  without  the  provocation 
of  any  rebellion,  in  defiance  of  a  treaty  which  distinctly  guaranteed  the  Irish 
Catholics  from  any  further  oppression  on  account  of  their  religion,  it  may  be 
justly  regarded  as  one  of  the  blackest  pages  in  the  history  of  persecution." 

So  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  in  the  early  part  of  the  18th  century  a 
foreign  observer  in  Ireland  noted  that  a  Catholic  could  easily  be  told  by  his  stooped 
carriage  and  subdued  manner.  Even  when  Thackeray  visited  Ireland  the  Catholic 
priests,  he  noted,  had  an  abashed  look.  The  innocent  man  wondered  why  that 
was  so  1 

454 


THE  LATER  PENAL  LAWS  455 

poverlshment,  and  degradation  of  a  people,  and  the  debasement  in 
them  of  human  nature  itself,  as  ever  proceeded  from  the  perverted 
ingenuity  of  man" — and  the  French  jurist  Montesquieu  to  say  of 
it  that  it  was  "conceived  by  demons,  written  in  blood,  and  registered 
in  Hell." 

In  the  treaty  of  Limerick  the  faith  and  honour  of  the  Crown 
were  pledged  not  only  that  the  Irish  in  Ireland  should,  in  their  lives, 
liberties  and  property  be  equally  protected  with  the  British  usurpers 
in  Ireland — but  it  was  especially  pledged  that  they  should  be  "pro- 
tected in  the  free  and  unfettered  exercise  of  their  religion."  And 
this  solemn  pledge  of  the  British  crown  by  which  the  Irish  were  in- 
duced to  lay  down  their  arms  marked  the  beginning  of  a  national 
robbery  and  national  persecution  which  for  cold-blooded  systemisa- 
tion  was  hitherto  unapproached  in  the  history  of  Irish  persecutions. 
Just  as  the  flagrant  breaking  of  the  solemn  Treaty  of  Limerick  is 
hardly  paralleled  in  history. 

When  the  Lords  Justice  returned  to  Dublin  after  signing  the 
treaty.  Dr.  Dopping,  Protestant  Lord  Bishop  of  Meath,  preached 
before  them  in  Christ  Church  Cathedral  upon  the  sin  of  keeping 
faith  with  Papists.  All  over  the  country  the  persecution  and  plun- 
dering of  the  papist  began  again,  and  was  soon  in  full  swing.  A 
million  acres  of  papists'  lands  were  confiscated,  and  their  owners 
reduced  to  beggary.-  The  British  settlers  in  Ireland  began  bom- 
barding Parliament  with  petitions  against  the  Irish  papists.  If 
these  people  got  their  liberties  it  was  shown  that  Ireland  would  be 
no  place  for  decent  British  people.^ 

And,  just  three  years  after  the  faith  and  honour  of  the  British 
crown  had  been  pledged  for  the  protection  of  the  papists,  the  Par- 
liament passed  its  "Act  for  the  Better  Securing  of  the  Government 
against  Papists."  Under  this  Act,  no  Catholic  could  henceforth 
have  "gun,  pistol  or  sword,  or  any  other  weapon  of  offence  or  de- 

2  An  English  gentleman  who  received  the  estate  in  Cork  robbed  from  the 
McCarthy,  was  in  the  twilight  of  a  summer  day  walking  in  his  easily  acquired 
demesne,  when  he  came  on  an  old  man  seated  under  a  tree,  sobbing  heart  break- 
ingly.  He  approached  the  grieved  one,  and  asked  the  cause  of  his  grief.  "These 
lands,"  said  the  broken  old  man,  "and  that  castle  were  mine.  This  tree  under 
which  I  sit  was  planted  by  my  hand.  I  came  here  to  water  it  with  my  tears,  be- 
fore sailing  to-night  for  Spain." 

^Exempli  gratia — 

"A  petition  of  one  Edward  Spragg  and  others  in  behalf  of  themselves  and 
other  Protestant  porters  in  and  about  the  city  of  Dublin,  complains  that  one  Darby 
Ryan,  a  captain  under  the  late  King  James,  and  a  Papist,  buys  up  whole  cargoes 
of  coals  and  employs  porters  of  his  own  persuasion  to  carry  the  same  to  customers, 
by  which  the  petitioners  are  hindered  from  their  small  trade  and  gains.  The  peti- 
tion was  referred  to  the  Committee  of  Grievances  to  report  upon  it  to  the  House." 
—  {Commons  Journals,  ii,  699).    The  impudent  villainy  of  the  papist  Darby! 


4S6  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

fence,  under  penalty  of  fine,  imprisonment,  pillory,  or  public  whip- 
ping." It  was  provided  that  any  magistrate  could  visit  the  house 
of  any  of  the  Irish,  at  any  hour  of  the  night  or  day,  and  ransack 
it  for  concealed  weapons.  Says  John  Mitchel  of  this  clause,  "It 
fared  ill  with  any  Catholic  who  fell  under  the  displeasure  of  his 
formidable  neighbours.  No  papist  was  safe  from  suspicion  who 
had  money  to  pay  fines — but  woe  to  the  papist  who  had  a  hand- 
some daughter!" 

Under  the  pledged  faith  and  honour  of  the  British  crown,  which 
promised  to  secure  the  Irish  from  any  disturbance  on  account  of 
their  religion,  there  was  passed,  next  (in  the  ninth  year  of  Wil- 
liam's reign),  "An  Act  for  banishing  all  Papists  exercising  any 
ecclesiastical  jurisdiction,  and  regulars  of  the  Popish  clergy,  out 
of  this  kingdom."  This  Act  provided  that  "All  Popish  Arch- 
bishops, Bishops,  Vicars-General,  Deans,  Jesuits,  Monks,  Friars, 
and  all  other  regular  Popish  clergy  shall  depart  out  of  this  king- 
dom before  the  first  day  of  May,  1698" — under  penalty  of  trans- 
portation for  life  if  they  failed  to  comply — and  under  penalty  to 
those  who  should  dare  to  return,  of  being  hanged,  drawn,  and 
quartered.'* 

And  by  such  liberality  of  the  British  was  the  Irish  nation 
repaid  for  the  generosity  it  had  shown  them  in  its  short  hour  of 
triumph.  And  the  new  and  improved  era  of  persecution  which 
began  under  William — whose  faith  and  honour  were  pledged  that 
the  Irish  Catholics  should  be  "protected  in  the  free  and  unfettered 
exercise  of  their  religion" — marched  onward  henceforth  with  mar- 
vellous stride. 

Before  going  on  to  enumerate  the  new  Penal  Laws  that  were 
enacted,  and  the  old  that  were  confirmed,  it  is  worth  while  to  glance 
back  a  couple  of  years,  and  note  how  Irish  Catholics,  when  the  rule 
of  their  own  country  came  into  their  hands,  treated  their  long-time 

*  Lecky :  "In  Ireland  all  Catholic  archbishops,  bishops,  deacons  and  vica/s- 
general  were  ordered  by  a  certain  day  to  leave  the  country.  If  after  that  date 
they  were  found  in  it,  they  were  to  be  first  imprisoned  and  then  banished,  and  if 
they  returned  they  were  pronounced  guilty  of  high  treason  and  were  liable  to  be 
hanged,  disembowelled,  and  quartered.  Nor  were  these  idle  words.  The  law  of 
1709  offered  a  reward  of  fifty  pounds  to  any  one  whp  secured  the  conviction  of 
any  Catholic  archbishop,  bishop,  deacon  vicar-general." 

Every  Irish  Catholic  could  be  compelled  at  any  time  of  the  day  or  night  to  go 
before  two  Justices  of  the  Peace  and  swear  where  he  heard  Alass,  who  officiated, 
and  who  was  present.  He  was  forbidden  to  harbour  a  schoolmaster  or  a  priest 
under  pain  of  having  all  his  goods  confiscated. 

The  Anglo-Irish  House  of  Commons  of  1719  carried  a  Bill  against  Papists  in 
which  it  was  provided  that  a  captured  priest  who  had  been  officiating  in  secret, 
should  be  branded  with  a  red  hot  iron  upon  the  cheek.  The  bill  was  vetoed  in 
England. 


THE  LATER  PENAL  LAWS  457 

persecutors.  We  have  seen,  in  a  previous  chapter,  the  toleration 
shown  by  the  Irish  Catholics  to  their  late  persecutors,  when  Mary 
of  England  re-established  the  Catholic  church  and  Catholic  power. 
When  the  poor  creature,  James  the  Second,  came  to  Ireland  in 
1689,  and  that  the  Irish  got  complete  control  of  their  own  coun- 
try, an  Irish  Parliament  met  in  Dublin  on  May  7th  of  that  year. 
This  was  a  Catholic  Irish  Parliament,  representing  a  Catholic  Irish 
country.  The  members  of  it  were  men  summoned  together  in  the 
fury  of  Civil  War — men,  too,  every  one  of  whom  was  smarting 
from  memory  of  the  vilest  wrongs  ever  wrought  by  conqueror  on 
conquered.  "They  were  almost  all  new  men  animated  by  resent- 
ment of  bitterest  wrongs,"  says  Lecky — "men  most  of  whom  or 
of  whose  fathers  had  been  robbed  of  their  estates."  Yet  though 
they  burned  with  holy  indignation  for  the  persecutions  that  they 
and  their  people  and  their  land  had  suffered  at  the  hands  of  the 
plunderer  and  murderer — and  though  in  this  their  hour  of  triumph 
they  held  the  power  of  life  and  death  over  their  wrongers,  Lecky 
confesses,  with  evident  astonishment,  "They  established  freedom 
of  religion  in  a  moment  of  excitement  and  passion."  By  this  Par- 
liament of  cruelly  wronged  and  persecuted  papists  was  enacted  the 
golden  statute — "We  hereby  declare  that  it  is  the  law  of  this  land 
that  not  now,  or  ever  again,  shall  any  man  be  persecuted  for  his 
religion." 

Four  Protestant  bishops  sat  in  the  Upper  House.  No  Catholic 
bishop  was  called  to  sit  there.  While  fifteen  outlawed  Catholic 
peers  were  recalled,  only  five  new  ones  were  made.  Six  Protestant 
members  sat  in  the  Lower  House — almost  all  the  rest  of  the  Prot- 
estant members  having  espoused  the  cause  of  William,  or  fled  to 
England. 

This  Parliament  established  freedom  of  religion.  Says  Lecky, 
"The  Protestant  clergy  were  guaranteed  full  liberty  of  professing, 
preaching,  and  teaching  their  religion." 

It  established  free  schools. 

W^here  Catholic  Ireland  had  before  been  compelled  to  support 
the  Protestant  Church,  this  Parliament  enacted  that  Catholics 
should  pay  dues  to  Catholic  pastors,  and  Protestants  should  pay 
dues  to  Protestant  pastors.^ 

5  The  Catholic  Bishop  Moloney,  in  writing  to  the  Parliament,  went  so  far  as 
to  recommend  that  compensation  should  be  provided  for  all  Protestant  church 
beneficiaries  who  would  now  lose  the  state  pa\Tnents  that  they  had  been  receiving. 

The  Protestant  William  Parnell,  member  of  the  Anglo-Irish  Parliament  at 
the  end  of  the  eighteenth  centurj',  says  (and  shows)  in  his  historical  treatise  upon 
Ireland:  "The  Irish  Roman  Catholics  are  the  only  sect  that  ever  resumed  power 
without  exercising  vengeance." 


458  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

And  thus  did  these  Irish  Catholics,  in  their  brief  moment  of 
triumph,  to  the  usurpers  who  had  persecuted  and  plundered  them 
till,  as  one  Protestant  historian  admits  "Protestantism  came  to  be 
associated  in  the  native  mind  with  spoliation,  confiscation,  and 
massacre." 

The  Penal  Laws  enacted  or  re-enacted  In  the  new  era  succeed- 
ing the  siege  of  Limerick,  when  under  the  pledged  faith  and  honour 
of  the  English  crown,  the  Irish  Catholics  were  to  be  "protected  in 
the  free  and  unfettered  exercise  of  their  religion,"  provided  amongst 
other  things  that : 

The  Irish  Catholic  was  forbidden  the  exercise  of  his  religion. 

He  was  forbidden  to  receive  education. 

He  was  forbidden  to  enter  a  profession. 

He  was  forbidden  to  hold  public  office. 

He  was  forbidden  to  engage  In  trade  or  commerce.'' 

He  was  forbidden  to  live  in  a  corporate  town  or  within  five 
miles  thereof. 

He  was  forbidden  to  own  a  horse  of  greater  value  than  five 
pounds.^ 

He  was  forbidden  to  purchase  land. 

He  was  forbidden  to  lease  land.^ 

He  was  forbidden  to  accept  a  mortgage  on  land  In  security 
for  a  loan.® 

He  was  forbidden  to  vote. 

•5  "They  are  not  only  excluded  from  all  offices  in  church  and  state,  but  are 
interdicted  from  the  army  and  the  law,  in  all  its  branches.  .  .  .  Every  barrister, 
clerk,  attorney,  or  solicitor  is  obliged  to  take  a  solemn  oath  not  to  employ  persons 
of  that  persuasion ;  no,  not  as  hackney  clerks,  at  the  miserable  salary  of  seven 
shillings  a  week.  No  tradesman  of  that  persuasion  is  capable  of  exercising  his 
trade  freely  in  any  town  corporate:  so  that  they  trade  and  work  in  their  own 
native  towns  as  ahens,  paying,  as  such,  quarterage,  and  other  charges  and  im- 
positions. .  .  ." — Edmund   Burke    (Laws  Against   Popery  in  Ireland). 

"Every  franchise,  every  honour,  every  trust,  every  place  down  to  the  very  low- 
est (besides  whole  professions)  is  reserved  for  the  master  caste."  (Burke's  letter 
to  Langrishe.) 

''  Standish  O'Grady  tells  the  story  of  a  Catholic  gentleman  of  the  County 
Meath  who  having  driven  four  blood-horses  into  the  assize  town  was  there  held 
up  by  a  Protestant  and  tendered  twenty  pounds  for  his  four  valuable  horses — 
whereupon  he  drew  out  a  pistol,  and  shot  the  animals  dead.  Ever  after,  he  drove 
into  town  behind  six  oxen — his  mute  protest  against  "law."  "Incidents  like  this," 
says  O'Grady,  "aroused  and  fed  the  indignation  which  eventually  compelled  the 
annulment  of  the  law." 

8  So,  a  man  dead  and  buried  is  said,  in  Ireland,  to  have  "a  Protestant  lease 
of  the  soil." 

8  "All  persons  of  that  persuasion  are  disabled  from  taking  or  purchasing  di- 
rectly, or  by  trust,  any  lease,  any  mortgage  upon  land,  any  rents  or  profits  from 
land,  any  lease,  interest,  or  permit  of  any  land ;  any  annuity  for  life  or  lives,  or 
years ;  or  any  estate  whatsoever,  cliargeable  upon,  or  which  may  in  any  manner 
affect  any  lease." — Edmund  Burke   (Laws  Against  Popery  in   Ireland). 


THE  LATER  PENAL  LAWS  459 

He  was  forbidden  to  keep  any  arms  for  his  protection. 

He  was  forbidden  to  hold  a  hfe  annuity. 

He  was  forbidden  to  buy  land  from  a  Protestant. 

He  was  forbidden  to  receive  a  gift  of  land  from  a  Protestant. 

He  was  forbidden  to  inherit  land  from  a  Protestant. 

He  was   forbidden  to  inherit  anything  from  a  Protestant. 

He  was  forbidden  to  rent  any  land  that  was  worth  more 
than  thirty  shillings  a  year. 

He  was  forbidden  to  reap  from  his  land  any  profit  exceed- 
ing a  third  of  the  rent.^" 

He  could  not  be  guardian  to  a  child. 

He  could  not,  when  dying,  leave  his  infant  children  under 
Catholic  guardianship." 

He  could  not  attend  Catholic  worship. 

He  was  compelled  by  the  law  to  attend  Protestant  worship. 

He  could  not  himself  educate  his  child. 

He  could  not  send  his  child  to  a  Catholic  teacher. 

He  could  not  employ  a  Catholic  teacher  to  come  to  his  child. 

He  could  not  send  his  child  abroad  to  receive  education.^" 

The  priest  was  banned  and  hunted  with  bloodhounds.  The 
school  master  was  banned  and  hunted  with  bloodhounds. 

If  he  had  an  unfaithful  wife,  she,  by  going  through  the  form 
of  adopting  the  Protestant  religion  compelled  from  a  papist  the 
heaviest  annuity  that  might  be  squeezed  out  of  him — and  would 

i<>  Lecky  says :  "If  a  Catholic  leaseholder,  by  his  skill  or  industry  so  increased 
his  profits  that  they  exceeded  this  proportion,  and  did  not  immediately  make  a 
corresponding  increase  in  his  rent,  his  farm  passed  to  the  first  Protestant  who 
made  the  discovery.  If  a  Catholic  secretly  purchased  either  his  own  forfeited 
estate,  or  any  other  land  in  the  possession  of  a  Protestant,  the  first  Protestant  who 
informed  against  him  became  the  proprietor." 

To  encourage  among  the  Anglo-Irish  ardour  on  behalf  of  the  law,  the  Anglo- 
Irish  Parliament  in  1705  passed  a  resolution  "that  the  persecuting  of  and  inform- 
ing against  a  Papist  is  an  honourable  service." 

^^  Lecky  says :  "The  influence  of  the  code  appeared,  indeed,  omnipresent.  It 
blasted  the  prospects  of  the  Catholic  in  all  struggles  of  active  life.  It  cast  its 
shadows  over  the  inmost  recesses  of  his  home.  It  darkened  the  very  last  hour  of 
his  existence.  No  Catholic,  as  I  have  said,  could  be  guardian  to  a  child ;  so  the 
dying  person  knew  that  his  children  must  pass  under  the  tutelage  of  Protestants." 

^2  "Popish  schoolmasters  of  every  species  are  proscribed  by  those  acts,  and 
it  is  made  felony  to  teach  even  in  a  private  family.  Being  sent  for  education  to 
any  popish  school  or  college  abroad,  upon  conviction,  incurs  (if  the  party  sent  has 
any  estate  or  inheritance)  a  kind  of  unalterable  and  perpetual  outlawry.  He  is 
disabled  to  sue  in  law  or  equity;  to  be  guardian,  executor,  or  administrator;  he 
is  rendered  incapable  of  any  legacy  or  deed  or  gift ;  he  forfeits  all  his  goods  and 
chattels  forever ;  and  he  forfeits  for  life  all  his  lands,  hereditaments,  offices,  and 
estate  of  freehold,  and  all  trusts,  powers,  or  interests  therein.  All  persons  con- 
cerned in  sending  them  or  maintaining  them  abroad,  by  the  least  assistance  of 
money  or  otherwise,  are  involved  in  the  same  disabilities,  and  subjected  to  the 
same  penalties." — Edmund  Burke    (Laws  Against   Popery   in   Ireland). 


46o  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

inherit  all  the  property  at  his  death.  If  he  had  an  unnatural  child, 
that  child  by  conforming  to  the  Established  religion,  could  compel 
from  him  the  highest  possible  annuity,  and  inherit  all  his  property 
at  his  death — to  the  total  exclusion  of  all  the  children  who  had  re- 
mained faithful  to  their  father,  and  their  religion." 

If  he  was  discovered  in  the  act  of  having  his  son  educated  at 
home,  a  ruinous  fine  and  a  dungeon  awaited  him.  If  he  sent  his 
son  to  be  educated  abroad,  all  his  property  was  confiscated — and 
the  child  so  educated  was  thereby  debarred  from  all  rights  and 
properties  in  the  country,  and  debarred  from  inheriting  anything. 

He  was  compelled  to  pay  double  for  the  support  of  the  militia. 
And  he  was  compelled  to  make  good  all  damages  done  to  the  state 
by  the  privateers  of  any  Catholic  power  in  which  the  state  was  at 
war. 

"After  Limerick,"  says  Edmund  Burke  in  his  "Tracts" — that 
is,  after  the  Irish  had,  by  the  faith  and  honour  of  the  British  Crown, 
been  pledged  protection  in  their  lives,  liberties,  and  property,  "there 
was  not  a  single  right  of  nature  or  benefit  of  society  which  had  not 
been  either  totally  taken  away,  or  considerably  impaired." 

The  law  soon  came  to  recognise  an  Irishman  in  Ireland  only 
for  the  purpose  of  repressing  him.  Till  in  the  reign  of  George  I, 
Lord  Chancellor  Bowes  and  also  Chief  Justice  Robinson,  in  their 
official  capacity,  pronounced:  "The  law  does  not  suppose  any 
such  person  to  exist  as  an  Irish  Roman  Catholic." 

Lecky  says  that  it  was  more  through  rapacity  than  fanaticism 
that  the  English  and  Anglo-Irish  so  ferociously  oppressed,  re- 
pressed, and  robbed  of  both  their  moral  and  material  rights,  the 
Irish  Catholics." 

^3  Lecky  says :  "The  undutiful  wife,  the  rebellious  and  unnatural  son,  had 
only  to  add  to  their  other  crimes  the  guilt  of  a  sacrilegiously  vain  conversion,  in 
order  to  secure  both  impunity  and  reward,  and  to  deprive  those  whom  they  had 
injured  of  the  management  and  disposal  of  their  property." 

1*  One  historian  says  that  they  were  really  more  anxious  to  have  the  soil  of 
Ireland  turn  Protestant,  than  the  people. 

The  insignificant  number  of  Irish  who  embraced  the  new  religion  did  so  in 
practically  every  case  for  purpose  of  holding  their  property.  There  was  in  Ros- 
common a  celebrated  character  named  Myers  who  craved  for  salvation  through 
the  Protestant  religion  when  he  found  that  a  rapacious  Protestant  neighbour  was 
about  to  bring  against  him  a  Bill  of  Discovery — whereby  he  would  be  compelled  to 
disclose  the  value  of  his  property,  which  on  its  being  found  to  be  more  than  the 
few  acres  that  a  papist  was  legally  entitled  to,  would  be  confiscated  to  the  dis- 
coverer. As.  before  being  accepted  and  baptised,  it  was  necessary  to  undergo  a 
period  of  instruction  by  a  minister  of  the  Established  Church  and  an  examination 
l)y  one  of  the  ecclesiastics.  Mr.  Myers,  for  his  theological  study,  dined  every  day 
for  a  week  with  a  boon  companion,  the  Protestant  rector  of  Castlerea — after  which 
a  social  hour's  chat  with  the  Archbishop  of  Dublin  secured  for  him  the  certificate 
that  guaranteed  him  to  be  a  fit  subject  for  "Baptism  unto  the  true  Faith."  On 
the  day  on  which  he  was  received  into  the  Established  Church  the  Archbishop  gave 


THE  LATER  PENAL  LAWS  461 

But  Lecky  elsewhere  admits  that  fear  of  the  conquered  people 
ever  again  taking  rank  with  their  conquerors  likewise  inspired  the 
persecutions.  His  words  arc:  "It  was  intended  to  make  them 
poor  and  to  keep  them  poor,  to  crush  in  them  every  germ  of  enter- 
prise and  degrade  them  into  a  servile  race  who  could  never  hope  to 
rise  to  the  level  of  their  oppressor."  The  British  traveller,  Arthur 
Young,  in  the  last  quarter  of  the  eighteenth  century  found  "an 
Anglo-Irish  aristocracy  of  half  a  million  joying  in  the  triumph  of 
having  two  million  slaves." 

Young  tells  how  he  found  the  gentry  for  little  or  no  cause,  lash 
with  horsewhip  or  cane,  or  break  the  bones  of  the  people,  "and 
kill,  without  apprehension  of  judge  or  jury."  "The  Punishment 
Laws,"  says  Young,  "are  calculated  for  the  meridian  of  Barbary."  ^'' 

Throughout  those  dark  days  the  hunted  schoolmaster,  with 
price  upon  his  head,  was  hidden  from  house  to  house.  And  in 
the  summer  time  he  gathered  his  little  class,  hungering  and  thirsting 
for  knowledge,  behind  a  hedge  in  remote  mountain  glen — where, 
while  in  turn  each  tattered  lad  kept  watch  from  the  hilltop  for  the 
British  soldiers,  he  fed  to  his  eager  pupils  the  forbidden  fruit  of 
the  tree  of  knowledge. 

Latin  and  Greek  were  taught  to  ragged  hunted  ones  under  shel- 
ter of  the  hedges — whence  these  teachers  were  known  as  "hedge 
schoolmasters."  A  knowledge  of  Latin  was  a  frequent  enough 
accomplishment  among  poor  Irish  mountaineers  in  the  seventeenth 

a  dinner  in  Myer's  honour.  For  the  edification  of  the  guests,  the  good  prelate  at 
suitable  moment  requested  of  the  spotless  neophyte  that  he  would  "state  to 
his  fellow-diners  his  grounds  for  abjuring  the  errors  of  popery."  Promptly  re- 
plied Myers,  "Twenty-five  hundred  acres  of  the  best  grounds  in  the  County 
Roscommon." 

15  It  is  scarce  a  century  since  papists  were  for  the  first  time  permitted  to  re- 
side in  some  of  the  walled  cities  such  as  Derry  in  the  North,  and  Bandon  in  the 
South. 

On  the  gates  of  Bandon  was  written  the  legend : 

"Enter  here,  Turk,  Jew  or  atheist, 
Any  man  except  a  Papist." 

Underneath  these  lines  a  rascally  papist,  possessed  of  some  wit  and  some  chalk, 
tried  his  hand  at  a  little  "poetry"  of  his  own : 

"The  man  who  wrote  this  wrote  it  well ; 
For  the  same  is  writ  on  the  gates  of  Hell." 

On  a  Government  return  of  1743  the  Provost  of  Bandon  reports.  "Neither 
priest  nor  papist  was.  ever  since  the  hated  King  James  his  reign,  suffered  to  reside 
within  this  town.  The  inhabitants  are  all  Protestants  and  by  our  Corporation 
Laws  no  other  can  live  among  us." 

But  the  mills  of  the  gods  were  in  motion,  all  unknown  to  the  pious  Provost. 
To-day  Bandon  is  an  overwhelmingly  Catholic  town.  And  Derry,  the  very  Mecca 
of  Orangeism,  has  a  Catholic  majority,  a  Nationalist  Corporation,  Nationalist 
Mayor,  and  Nationalist  representative  in  the  Irish  Parliament. 


462  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

century — and  was  spoken  by  many  of  them  on  special  occasions. 
And  it  is  authoritatively  boasted  that  cows  were  bought  and  sold  in 
Greek,  in  mountain  market-places  of  Kerry/" 

Throughout  these  dreadful  centuries,  too,  the  hunted  priest — 
who  in  his  youth  had  been  smuggled  to  the  Continent  of  Europe  to 
receive  his  training — tended  the  flame  of  faith.  He  lurked  like  a 
thief  among  the  hills.  On  Sundays  and  feast  days  he  celebrated 
Mass  at  a  rock,  on  a  remote  mountainside,  while  the  congregation 
knelt  on  the  heather  of  the  hillside,  under  the  open  heavens. 
While  he  said  Mass,  faithful  sentries  watched  from  all  the  nearby 
hilltops,  to  give  timely  warning  of  the  approaching  priest-hunter 
and  his  guard  of  British  soldiers.  But  sometimes  the  troops  came 
on  them  unawares,  and  the  Mass  Rock  was  bespattered  with  his 
blood, — and  men,  women  and  children  caught  in  the  crime  of  wor- 

1®  Dr.  Douglas  Hyde  tells  of  the  famous  Munster  poet,  Owen  Roe  O'SulIivan, 
how,  while  still  a  common  farm-hand,  he  amazed  his  master's  son  (just  returned 
from  a  Continental  college)  by  construing  for  the  latter  a  Greek  passage  that  had 
puzzled  him.  O'SulIivan  was  taken  from  behind  the  spade  then.  And  after  a  little 
while  he  opened,  near  Charleville,  a  school  where  he  taug'ht  Latin  and  Greek. 

The  present  writer  had  a  friend,  an  old  mountaineer  in  Donegal,  who  told  him 
how,  in  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century,  his  father,  then  a  youth,  used  to 
hear  at  "the  Priest's  Dinner"  in  the  mountain  station  house,  the  priest,  the  school- 
master, and  many  of  the  well-to-do  mountaineers  discourse  in  Latin. 

To  these  hedge  schoolmasters  who  at  the  cost  of  their  happiness  and  risk  of 
their  lives  fed  the  little  flame  of  knowledge  among  the  hills  and  glens  of  Ire- 
land, throughout  Ireland's  dread  night,  Ireland  can  never  repay  her  debt. 

THE  HEDGE  SCHOOLMASTERS 

When  the  night  shall  lift  from  Erin's  hills,  'twere  shame  if  we  forget 
One  band  of  unsung  heroes  whom  Freedom  owes  a  debt. 
When  we  brim  high  cups  to  brave  ones  then,  their  memory  let  us  pledge 
Who  gathered  their  ragged  classes  behind  a  friendly  hedge. 

By  stealth  they  met  their  pupils  in  the  glen's  deep-hidden  nook, 
And  taught  them  many  a  lesson  was  never  in  English  book; 
There  was  more  than  wordy  logic  shown  to  use  in  wise  debate; 
Nor  amo  was  the  only  verb  they  gave  to  conjugate. 

When  hunted  on  the  heathery  hill  and  through  the  shadowy  wood, 

They  climbed  the  cliff,  they  dared  the  marsh,  they  stemmed  the  tumbling  flood ; 

Their  blanket  was  the  clammy  mist,  their  bed  the  wind-swept  bent ; 

In  fitful  sleep  they  dreamt  the  bay  of  blood-hounds  on  their  scent.' 

Their  lore  was  not  the  brightest,  nor  their  store,  mayhap,  the  best, 

But  they  fostered  love,  undying,  in  each  young  Irish  breast; 

And  through  the  dread,  dread  night,  and  long,  that  steeped  our  island  then, 

The  lamps  of  hope  and  fires  of  faith  were  fed  by  these  brave  men. 

The  grass  waves  green  above  them;  soft  sleep  is  theirs  for  aye; 

The  hunt  is  over,  and  the  cold;  the  hunger  passed  away. 

O  hold  them  high  and  holy  I  and  their  memory  proudly  pledge. 

Who  gathered  their  ragged  classes  behind  a  friendly  hedge.— Seumas  MacManus 


THE  LATER  PENAL  LAWS  463 

shipping  God  among  the  rocks,  were  frequently  slaughtered  on  the 
mountainside." 

Then,  bishops  and  archbishops,  meanly  dressed  in  rough  home- 
spuns, trudged  on  foot  among  their  people — and  often  dwelt,  ate 
and  slept,  in  holes  in  the  ground.^* 

Thus,  in  their  miserable  lairs,  In  the  bogs  and  barren  moun- 
tains, whither  they  were  trailed  by  wolf-hounds  and  blood-hounds, 
were  sheltered  all  that  was  noble,  high,  and  holy,  in  Ireland — 
while  rascal  and  renegade,  silk-and-fine-linen-clad,  fattening  on  the 

^^  To  enable  the  members  of  their  congregation  to  baffle  the  inquisition  before 
which  they  were  liable  at  any  time  to  be  compelled  to  swear  when  and  where  they 
last  attended  Mass  and  who  was  the  priest  that  officiated,  an  improvised  curtain 
was  oftentimes  hung  between  the  celebrant  and  the  worshippers — so  that  they  could 
truthfully  swear  they  did  not  see  the  celebrant.  With  the  same  object  in  view, 
at  the  ordination  of  priests  not  the  bishop  alone  laid  on  hands,  but  several  others 
together  with  him. 

!« Edmund  Spenser,  in  his  day  observing  all  this,  "did  marvel"  how  these 
hunted  priests,  foregoing  all  the  comforts  and  pleasures  of  life,  and  inviting  both 
life  and  death's  fearfulest  terrors,  pursued  their  mission  "without  hope  of  reward 
and  richesse." 

"Reward  and  richesse!"  exclaims  the  non-Catholic  Mitchel,  commenting  on 
this.  "I  know  the  spots  within  my  own  part  of  Ireland  where  venerable  arch- 
bishops hid  themselves,  as  it  were,  in  a  hole  of  the  rock.  .  .  .  Yet  it  was  with  full 
knowledge  of  all  this,  with  full  resolution  to  brave  all  this,  that  many  hundreds  of 
educated  Irishmen,  fresh  from  the  colleges  of  Belgium  or  of  Spain,  pushed  to  the 
Sea  Coast  at  Brest  or  St.  Malo,  to  find  some  way  of  crossing  to  the  land  that  of- 
fered them  a  life  of  work  and  of  woe.  Imagine  a  priest  ordained  at  Seville  or 
Salamanca,  a  gentleman  of  high  old  name,  a  man  of  eloquence  and  genius,  who 
has  sustained  disputations  in  the  college  halls  on  questions  of  literature  or  theology, 
and  carried  off  prizes  and  crowns — see  him  on  the  quays  of  Brest,  bargaining  with 
some  skipper  to  work  his  passage.  He  throws  himself  on  board,  does  his  full 
part  of  the  hardest  work,  neither  feeling  the  cold  spray  nor  the  fiercest  tempest. 
And  he  knows,  too,  that  the  end  of  it  all,  for  him,  may  be  a  row  of  sugar  canes 
to  hoe  under  the  blazing  sun  of  Barbados.  Yet  he  pushes  eagerly  to  meet  his 
fate ;  for  he  carries  in  his  hands  a  sacred  deposit,  bears  in  his  heart  a  holy  message, 
and  must  tell  it  or  die.  See  him,  at  last,  springing  ashore,  and  hurrying  on  to 
seek  his  bishop  in  some  cave,  or  under  some  hedge — but  going  with  caution  by 
reason  of  the  priest  catcher  and  the  blood-hounds." 

In  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century  the  Primate  of  Ireland  lived  in  a 
little  farmhouse  under  the  name  of  "Mr.  Ennis."  The  bishop  of  Kilmore,  who 
was  a  good  musician,  travelled  his  diocese  as  a  Highland  bagpiper.  And  other 
ecclesiastics  assumed  what  disguise  suited  their  bent.  The  Archbishop  of 
Tuam  used  to  address  his  letters  from  his  (undisclosed)  "place  of  refuge  in  Conne- 
mara." 

The  learned  and  saintly  Bishop  Gallagher  (still  famed  for  his  sermons),  a 
noble  and  beautiful  character,  had  many  escapes  in  his  unending  peregrinations, 
travelling  stick  in  hand,  and  homespun  clad,  among  his  flock — sleeping  sometimes 
in  human  habitation,  sometimes  in  a  hole  in  the  bank  and  frequently  among  the 
beasts  of  the  field.  Once  when  he  had  the  good  fortune  to  be  sheltered  under  a 
poor  roof  in  Donegal,  he  was  aroused  in  tJie  middle  of  the  night  by  the  alarm  that 
the  priest-hunters  were  close  upon  him.  Half-clad,  he  escaped — but  the  poor  man 
who  had  been  guilty  of  housing  him  was  taken  out  and  cruelly  done  to  death. 
After  this  Bishop  was  translated  to  the  midlands,  the  Palace  of  this  learned  and 
truly  noble  man  was  a  bothy  built  against  a  bank  in  the  Bog  of  Allen  1 


464  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

fat  of  an  anguished  land,  languished  in  the  country's  high  seats  of 
honour !  ^^ 

From  time  to  time,  to  satisfy  itself  that  the  Penal  Laws  were 
being  enforced,  the  Government  called  for  returns  on  the  subject, 
which  returns,  still  preserved  with  the  other  State  records,  throw 
interesting  side-light  upon  the  Penal  activities.  The  returns,  for 
instance,  of  17 14,  made  by  the  High  Sheriffs  of  counties  and 
Mayors  of  cities,  show  the  number  of  priests  and  schoolmasters 
then  held  in  various  jails,  and  in  apology  for  the  numbers  not  be- 
ing more  impressive,  explain  that  the  fugitive  priest  and  school- 
master are  "difficult  to  take."  A  High  Sheriff  of  Longford  re- 
ports holding  in  jail:  "Patrick  Ferrall  and  John  Lennan,  con- 
victed of  being  popish  schoolmasters,  and  sentenced  to  transporta- 
tion." The  High  Sheriff  of  Dublin  holds  "two  popish  school- 
masters under  sentence  of  transportation."  The  Mayors  of  Gal- 
way  and  Kilkenny  have  priests  awaiting  transportation.  The  High 
Sheriff  of  Wicklow  reports  the  dispersal  of  "a  riotous  assembly" 
at  St.  Kevin's  in  Glendalough — meaning  the  ancient  pilgrimage  In 
honour  of  St.  Kevin.  "We  rode  all  right,"  he  says,  "and  reached 
the  scene  at  4  A.  M.  on  June  3rd.     The  rioters  immediately  dis- 

^^  It  is  good  to  record  that  many  and  many  a  time  during  the  centuries  of  Ire- 
land's agony,  decent  God-fearing,  truly  Christian  Protestants  hid  the  hunted  priest 
when  the  bloodhounds,  and  human  hounds,  were  close  upon  him,  saving  the  hunted 
one's  life  at  the  risk  of  his  own. 

And  many  a  time,  too,  the  decent  Protestant — sometimes  a  poor  man — accepted 
legal  transfer  of  the  lands  of  his  Catholic  neighbour  and  held  them  for  his 
Catholic  neighbour's  benefit — thus  saving  them  from  being  forfeited  to  a  "Dis- 
coverer." 

There  was  a  poor  Protestant  blacksmith  in  Tipperary  in  Penal  times,  who,  to 
save  their  property  to  his  Catholic  neighbours,  was  in  legal  possession  of  thousands 
of  acres  of  land.  Yet  the  brave  fellow,  with  all  those  broad  acres  at  his  mercy, 
lived  and  died  in  proud  poverty. 

The  late  date  down  to  which  these  persecutions  were  carried  may  be  judged 
from  the  fact  that  the  present  Irish  Primate's  predecessor,  Archbishop  McGettigan, 
used  to  tell  how,  as  a  lad,  at  the  Mass  Rock  in  the  mountain,  he  acted  as  sentry, 
as  acolyte,  and  as  candle-stick  (one  of  the  two  boys  who  at  either  side  of  the  altar- 
rock  held  the  lighted  candle  and  shielded  it  from  the  wind). 

On  the  occasion  of  a  recent  lecture  tour  in  California,  I  met,  in  a  valley  of 
the  Sierras,  a  middle-aged  Donegal  man,  who  told  me  how,  when  he  was  a  little 
boy  in  Donegal,  a  man  with  a  much  disfigured  face  came  one  day  to  his  father's 
house,  of  whom  his  father  told  him  how  he  had  escaped  with  only  this  dis- 
figurement from  a  Mass  Rock  massacre — when  the  priest-hunters  and  soldiers  had, 
unawares,  surprised  the  congregation  in  their  crime. 

Even  in  recent  days,  in  some  of  the  remote  parts  of  Ireland,  often  the  local 
representatives  of  the  governing  power,  the  landlord  and  magistrate,  would  not 
permit  the  erection  of  a  Catholic  Church  within  the  district  of  which  he  was 
over-lord.  The  Church  of  the  famous  Father  McFadden  of  Gweedore,  had  to  be 
erected  on  a  No-man's  land,  the  dead-line  between  the  possessions  of  two  English 
landlords — a  gulch  which  had  been  the  bed  of  a  mountain  torrent — now  diverted. 
On  a  fatal  stormy  Sunday  in  the  eighties  the  torrent,  finding  its  old  wa^  again, 
swept  down  upon  the  little  chapel,  packed  with  its  mountain  congregation,  and 
left  sad  hearts  and  lone  hearths  in  bleak  Gweedore. 


THE  LATER  PENAL  LAWS  465 

persed:  and  we  pulled  down  their  tents,  threw  down  and  demolished 
their  superstitious  crosses,  destroyed  their  wells,  and  apprehended 
and  committed  one  Toole,  a  popish  schoolmaster." 

In  1 73 1  the  bishops  of  tlie  Established  Church  made  inter- 
esting returns  for  the  "Report  of  the  State  of  Popery  in  Ireland," 
Sample  returns  for  parishes  in  the  diocese  of  Clogher  will  give  an 
idea  of  the  whole.  In  one  parish,  *'The  papists  have  one  altar 
made  of  earth  and  stone,  uncovered."  In  another  parish,  "Mass 
is  celebrated  in  ye  open  fields  at  two  distant  places."  In  a  third, 
"No  Mass  house,  but  two  or  three  altars."  And  in  still  another 
parish,  "No  Mass  house  but  ye  people  meet  in  ye  fields — Owen 
O'Gallagher,  an  old  Fryer,  instructs  a  great  many  popish  students." 
In  another,  "Edward  McGrath  and  one  Connelly  officiate  in  sev- 
eral parts  of  ye  parish,  in  woods  near  ye  mountains."  Henry, 
Bishop  of  Derry,  reports:  "We  are  frequently  infested  with 
strolling  Fryars  and  Regulars  who  say  Mass  from  Parish  to  Par- 
ish as  they  pass,  in  ye  open  fields  or  ye  mountains,  and  gather 
great  numbers  of  people  about  them.  Sometimes  a  straggling 
schoolmaster  sets  up  in  some  of  ye  mountains,  but  upon  being 
threatened,  as  they  constantly  are,  with  a  warrant  or  a  present- 
ment by  ye  church-wardens,  they  generally  think  it  proper  to 
withdraw." 

And  the  Bishop  of  Down  and  Connor  reports:  "Dr.  Arm- 
In  this  writer's  own  parish  of  Inver,  a  relic  of  the  Penal  Days  was  with  us 
till  he  had  reached  mature  manhood.  It  was  a  scalan — a  three-walled  thatched 
Mass-shed  which  sheltered  the  altar  and  the  officiating  priest.  In  front  of  the 
open  end,  every  Sunday  morning,  the  congregation,  gathered  hither  from  miles  of 
moor  and  mountain,  knelt  on  the  bare  hillside  under  the  open  heavens — often  with 
miry  slush  soaking  their  knees,  and  pelting  rain  or  driving  hail  mercilessly  lash- 
ing their  bodies,  and  whipping  their  upturned  faces.  Whether  blowing  or  snowing, 
shining  or  showering,  every  Sabbath  saw  there  the  crowd  of  devotees  from  remote 
homes — man  and  woman,  boy  and  girl,  barefoot  child  and  crawling  old. 

In  the  days  when  this  writer,  a  light-footed  bouchaillin,  scudded  the  moors 
to  Mass,  there  mothered  England  and  step-mothered  Ireland,  a  respectable,  homely- 
minded  lady,  who  had  developed  a  comfortable  embonpoint,  and  fattened  a  very- 
large  brood  of  children,  at  the  expense  of  poor,  lean,  famished,  famine-haunted 
Ireland— a  worthy  enough  old  lady  who  represented  the  power  that  robbed  us  of 
everything  except  our  hardships,  and  bestowed  on  us  nothing  but  our  poverty. 
About  the  very  time  that  our  scalaji  congregation  would  be  kneeling  in  the  mud 
on  the  arctic  shoulder  of  Ardaghey  Hill  this  good  old  lady  and  her  middling  well- 
trained  children  would  probably  be  bogging  their  knees  in  the  yielding  plush  of 
their  prie-dicux,  in  the  magnificent  Chapel  of  Buckingham  Palace — or  before  a 
comforting  fire,  languidly  sinking  out  of  one  another's  sight  in  the  caressing  up- 
holstery of  their  Palace  drawing-room.  And  the  writer  can  vividly  remember  the 
queer  questioning  that  started  in  his  boyish  mind  one  fierce  February  Sunday 
when,  with  the  miserable  multitude  at  Mass  on  that  storm-lashed  hillside,  their  knees 
sunk  in  the  marrow-freezing  mire,  their  few  sorry  clothes  soaked  through  and 
plastered  to  their  bones  by  snow-broth,  bared  heads  battered,  and  faces  whipped 
and  cut  by  the  driving  sleet,  he  heard  the  sagart  (a  simple  saintly  soul)  lead  in 
supplicating  the  Lord  to  grant  health  and  happiness  to,  and  shower  His  manifold 
blessings  upon,  "Her  Majesty,  the  Queen  of  this  Realm,  and  all  the  Royal  Family"! 


466  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

strong^®  takes  upon  him  to  be  bishop,  and  holds  visitations  at 
which  there  appear  great  numbers — the  Itinerant  Preachers,  I  sup- 
pose, making  part  of  them.  There  were  several  of  those  that  have 
great  concourse  about  them." 

The  marvellous  spirit  that  inspired  the  young  Irishmen  who 
gave  their  lives  for  the  preserving  of  their  people's  faith  in  these 
times  of  terror,  could  not  be  more  strikingly  illustrated  than  by 
presenting  to  the  reader — from  another  Parliamentary  return — 
one  of  the  late  date  of  1782 — the  following  list  of  some  of  the 
many  places,  far  and  wide  over  the  Continent  of  Europe,  to  which 
they  penetrated  in  search  of  education  and  ordination.  These  "reg- 
istered" priests  (only  the  smaller  portion  of  the  priestly  body), 
all  of  them  ordained  between  1760-80,  were  educated  in: 

Toledo,  Barcelona,  Mechlin,  Paris,  Brussels,  Prague,  Como, 
Rome,  Viterbo,  Treves,  Compostella,  Cremona,  Lisbon,  Toul,  Bor- 
deaux, Bazas,  Sarlate  (France),  Lombez  (France),  Antwerp,  Liege, 
Vaison  (France),  Avignon,  Monte  Fiascone,  Bagnovea,  Orvieto, 
Dol,  Spire,  Toulouse,  Sarni,  Arezzo  (Tuscany),  Nepi  (Italy),  St. 
Lizie,  St.  Papule  (France),  Pampelona  (Spain),  Zaragossa,  Placence 
(Italy),  Puy,  Ypres,  Dizd,  Seville,  Nantes,  Rennes,  St.  Malo, 
Chalons,  Vienna,  Ageu  (France),  Orte,  Azola,  Elvas  (Portugal), 
Louvain,  Milan,  Crema  (State  of  Venice),  Montpellier,  Perpignan, 


20  The  following  few  lines  from  The  Will  of  this  Dr.  Armstrong  (who  "takes 
upon  him  to  be  Bishop")  who  died  in  1739,  is  an  interesting  commentary  on  the 
man,  his  office,  his  circumstances,  and  his  time.  These  are  some  typical  extracts 
from  the  whole,  as  printed  in  Archivium  Hibernicum  I  (It  is  to  be  remembered 
that  while  the  will  had  to  be  made  in  English — in  compliance  with  form — this  man, 
like  almost  all  the  learned  Irish  of  his  day,  probably  knew  little  or  nothing  of 
the  English  language,  while  in  all  likelihood,  he  could  freely  converse  in  French, 
Italian,  Latin,  and  perhaps  Greek)— 

"I  order  my  horse,  and  my  oats,  and  my  pewter,  foure  chears,  and  the  furr 
table,  and  my  six  new  shirts  to  be  sould  in  order  to  defray  my  funerall  expenses 
and  to  pay  my  just  and  lawfull  details. 

"I  order  John  Taylor  of  Ballyverly  thirteen  pence. 

"I  order  the  Convent  of  Castlewilliam  one  moydore  and  the  Convent  of 
Dromenecoil  one  guinea. 

"I  order  Jon.  O'Doherty,  my  servant,  my  wearing  cloathes,  and  my  mare,  and 
both  my  sadels  and  bridels.  my  little  oake  table  and  my  Dixonary. 

"I  order  Patt  O'Doharty  my  bed  and  bed  cloathes,  my  oveal  table,  my  two  pots, 
and  my  gridle,  and  a  grediron. 

"I  order  Neale  Armstrong  and  Mary  Donevan  my  ould  lennin  and  my  three 
chists  and  two  bed  steds.     I  order  Neale  the  green  drogged. 

"I  order  Henry  Armstrong  my  big  coat. 

"I  order  the  Rev.  Mr.  Patt  Byrne  and  the  Rev.  Mr.  Edward  Jennings  my 

books. 

"I  order  Meary  Doharty  fifteen  shillings.  I  order  Anne  Killin  two  shillings 
and  eight  pence  halfpenny. 

"I  order  the  Rev.  Mr.  Jon.  Fitzsimons  my  vestments,  and  my  hat,  and  the 
shute  of  cloaths  that  Mrs.  Russell  gave  me,  and  he  to  say  sixty  Masses  to  her 
intention. 

"I  order  Oliver  Taylor  one  shilling  and  one  penny,  if  my  substance  will  af- 
ford it." 


THE  LATER  PENAL  LAWS  467 

Santiago  (Spain),  Macoa,  Caizo  (Naples),  Orleans,  Clermont,  Ca- 
serta,  Naples,  Besanqcn,  Emescnus,  Bayeux,  Jaen  (Spain),  Cordova, 
Genoa,   Nauli    (Italy),   Segovia,   Brabant,   Valladolid,   St.   Ildefaro,'* 
Zamora    (Spain),    Douai    (Flanders),    Arras,    St.    Omer,    Rheims, 
Emaus  (Treves),  Salamanca.-^ 

The  Penal  Laws  were  enforced  with  much  rigour  till  the  latter 
part  of  the  i8th  century.  In  1773  the  Anglo-Irish  Parliament  re- 
fused to  pass  a  Bill  making  It  legal  for  papists  to  lend  money  on 
land  mortgage.  In  1776  Lord  Charlemont  threw  the  House  of 
Lords  into  a  tumult  when  he  brought  in  a  bill  to  make  it  lawful 
for  a  Catholic  to  lease  a  cabin  and  a  potato  garden.  He  was 
dubbed  "papist"  and  voted  out  of  the  chair  for  such  infamous  pro- 
posal. An  uncle  of  Daniel  O'Connell,  Arthur  O'Leary,  was,  near 
the  century's  end,  shot  by  a  soldier  for  refusing  to  sell  his  beautiful 
horse  to  a  Protestant  for  five  pounds.  And  O'Connell's  father, 
Morgan,  made  his  first  purchase  of  land  through  the  medium  of  a 
Protestant  friend — in  whose  name  the  land  had  to  be  bought,  and 
held.  O'Connell's  grandfather  would  not  let  Smith,  when  he  was 
writing  a  history  of  Kerry,  dilate  upon  the  ancient  greatness  of 
the  clan  Conal.  "There  has  been  peace  In  these  remote  glens,"  he 
warned  Smith.  "Do  not  draw  the  attention  of  the  authorities  to 
us." 

In  1775  the  English  traveller,  Twiss,  was  saddened  to  see 
crowds  of  boys  learning  writing  on  the  roadside — saddened,  be- 
cause, to  his  well-trained  English  mind,  it  was  "not  judicious  to 
teach  the  lower  orders."  In  1776  Arthur  Young  everywhere  met 
with  schools  held  aback  of  a  hedge:  "I  might  as  well  say  'ditch' 
for  I  have  seen  many  a  ditch  full  of  scholars,"  he  adds." 

21  There  was  then  (as  now)  an  Irish  College  at  Salamanca.  Other  Irish  Col- 
leges were  at  Lisbon,  St.  Omer,  Louvain,  Douai,  Tournay,  Antwerp,  Lauzanne,  etc. 

In  the  above  report  we  find,  under  various  parishes  such  items  as,  in  one  par- 
ish, "One  popish  priest  who  officiates  in  different  parts  of  ye  parish  in  open  air," — 
"One  popish  priest  who  officiates  in  ye  open  fields," — "One  popish  priest  who  offi- 
ciates in  some  open  field,  or  some  poor  cabin," — "Several  itinerant  popish  priests 
and  friars  do  at  some  times  officiate  in  this  parish." 

-2  In  1796  the  French  traveller  de  Latocnaye  tells  of  seeing  the  hedge  schools. 
And  at  the  River  Shannon  he  saw  Mass  being  celebrated  among  the  ruins  of  an 
ancient  abbey — and  the  priests,  sitting  upon  tombstones  in  a  cemetery,  hearing  Con- 
fession, holding  little  flags  to  shield  the  penitents  at  their  knee.  In  the  first  quar- 
ter of  the  19th  century  Csesar  Otway  describes  one  of  the  outlawed  schools  which 
he  saw  (on  Cape  Qear  Island).  It  was  a  low  hut  with  no  chimney,  covered  with 
a  network  of  rope,  and  hung  like  a  wasp's  nest  on  the  side  of  a  cliff.  He  said  he 
had  to  bend  double  in  order  to  enter,  as  going  through  a  cavern's  mouth.  Inside 
was  a  dark,  smoky,  smelly  cave,  where  he  could  not  at  first  discern  anything. 
But  when  he  was  able  to  see  he  observed  twenty  children,  sitting  on  stones,  hum- 
ming like  hornets  preparing  to  swarm.  Every  urchin,  he  said,  had  a  scrap  of  paper 
or  a  leaf  of  a  book  in  his  hand. 


468  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  R-\CE 

In  Ireland  in  these  trying  times,  just  as  in  the  more  glorious 
days  of  Ireland's  golden  age  more  than  a  thousand  years  before, 
learning  and  learners  were  held  in  high  reverence.  And  the  poor 
people  now  (as  then)  \-ied  with  each  other  in  offering  share  of 
the  Httle  they  possessed  to  the  young  students  who  sojourned  arnong 
them.  The  Poor  Scholar  was  honoured  and  loved,  and  was  enter- 
tained free  of  all  charge,  wherever  he  went  and  howsoever  long 
he  stayed.  Doheny  in  his  introduction  to  O'Mahony's  Keating 
says,  "As  late  as  1820  there  were  in  many  counties  classical  schools 
in  which  the  English  tongue  was  never  heard."  The  languages 
were  Irish,  Latin  and  Greek.  Furthermore,  down  to  his  own  day 
(middle  of  the  19th  centun,'), 

"Literary  hospitality  continued  unimpaired.  The  ablest  masters, 
classical  and  scientific,  have  taught  thousands  of  students  who  for 
years  were  entertained  with  the  most  lavish  kindness  in  the  houses 
of  the  farmers  in  the  districts  around  the  schools,  of  late  a  bam  or 
deserted  dwelling  of  mudwall  or  thatched  roof.  In  Tipperar}-. 
Waterford,  and  Limerick  it  was  usual  to  have  two  of  these  scholars 
living  (free)  for  four  and  five  consecutive  years  with  a  family,  and 
treated  with  extreme  counes}-  and  tenderness.  In  the  first  c\-cle  of 
this  centur."  there  was  scarcely  a  farmer  of  any  competenc)'  who  did 
not  give  one  son  or  all  of  his  sons,  a  classical  education,  without  any 
reference  to  intended  professions  or  pursuits." 

The  Volunteer  movement  in  the  1780's  first  began  to  take 
the  edge  off  Protestant  prejudice — which  had  been  so  astonishingly 
narrow  and  bitter  that  Burke  states  in  his  letter  to  Langrishe, 
"There  are  thousands  in  Ireland  who  never  conversed  with  a  Ro- 
man CathoHc  in  their  whole  life  unless  they  happened  to  talk  to 
their  gardeners'  workmen,  or  to  ask  their  way  when  they  had  lost 
it  in  their  sports."  On  all  occasions,  in  conversation  or  in  writing, 
and  in  all  official  documents,  including  the  King's  speeches  and 
Acts  of  Parliament  Catholicism  was  referred  to  as  popery,  and 
Catholics  always  named  either  papists  or  "persons  professing  the 
popish  religion."  In  1793  all  good  Protestants  of  both  England 
and  Ireland  gasped  to  find  the  term  Catholic  employed  in  a  speech 
from  the  Throne !  Revolution  was  then  in  the  air,  and  it  was 
wisdom  and  statesmanship  to  begin  to  rub  the  papist  with  the  fur. 
And  in  that  year,  of  1793,  was  passed  an  Act  '^  relieving  the  Cath- 


-^  In  the  debate  on  that  Bill  of  1793,  it  is  good  to  find — standing  out  ?rotn 
-^.^ng  the  Protestant  bishops,  who  usually  led  in  hatred  of  Catholicism — the  higli- 
mind&d  Protestant  bishop  of  Killala.  In  his  speech  in  the  House  of  Lords  he  ex- 
pressed sentiments  that  did  credit  to  his  Christian  heart — "I  look  upon  our  Catholic 


amon 


THE  LATER  PENAL  LAWS  469 

olics  of  many  of  their  disabilities — in  theory  at  least.  Another 
thirty-six  years  were  to  elapse  before  the  next  step  was  taken,  un- 
der compulsion  from  the  O'Connell  agitation,  and  the  Act  known 
as  Catholic  Emancipation  made  law. 

Burke's  Tract  on  the  Popery  Code. 
Burke's  Letter  to  Sir  Hercules  Langrishe. 
McGee's  Protestant  Reformation  in  Ireland. 
Simon  Butler's  Digest  of  the  Popery  Laws. 
Lecky's  History  of  Ireland  in  18th  Century. 
Scully's  Penal  Laws. 

brethren  as  fellow  subjects  and  fellow  Christians,  believers  in  the  same  God,  and 
partners  in  the  same  redemption.  Speculative  differences  in  some  points  of  faith, 
with  me  are  of  no  account :  they  and  I  have  but  one  religion — the  religion  of  Chris- 
tianity. Therefore,  as  children  of  the  same  Father — as  travellers  on  the  same 
road — and  seekers  of  the  same  salvation,  why  not  love  each  other  as  brothers?  It 
is  no  part  of  Protestantism  to  persecute  Catholics;  and  without  justice  to  the 
Catholics  there  can  be  no  security  of  the  Protestant  establishment.  As  a  friend, 
therefore,  to  the  permanency  of  this  establishment,  to  the  prosperity  of  the  country, 
and  the  justice  due  to  my  Catholic  brethren,  I  shall  cheerfully  give  my  vote  that 
the  Bill  be  committed." 

The  Christian  character  of  the  papist-hating  English  appointees  who  usually 
filled  the  chairs  of  the  Irish  Protestant  bishoprics,  may  be  guessed  at  from  Dean 
Swift's  description  of  them :  "Excellent  and  moral  man  had  been  selected  upon 
every  occasion  of  a  vacancy,  but  it  unfortunately  happened  that  as  these  worthy 
divines  crossed  Hounslow  Heath,  on  their  way  to  Ireland,  they  were  set  upon  by 
highwaymen,  who  frequented  the  Common,  robbed  and  murdered — who  seized 
their  robes  and  patents,  came  over  to  Ireland,  and  were  consecrated  bishops  in 
their  stead." 


CHAPTER   LTV 
"the  v/ild  geese" 

War-battered  dogs  are  we, 
Fighters  in  every  clime ; 
Fillers  of  trench  and  of  grave, 
Mockers  bemocked  by  time. 
War-dogs  hungry  and  grey, 
Gnawing  a  naked  bone, 
Fighters  in  eveiy  clime — 
Every  cause  but  our  own. 

— Emily  Lawless,  "With  the  Wild  Geese." 

"The  bright  as  contrasted  with  the  dark  side  of  the  national  story," 
O'Callaghan  calls  his  own  record  of  the  Irish  Brigades  in  the  Ser- 
vice of  France.  "Ormuzd  abroad  to  compensate  for  Ahriman  at 
home."  ^  Lecky,  too,  affirms  that  it  is  in  the  continental  Catholic 
countries,  where  the  Irish  exiles  and  their  children  had  risen  to 
posts  of  the  highest  dignity  and  power,  and  not  amid  the  "outcasts 
and  pariahs"  in  the  motherland,  "the  real  history  of  Irish  Catholics 
during  the  first  half  of  the  eighteenth  century  is  to  be  found." 

Ireland  herself  has   never  taken   this   view   of  the   question. 
Again  and  again  she  has  caught 

"echoing  down  the  wind 
Blown  backwards  from  the  lips  of  Fame" 

the  names  of  her  exiled  children :  Marshals  of  France  like  Lord 
Clare,  Prime  Ministers  of  Spain  like  Don  Ricardo  Wall,  creators 
of  victorious  armies  like  Count  Peter  Lacy  in  Russia,  mighty  war 
lords  like  Field  Marshal  Brown,  in  Austria;  founders  of  empire 
like  Count  Lally  in  India,  leaders  of  European  diplomacy  like 
Tyrconnell,  O'Mahony,  Lawless  and  de  Lacy.  So  their  titles,  loud- 
sounding,  came  to  her,  borne  on  the  trumpet  music  of  the  world's 
applause.     But  Ireland  had  a  name  of  her  own  for  them.     Ran- 

^  Ormuzd  was  in  Persian  mythology  "the  good  principle"  as  opposed  to  Ahriman, 
"the  bad." 

470 


"THE  WILD  GEESE"  471 

sacking  all  nature  for  its  most  desolate  image  to  figure  forth  her 
thought  of  them,  its  most  desolate  cry  to  render  the  wailing  music 
made  in  her  ears  by  their  last  farewell,  she  called  them  na  Geana 
Fiadhaine,  "the  Wild  Geese." 

"She  said ;     'Not  mine,  not  mine  that  fame 

Far  over  sea,  far  over  land 

They  won  it  yonder,  sword  in  h:ind.'  " 

Not  hers  in  truth  that  fame.  Hardly  one  of  them — field-marshal, 
diplomat,  prime  minister,  empire-builder,  was  able  to  do  for  her 
the  slightest  service,  or  even  to  win  for  her  the  sympathy  (much 
less  the  active  help)  of  the  nations  to  which  they  had  given  their 
all  in  life  and  in  death.  To  Ireland,  and  to  those  who  look  at 
history  through  her  eyes,  the  story  of  the  "Wild  Geese"  is  a  trag- 
edy— stately  and  stirring,  and  noble  if  you  will,  in  its  grandiose 
setting  and  majestic  movement — but  almost  unredeemed,  and  the 
essence  of  that  tragedy  is,  like  the  poignant  and  vain  regret  for  the 
life  blood  of  Sarsfield  spilled  at  Landen,  "that  this  was  not  for 
Ireland."  Only  one  service  the  "Wild  Geese"  did  for  their  own 
country.  Always  the  hope  remained  with  her  that  one  day  they 
would  return,  and  avenge  her  wrongs  on  her  iniquitous  oppressor. 
And  that  hope  gave  her  courage  to  endure.  Eighteenth  century 
Irish  poetry  is  buoyant  with  it: 

"The  Wild  Geese  shall  return,  and  we'll  welcome  them  Imme 

So  active,  so  armed,  so  flighty, 

A  flock  was  ne'er  known  to  this  island  to  come 

Since  the  days  of  Prince  Fionn  the  mighty. 

They  will  waste  and  destroy, 

Overturn  and  o'erthrow, 

They'll  accomplish  whate'er  may  In  man  be! 

Just  heaven  they  will  bring 
Devastation  and  woe 
On  the  hosts  of  the  tyrannous  Scaghan  Biiidhe." 

Surely,  of  all  Ireland's  sorrows,  none  was  greater  than  seeing 
her  boys  go  forth  from  her,  year  after  year,  to  serve  as  cannon- 
fodder  for  foreign  princes — their  departure  as  fixed  a  moment  in 
the  sorrowful  calendar  of  her  seasons,  as  the  annual  flight  of  the 
wild  geese,  when  even  the  stubble  had  withered  from  her  wintry 
fields. 

Mrs.  Morgan  John  O'Connell  gives  us,  In  The  Last  Colonel 
of  the  Irish  Brigade,  a  lively  picture  of  such  a  departure  from 
the  coast  of  Kerry  about  the  year  1761.    The  fleet  little  smuggling 


472  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

dipper  that  recently  slipped  into  Derrynane  harbour  has  unloaded 
its  wines,  teas,  tobaccos,  brandies,  its  velvets  and  silks  for  tlie  ladies, 
its  gilt  mirrors  for  their  parlours,  and  has  taken  on  its  return 
cargo,  contraband  Irish  wool.  But  another  portion  of  its  cargo — 
more  precious,  equally  contraband — remains  to  be  shipped.  "Of 
the  productions  of  Ireland,  the  wool  and  the  men,  rendered  equally 
incapable  by  law  of  beco-ming  the  great  sources  of  wealth  they  might 
have  been  at  home,  were  in  request  for  the  manufactories  and 
the  armies  in  France."  The  skipper  would  be  ill-satisfied  with  his 
run  if  he  were  not  bearing  back  with  him  to  France  a  number  of 
clean-limbed,  gallant  Irish  lads  to  fill  the  ranks  of  The  Brigade. 
Here  they  come:  O'Connells,  MacCarthies,  O'Sullivans, 
O'Donoghues,  sons  of  the  noblest  families  of  the  South;  and  as 
their  barque  weighs  anchor,  they  hear  a  voice  raised  In  a  sorrowful 
song  of  farewell  that  might  be  the  voice  of  Ireland  herself.  It  is 
Maire  Ni  Dhuibh,-  mother  of  one  of  these  young  "Wild  Geese" 
(of  him  destined  afterwards  to  make  history  as  Count  Daniel 
O'Connell,  "Last  Colonel  of  the  Irish  Brigade  in  the  French  Serv- 
ice," and  kins-woman  of  all  the  others,  who  is  standing  there  by 
the  shore  singing  to  a  poignant  old  Gaelic  strain,  her  lament  for 
the  passing  of  all  this  youth  from  Irish  soil. 

The  O'Connell  correspondence — thanks  to  Mrs.  Morgan  John 
O'Connell — enables  us  to  follow  in  some  detail  the  further  fortunes 
of  the  young  emigrants.  We  will  suppose  that  the  smuggling 
craft,  built  for  speed  and  lightness,  has  skimmed  safely  through 
the  rocks  and  shallows  of  the  Smuggler's  Sound,  outraced  the 
Revenue  Cutter  in  the  open  seas,  and  made  in  safety  its  destined 
port.  If  she  had  a  recruiting  officer  of  the  Brigade  ^  on  board 
he  would  take  the  more  mature  of  his  young  recruits  straight  to  his 
regiment.  The  other  little  boys,  sons  of  wealthier  households, 
were  boarded  for  a  time,  at  their  families'  expense,  with  some 
retired  officer  of  the  Brigade,  who  made  a  regular  business  of 
keeping  a  sort  of  preparatory  school  for  lads  of  this  class,  taught 
them  languages,  and  the  rudiments  of  a  military  education  and  saw 
that  they  attended  classes  for  the  rest.     And  so  the  years  passed 

-  Maire  Ni  Dhuibh,  the  grandmother  of  Dan  O'Connell,  "The  Liberator,"  was  a 
poetess  of  exceptional  gift  These  she  transmitted  to  her  children.  There  is  nothing 
finer  in  any  literature  than  the  wonderful  "Lament"  composed  by  her  daughter, 
"dark  Eighlin,"  for  her  murdered  husband.  Art  O'Leary. 

2  The  post  was  one  of  much  danger.  Recruiting  for  the  Brigade  was  punish- 
able under  English  law  with  death.  The  most  famous  victim  of  this  law  was  Morty 
Og  O'Sullivan,  the  hero  of  the  famous  caoine,  translated  by  O'Callanan  and  be- 
ginning: "The  sun  in  Iveara  no  longer  shines  brightly."  Caught  after  a  gallant 
defence  of  his  castle  he  was  tied  to  a  boat  and  dragged  through  the  sea  from 
Bearhaven  to  Cork,  where  his  head  was  cut  off  and  affixed  on  the  Jail. 


"THE  WILD  GEESE"  473 

until  the  boy  was  old  enough  to  be  enrolled  as  a  subaltern  in  the 
regiment  of  his  choice. 

Some  well  authenticated  figures  will  give  us  an  idea  of  the 
enormous  drainage  on  Irish  man  power  during  this  period.  L'Abbe 
MacGcoghegan,  the  historian,  himself  a  chaplain  of  the  Irish 
Brigade  in  the  French  Service,  established  as  a  result  of  researches 
made  at  the  French  War  Office,  that  no  less  than  450,000  Irish- 
men died  for  France  in  the  half-century  between  the  Fall  of  Lim- 
erick (1691)  and  the  year  of  F'ontenoy  (1745).  Cardinal  Man- 
ning states  that  another  half-million  shed  their  blood  for  her  during 
the  half-century  that  followed,  until  the  dissolution  of  the  Brigade 
(1792).  Twenty-thousand  Irish  soldiers  followed  Sarsfield  to 
France  and  by  the  date  of  the  Peace  of  Utrecht  ( 1713)  less  than  a 
quarter  of  them  remained  alive.  The  five-and-a-half  thousand  fight- 
ing men,  who  had  been  sent  to  France,  before  King  Louis  would 
consent  to  despatch  a  single  soldier  to  Ireland,  had  been  almost 
wiped  out  in  the  famous  campaigns  against  the  Vaudois. 

Though  French  Kings  in  court  and  in  battlefield,  and  French 
generals  in  their  despatches,  were  lavish  enough  in  their  praises  of 
the  Irish,  French  historians  from  Voltaire  downward  have  failed 
to  do  our  countrymen  justice.  You  might  read  through  a  library 
of  them  without  suspecting  all  that  France  owes  to  Ireland.  "Mes 
braves  Irlandais,"  King  Louis  called  them  to  Major  O'Mahony, 
when  the  latter  had  been  chosen  to  bear  to  Versailles  the  news  of 
the  Irish  defence  of  Cremona  (1702),  of  which  he  himself  was 
the  hero.  After  the  victory  of  Marsaglia,  Catinat  writes  enthusi- 
astically of  the  "surprising  things"  done  by  the  Irish  dragoons, 
who  broke  the  famous  bayonet  charge  of  the  Savoyards  and  drove 
them  from  the  field.  Marshal  Vendome  eulogised  Irish  heroism 
after  many  a  combat.  From  the  field  of  Cassano  he  praised  their 
"exemplary  valour  and  intrepidity,"  and  affirmed  that  they  formed 
a  band  "whose  zeal  and  devotion  might  be  relied  upon  in  the  most 
difficult  emergencies  of  war."  He  had  long  before  appraised  Irish 
valour  at  Barcelona,  and  Chevalier  de  Bellerive,  writing  in  17 10, 
records  the  Marshal's  "particular  esteem  for  this  warlike  nation, 
at  whose  head  he  had  delivered  so  many  combats  and  gained  so 
many  victories,"  and  his  confession  of  surprise  at  "the  terrible  enter- 
prises" the  Irish  had  achieved  in  his  presence. 

But  on  the  whole,  France  has  taken  her  obligations  to  Ireland 
lightly  enough,  and  if  we  would  seek  a  fitting  appreciation  of 
what  our  poor  boys  did  for  her  we  must  turn  to  a  rather  unexpected 
quarter — "a  letter  to  the  Right  Honourable  Sir  Robert  Sutton,  for 
Disbanding  the  Irish   Regiments   in  the   Service   of   France   and 


474  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

Spain,"  written  by  the  Whig  pamphleteer  Forman,  from  Amster- 
dam in  1727.     He  speaks  of  the  Irish  regiments  "a*s  seasoned  to 
dangers,  and  so  perfected  in  the  art  of  war,  that  not  only  the 
Sergeants  and  Corporals,  but  even  the  private  men  can  make  very 
good  officers.     In  what  part  of  the  army  soever  they  have  been 
placed,  they  have  always  met  with  success,  and  upon  several  occa- 
sions, won  honour,  where  the  French  themselves,  warlike  as  they 
are,  have  received  an  affront.    To  their  valour,  in  a  great  measure, 
France  owes  not  only  most  of  what  trophies  she  gained  in  the  late 
war,  but  even  her  own  preservation."     He  goe.s  on  to  enumerate 
the  Irish  services:  the  victories  won  against  the  Duke  of  Savoy, 
the  extraordinary  affair  of  Cremona.     "They  wrested   Cremona 
out  of  the  hands  of  Eugene,  when  by  surprise,  he  had  made  himself 
master  of  all  the  town,   except  the   Irish  quarters,   and   saw  the 
Marshal,  Duke  de  Villeroy,  his-  prisoner,  who  was  taken  by  Colonel 
MacDonnell,    an   Irishman   in  the   Emperor's   service.      By   that 
action,  hardly  to  be  paralleled  in  history,  they  saved  the  whole 
French  army  on  that  side  of  the  Alps.     At  Spireback,   Major- 
General  Nugent's  Regiment  of  Horse,  by  a  brave  charge  upon  two 
regiments  of  cuirassiers^  brought  a  complete  victory  to  an  army, 
upon  which  Fortune  was  ju'st  turning  her  back.     At  Ramillies,  the 
Allies  lost  but  one  pair  of  colours,^  which  the  Royal  Irish  in  the 
service  of  France  took  from  a  German  regiment.     At  Toulo^n, 
Lieutenant-General  Dillon  distinguished  himself,-  and  chiefly  con- 
tributed to  the  preservation  of  that  important  place.     To  the  Irish 
regiments  also,  under  the  conduct  of  that  intrepid  and  experienced 
officer,  Count  Medavi  himself  very  generously  attributed  the  vic- 
tory over  the  Imperialists  in  Italy.     And  the  poor  Catalans  will 
for  ever  have  reason  to  remember  the  name  of  Mr.  Dillon,  for  the 
great  share  he  had  in  the  famous  Siege  of  Barcelona,  so  fatal  to 
their  nation.    Sir  Andrew  Lee,  Lieutenant-General,  showed  likewise 
how  consummate  a  soldier  he  was,  when  he  defended  Lisle,  under 
the  Due  de  Boufflers,  against  those  thunderbolts  of  war,  the  Prince 
of  Savoy,  and  our  own  invincible  Duke  of  Marlborough." 

To  the  trophies  won  for  France  by  Irish  bravery  previous  to 
the  date  of  this  letter  (1727)  I'Abbe  MacGeoghegan,  writing  in 

•*  This  was  the  celebrated  flag  long  preserved  at  the  Convent  of  the  "Irish  Daraes 
of  Ypres"  referred  to  by  Davis  in  his  "Clare's  Dragoons"; 

"When  on  Ramillies'  bloody  field, 
The  baffled  French  were  forced  to  yield ; 
The  victor  Saxon  backward  reeled, 
Before  the  charge  of  Qare's  Dragoons. 
The  flags  we  conquered  in  that  fray 
Look  lone  in  Ypres'  choir  they  say,"  etc. 


"THE  WILD  GEESE"  475 

1758,  has  a  long  list  to  add:  Having  enumerated  Neerwindcn, 
(or  Landen),  Marsaglia,  Barcelona,  Cremona,  Spires,  Castiglione, 
Almanza,  Villa,  Viciosa  as  "witnesses  of  their  (the  Irishmen's)  im- 
mortal valour,"  he  goes  on  to  recall  to  them  the  more  recent  glories 
of  Fontenoy  (1745),  that  great  d-ay  for  ever  memorable  in  the 
annals  of  France.  "Let  me  remind  you,"  he  says  to  the  Irish 
troops  to  whom  he  dedicates  his  History  of  Ireland,  "of  the  plains 
of  Fontenoy,  so  pre'cious  to  your  glory — those  plains  where,  in 
concert  with  chosen  French  troops,  the  valiant  Count  of  Tho- 
mond  being  at  your  liead  you  charged  with  so  much  valour  an 
enemy  so  formidable.  Animated  by  the  presence  of  the  august 
sovereign  who  rules  over  you,  you  contributed  with  so  much  success 
to  the  gaining  of  a  victory  which  till  then  appeared  doubtful. 
Laufeld  beheld  you,  two  years  afterwards,  in  concert  with  one  of 
the  most  illustrious  corps  of  France,  force  intrenchments  which  ap- 
peared to  be  impregnable.  Menin,  Ypres,  Tournay  saw  you  crown 
yourselves  with  glory  under  their  walls;  whilst  your  countrymen 
under  the  Standards  of  Spain  performed  prodigies  of  valour  at 
Campo  Sancto  and  at  Velletri.  But  whilst  I  am  addressing  you, 
a  part  of  your  corps  (th^  Regiment  of  Fitzjames)  is  flying  to  the 
defence  of  the  allies  of  Louis;  another  (Count  Lally  and  his  regi- 
ment) is  sailing  over  the  se'as  to  seek  amidst  the  waves,  in  another 
hemisphere,  the  eternal  enemies  of  his  empire — the  British." 

He  did  not  know,  the  good  Abbe,  that  the  service  of  Count 
Lally,  after  unheard  of  labours,  the  display  of  the  greatest  ardour, 
disinterestedness,  fidelity  and  perseverance,  in  the  endeavour  to 
establish  a  French  Empire  in  India,  were  to  be  rewarded  by  an 
imprisonment  of  nearly  four  years  in  the  Bastille — and  death, 
amidst  every  species  of  indignity,  at  the  hands  of  the  common  exe- 
cutioner! 

It  is  hard  to  imagine  how  the  Irish  remained  in  the  French 
service  after  this  atrocious  treatment  of  this,  their  countryman  to 
whom  France  owed  amongst  other*  victories,  the  glory  of  Fontenoy. 
The  wonder  becomes  all  the  greater  when  we  read  in  the  corre- 
spondence of  many  of  them  which  has  come  down  to  us,  how  dis^ 
satisfied  they  were  with  their  treatment  and  prospects.  Neverthe- 
less, the  Irish  Brigade  still  remained  on  until  its  dissolution  by  the 
Revolution  in.  1791. 

In  1792  the  Count  de  Provence  (afterwards  Louis  XVIII) 
presented  the  remnant  of  the  Brigade  with  a  "farewell  banner," 
bearing  the  device  of  an  Irish  Harp  embroidered  with  shamrocks 
and  fleurs-de-lis.  The  gift  was  accompanied  by  the  following 
address : — 


476  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

"Gentlemen,  we  acknowledge  the  inappreciable  services  that 
France  has  received  from  the  Irish  Brigade,  in  the  course  of  the  last 
100  years;  services  that  we  shall  never  forget,  though  under  an  im- 
possibility of  requiting  them.  Receive  this  Standard,  as  a  pledge  of 
our  rAnembrance,  a  monument  of  our  admirstion,  and  of  our  respect, 
and  in  future,  generous  Irishmen,  this  shall  be  the  motto  of  your 
spotless  flag: — 

1692—1792 
Semper  et  ubique  Fidelis," 

Dr.  SIgerson  has  pointed  out  the  very  curious  effect  which 
close  connection  with  "the  Brigade"  had  on  Munster  at  the  time 
of  the  '98  Rising.  "The  fact  that  Munster  did  not  join  generally 
in  the  Insurrection  of  1798  has  not  been  understood  by  writers. 
Its  quiescence  was  the  result,  not  of  loyalty  to  the  Irish  Parliament 
or  Government,  then  in  the  hands  of  a  cabal,  but  of  its  Jacobite  and 
anti-Jacobin  principles.  Many  families  had  kinsmen  in  'La  Brigade 
Irlandaise,'  and  were  Royalists."  This  observation  is  quite  just, 
and  explains  many  things:  the  fact  that  Daniel  O'Connell's  uncle, 
old  "Hunting  Cap,"  claimed  a  reward  for  conveying  to  the  Govern- 
ment the  first  news  of  the  appearance  of  Wolfe  Tone  and  the 
French  in  Bantry  Bay;  his  nephew,  Dan's  Whiggery  and  the  de- 
plorable pronouncement  of  many  of  the  Irish  Bishops  (educated 
in  France),  after  the  failure  of  the  Rising. 

The  Irish  Officers  who  threw  in  their  lot  with  the  Revolution, 
were  mostly  Connacht,  Ulster  and  Leinstermen.  Among  whom 
may  be  named:  General  O'Moran,  Charles  Jennings,  afterwards 
Baron  Kilmaine,  and  the  group  of  Irish  officers  so  often  mentioned 
in  Wolfe  Tone's  memoirs:  Madgett,  Clarke,  and  Shea.  The  name 
of  the  officer  who  was  the  hero  of  the  following  dramatic  Incident 
has  not  come  down  to  us,  but  his  nationality  is  sufficiently  in- 
dicated : — 

A  certain  Irish  Capuchin,  Father  Donovan  of  Cork,  was  a 
chaplain  of  a  noble  French  family  in  Paris  when  the  Revolution 
broke  out.  His  friends  fled,  and  he,  as  having  been  concerned 
with  aristocrats,  was  thrown  into  prison.  One  morning,  after  he 
had  spent  the  night  preparing  a  number  of  his  fellow-prisoners  for 
death,  he  was  suddenly  called  out  with  a  batch  of  condemned  and 
trundeled  off  to  the  guillotine.  Just  as  he  was  about  to  get  his 
foot  on  the  ladder,  an  officer  of  the  French  guard  called  out  in 
Irish:  "Are  there  any  Gaels  among  you?"  "Seven,"  answered 
Father  Donovan,  in  the  same  language.  "Then  let  there  not  be 
any  fear  on  you,"  shouted  the  officer,  and  the  seven  were  saved. 


"THE  WILD  GEESE"  477 

Never  since  the  days  of  Hugh  Roe,  himself,  had  the  knowledge 
of  Irish  proved  such  a  safeguard. 

In  truth  it  was  not  the  "Wild  Geese"  who  forgot  the  tongue 
of  the  Gael  or  let  it  perish.  We  are  told  that  the  watchwords 
and  the  words  of  command  in  the  "Brigade"  \yere  always  in 
Irish,  and  that  officers  who  did  not  know  the  language  before  they 
entered  the  service  found  themselves  of  necessity  compelled  to  learn 
it.  And  it  was  in  Irish  the  famous  war  cry  was  composed,  to  which 
the  exiles  charged  at  P'ontenoy: 

"Remember  Limerick  and  Saxon  Perfidy." 

Many  other  instances  we  have  of  these  soldier-exiles'  love  for 
their  oJd  tongue,  and  the  old  literature.  Captain  'Sorley  Mac- 
Donnell,  serving  in  the  Low  Countries  about  1626,  had  a  copy 
made  for  himself  of  the  Fenian  Tales,  and  to  his  passion  for  Irish 
hero-lore  we  owe,  as  Professor  Eoin  MacNeill  reminds  us,  "the 
preservation  of  Duanaire  Finn."  John  O'Donovan,  in  the  appendix 
of  his  edition  of  the  Four  Masters,  has  an  interesting  tale  to  tell 
of  a  young  Charles  O'Donnell  from  County  Mayo,  who  in  the 
middle  of  the  i8th  century  went  out  to  seek  his  fortune  in  Austria, 
where  his  uncle.  Count  Henry  O'Donnell,  the  "handsomest  man  in 
the  Austrian  service,  and  an  especial  favourite  with  the  Empress" 
had  risen  to  high  rank  in  the  Imperial  i\rmy,  and  won  a  princess 
of  the  royal  house  of  Cantacuzeno  for  his  bride.  Poor  Charles 
was  on  the  point  of  being  packed  home  again  because  he  answered 
in  English  when  the  General  addressed  him  in  Irish.  The  kind 
Irish  Friar  to  whom  the  young  man  related  his  discomfiture,  advised 
him  to  go  back  to  the  General  and  speak  nothing  but  Irish,  and  all 
would  be  well.  The  advice  was  taken,  and  the  reassuring  prophecy 
fulfilled,  young  Charles  in  his  turn  rising  to  be  a  Major-General 
and  a  Count.  His  initial  faux-pas  was  all  the  less  excusable,  because 
his  uncle,  wTiting  to  his  f-ather  Manus,  had  directed  him  to  have 
whichever  of  his  sons  he  intended  sending  to  Austria  carefully 
educated  in  the  Irish  language,  for  Count  Henry  desired  to  have 
his  nephew's  help  in  instructing  his  own  children  in  the  language  of 
their  ancestors.  "The  tongue  being  Irish,  the  heart  must  needs  be 
Irish,  too."^ 

^  A  century  later  we  find  one  of  the  Austrian  O'Donnell s  affirming  that  "thoujrh 
reared  in  Austria  their  hearts  were  nocie  the  less  Irish."  And  perhaps  one  oi  the 
reasons  the  Irish  iu  the  Austrian  service  remained  so  Irish  is  that,  again  actinp;  on 
a  Spenserian  prescription,  wherever  possible,  they  married  Irish  girls.  Cx)unt 
Henry's  son  Joseph  and  his  cousin  Theresa  were  hero  and  heroine  of  a  very  pretty 
love-story  in  which  the  Empress  Maria  Theresa,  herself,  played  the  part  of   fairy 


478  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

The  great  Field-Marshal,  Ulrich  Maximilian  Count  Brown — 
"whose  ashes  are  every  day  watered  with  the  tears  of  the  soldiers 
to  whom  he  was  so  dear"  (I'Abbe  MacGeoghegan) — was  perhaps 
the  greatest  of  the  great  soldiers  Ireland  gave  to  Austria — and 
that  is  saying  much.  Born  in  1705  and  educated  in  Limerick,  he 
had  gone  out  as  a  boy  to  his  uncle,  George  Brown,  who  commanded 
an  Infantry  Regiment  in  Hungary.  He  was  present  at  the  Siege 
of  Belgrade  (where  his  countryman,  General  O'Dwyer  commanded 
a  division),  was  made  Colonel  in  1725  (at  the  age  of  twenty)  and 
in  1730,  with  his  uncle,  invested  Corsica.  In  1739  he  was  raised 
by  the  Emperor  Charles  VI.  to  the  dignity  of  Field-Marshal  and 
Member  of  the  Coimcil  of  War.  On  the  accession  of  Maria 
Theresa,  she  appointed  Brown  one  of  her  Privy  Councillors,  and 
in  1752  nominated  him  Generalissimo  of  all  her  forces;  while  the 
King  of  Poland,  Elector  of  Saxony,  in  the  following  year,  invested 
him  with  the  o^rder  cf  the  White  Eagle.  At  the  memorable  battle 
of  Prague  in  1757,  this  hero  received  a  wound  of  which  he  expired 
in  two  months. 

Field-Marsha.1  Brown  was,  as  we  have  said,  the  most  famous 
of  the  Irish  soldiers  in  the  Imperial  Service,  but  there  were  many 
other  distinguished  Irishmen  in  the  Austrian  Armies,  and  the  Im- 
perial Rulers  showed  the  highest  appreciation  of  their  qualities. 
In  a  document  written  by  the  Emperor  Francis  I,  and  found  among 
his  papers  after  his  death,  we  re;ad: — "The  more  Irish  officers 
in  the  Austrian  service,  the  better  our  troops  will  always  be  disci- 
plined; an  Irish  coward  is  an  uncommon  character,  and  even  what 
the  natives  of  Ireland  dislike,  they  generally  perform  through  a 
desire  of  glory."  "Such  is  our  established  reputation,"  said  Colonel 
O'Shea,  a  veteran  officer  of  the  Austrian  army,  "that  Arch-Duke 

God-mother.  The  Imperial  Lady  was  fond  of  doing  so,  and,  what  is  better,  showed 
herself  a  real  human  mother  to  the  Irish  girls  who  went  out  as  brides  to  Officers 
in  her  Majesty's  armies.  Mrs.  Morgan  John  O'Connell  tells  a  charming  story  of 
the  homely  way  the  Empress  comforted  one  of  the  OXonnell  girls,  the  young  wife 
of  Major  O'Sullivan,  whom  she  found  one  day  sobbing  out  her  poor  homesick  heart 
in  a  dark  corner  of  the  Cha-pel  of  the  Imperial  Palace.  It  may  have  been  the  Em- 
press who  suggested  Father  Bonaventure  O'Brien,  guardian  of  the  Irish  Franciscan 
Convent  at  Prague,  as  a  suitable  matchmaker  when  "General  Brown,  son  and  heir 
to  the  late  Marshal  of  that  name."  thought  of  seeking  a  wife  among  his  Irish  kin- 
folk?  A  letter  of  Father  O'Brien's  to  "Hunting  Cap"  O'Connell  shows  the  good 
will  with  which  Father  Bonaventure  entered  on  his  mission.  It  would  appear  that 
Lord  Kenmare's  daughter  was  suggested,  and  Father  Bonaventure  writes  to  ask 
Maurice  O'Connell  "how  old  she  was,  her  humour  and  other  qualities,  also  her 
fortune."  The  General  on  his  side  was  a  very  eligible  parti.  "He  has  a  charming 
estate  in  this  Kingdom,  and  his  post  besides,  brings  him  in  a  thousand  a  year." 

The  match  did  not  come  off,  perhaps  for  the  reason  that  the  little  maid  was 
less  than  twelve  years  old  when  her  Austrian  cousin  sought  her  hand.  She  eventually 
married  the  Marquis  de  Syverac,  and  brought  him  an  immense  fortune,  according  to 
the  standard  of  those  days. 


'THE  WILD  GEESE"  479 

Charles  said  to  me  that  never  was  the  House  of  Austria  better 
served  than  when  possessing  so  many  Irish,  of  whom  at  one  time 
upwards  of  30  were  Generals."  There  have  been  no  less  than 
14  Irish  Field-Marshals  in  the  Austrian  Service  at  various  times. 
On  Saint  Patrick's  Day,  in  the  year  1765,  the  Spanish  Ambassador 
to  the  Court  of  Vienna,  gave  a  grand  entertainment  in  honour  of 
the  Apostle  of  Ireland,  to  which  were  invited  only  persons  of 
Irish  descent.  The  Ambassador  himself  was  an  O'Mahony,  son 
of  the  hero  of  Cremona,  and  the  illustrious  assembly  included 
Count  de  Lacy,  President  of  the  Austrian  Council  of  War, 
Generals  O'Donnell,  MacGuire,  O'Kelly,  Brown,  Plunkett  and 
MacEligott,  four  Chiefs  of  the  Grand  Cross,  two  Governors, 
several  Knights  Military,  six  Staff  Officers,  four  Privy  Councillors 
with  the  principal  Officers  of  State,  who  to  show  their  respect  for 
the  Irish  Nation,  wore  crosses  in  honour  of  the  day,  as  did  the 
whole  court. 

Many  of  the  Irish  Officers  in  Austria  had  relatives  in  the  Rus- 
sian Army,  or  had  served  in  it  themselves.  Thus  we  find  in  Russia, 
Nugents,  O'Rourkes,  Browns,  and  de  Lacys.  Count  Peter  de 
Lacy,  born  in  Limerick,  first  entered  the  French  service,  passed 
thence  into  the  Polish,  and  was  presented  by  the  Polish  Count  de 
Croy  to  Peter  the  Great,  who  was  then  in  alliance  with  Poland. 
"The  Czar  took  him  into  his  own  service,  in  which  he  obtained 
a  Majority  in  1705,  and  a  Lieutenant  Colonelcy  in  the  following 
year.  In  1708  he  was  promoted  to  the  command  of  the  Siberian 
Regiment  of  Infantry,  and  joined  the  Grand  Army.  He  was 
wounded  at  the  battle  of  Pultowa  (1709),  where  he  acted  as 
brigadier.  In  17 10  he  distinguished  himself  in  the  attack  on 
Riga.  In  1737  he  was  appointed  to  command  an  expedition  into 
the  Crimea.  This  was  the  General  who,  according  to  Ferrer, 
taught  the  Russians  to  beat  the  army  of  the  King  of  Sweden,  and 
to  become  from  the  worst,  some  of  the  best  soldiers  in  Europe. 
Before  the  battle  of  Pultowa,  he  advised  the  Czar  to  send  orders 
that  every  soldier  should  reserve  his  fire  until  he  came  within  a 
few  yards  of  the  enemy,  in  consequence  of  which  Charles  the 
Twelfth  was  there  totally  defeated,  losing  in  that  single  action  the 
advantage  of  nine  campaigns  of  glory."  He  died,  Governor  of 
Livonia  in  175 1. 

The  history  of  the  de  Lacys  would  bring  us  through  every 
country  in  Europe.  Thus,  Count  Peter's  son,  Joseph,  died  a 
Marshal  of  the  Austrian  Army;  his  kinsman,  Maurice,  entered  the 
Russian  service  we  are  told,  at  ten  years  old.  He  served  under 
Suwarrow  in  the  Italian  campaign,  in  campaigns  against  the  Turks, 


48o  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

and  also  in  the  Crimea.  The  Lacys  in  Spain  were  numerous  and 
important.  The  most  famous  was  Count  de  Lacy,  General  and 
Diplomatist.  Born  in  1731,  he  commenced  his  mihtary  career  as 
an  Ensign  in  the  Irish  Brigade  of  Ultonia  Infantry,  was  named 
Colonel  in  1762,  and  a  Commander  of  Artillery  in  1780,  when  he 
was  employed  at  the  celebrated  Siege  of  Gibraltar.  After  the  Peace 
of  Versailles  in  1783,  he  was  made  Minister  Plenipotentiary  to  both 
Sweden  and  Russia  and  died  at  Barcelona  in  1792. 

The  Irish  Legion  in  Spain  has  a  much  longer  history  than  that 
in  the  French  service,  but  its  records  have  not  been  collected  into 
a  convenient  form.  They  go  back  to  the  days  when  Irish  soldiers, 
recruited  by  Sir  John  Perrott,  were  sent  to  the  Low  Countries  under 
Sir  William  Stanley,  as  part  of  the  expeditionary  force  led  by 
Leicester  to  help  the  Dutch  then  in  revolt  against  Spain  (1586). 
Their  leader,  Stanley,  having  become  a  Catholic,  surrendered 
Deventer,  which  he  held  for  the  Dutch,  to  the  Spaniards,  and  was 
joyfully  followed  over  to  the  side  of  the  Catholic  King  by  all  his 
Irish  fighting  men. 

This  was  the  nucleus  of  the  famous  Irish  Legion  in  the  Low 
Countries,  which  for  long  years  kept  the  English  in  continual  fear 
of  an  invasion  of  Ireland.  Illustrious  names  illumine  the  lists  of 
officers:  Colonel  Henry  O'Neill,  son  of  the  great  Hugh;  his 
younger  brother,  John;  "Don  Hugh  O'Donnell,  Earl  of  Tyrconnell, 
page  to  the  Infanta  in  Flanders,"  Don  Tomaso  Preston,  and 

"The  worthiest  warrior  of  them  all 
The  princely  Owen  Roe." 

And  great  deeds  of  arms  illumined  its  records:  at  Bois-le-Duc, 
Dourlen,  Amiens,  under  Pontecarrero  and  Montenegro,  the  stu- 
pendous defence  of  Louvain  by  Preston,  the  no  less  stupendous 
achievements  of  Owen  Roe  and  his  men  at  Arras. 

The  misfortunes  of  Ireland,  her  inability  to  provide  for  her 
young  men  at  home,  kept  the  ranks  of  this  Legion  filled.  After  the 
battle  of  Kinsale,  after  the  confiscation  and  plantation  of  Ulster, 
the  dispossessed  swordsmen  trooped  to  it  in  countless  numbers. 
The  poignant  phrase  of  the  Four  Masters  paints  their  sad  lot — 
"offering  themselves  for  hire  as  soldiers  to  foreigneirs,  so  that  count- 
less numbers  of  the  freeborn  nobles  of  Ireland  were  slain  in  distant 
countries  aad  were  buried  in  strange  places  and  iinJiereditary 
churches"  But  always  tha  hope  remainea  with  theci,  that  one  day 
they  would  return  and  strike  a  blow  for  Ireland.  As  they  lay  one 
night  outside  the  town  of  Aire,  waiting  to  storm  it  on  the  morrow, 
their  thoughts  and  feelings  were  vocal  in  an  Irish  sentence  which 


"THE  WILD  GEESE"  481 

pierced  the  darkness: — "Tomorrow  we  are  to  adventure  our  lives 
for  the  succouring  of  a  scabbed  town  of  the  King  of  Spain,  where 
we  may  lose  our  lives,  and  we  cannot  expect  any  worse  if  we  go 
into  our  own  country  and  succour  it." 

And  they  did  "go  into  their  own  country,"  the  brave  boys,  and 
"succour  it"  with  Owen  Roe  O'Neill ! 

The  triumph  of  Cromwell  again  drove  many  thousand  trained 
soldiers  to  Spain  and  other  countries — in  accordance  with  a  definite 
policy,  that  of  "voiding  the  swordsmen  out  of  the  country."  It  is 
estimated  that  between  1651  and  1654  "40,000  of  the  most  active 
spirited  men,  most  acquainted  with  the  dangers  and  discipline  of 
war"  went  out  of  Ireland  to  die  for  Princes  and  causes  that  were 
none  of  theirs.     Of  these  Spain  received  the  largest  number. 

After  the  fall  of  Limerick  a  great  number  of  swordsmen  sailed 
to  Spain,  and  their  numbers  were  subsequently  increased  by  acces- 
sion of  Irish  soldiers  from  France  during  the  War  of  the  Spanish 
Succession.  L'Abbe  MacGeoghegan  enumerates  the  names  of  the 
most  distinguished:  "O'Mahony,  MacDonnell,  Lawless,  the 
Lacys,  the  Burkes,  O'Carrolls,  Croftons,  Comerford,  Gardiners, 
and  O'Connors  crowned  themselves  with  laurels  on  the  shores  of 
Tagus." 

A  very  remarkable  Irishman  in  the  service  of  Spain  was  Don 
Alexander  O'Reilly,  "Count  Commander  of  the  Spanish  Armies, 
Field-Marshal,  Captain-General  at  the  Havannah;  Governor  and 
Lieut-General  of  Louisiana,  which  he  took  possession  of  in  1761, 
when  surrendered  by  the  French.  Born  in  Ireland  1725,  died  in 
Paris  1794.  There  can  scarcely  be  found  anywhere  a  more  ro- 
mantic or  exciting  career  than  that  of  O'Reilly.  He  fought  in 
Spain,  Italy,  Germany,  France  and  America.  He  saved  the  King's 
life,  was  at  the  head  of  his  armies  and  Government,  was  in  disgrace 
and  exile,  and  everywhere  and  always  showed  high  spirit,  the 
greatest  bravery  and  the  most  devoted  loyalty  to  the  King." 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that  the  best  officers  in  the  Spanish  army 
during  the  War  of  Independence,  bore  Irish  names.  At  this  time 
there  were  three  Irish  Regiments  in  the  service  of  Spain :  Hibernia, 
Irlanda,  and  Ultonla.  An  English  historian,  Oman,  not  inclined  to 
be  unduly  favourable  to  Ireland,  writes: — "An  astounding  pro- 
portion of  the  officers  who  rose  to  some  note  during  the  war,  bore 
Irish  names,  and  were  hereditary  soldiers  of  fortune,  who  justified 
their  existence  by  the  unwavering  courage  which  they  always 
showed,  in  a  time  when  obstinate  perseverance  was  the  main 
military  virtue.  We  need  only  mention  Blake,  the  two  O'Donnells, 
Lacy,  Sarsfield,  O'Neill,  O'Daly,  O'Mahony,  O'Donoghue.    Their 


482  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

constant  readiness  to  fight  contrasts  very  well  the  behaviour  of  a 
good  many  of  the  Spanish  Generals.  No  officer  of  Irish  blood 
was  ever  found  among  the  cowards." 

It  is  related  of  Don  Alexander  O'Reilly  that  it  was  his  delight 
to  visit  a  certain  Irish  College  in  Spain  and  tell  the  boys  there  that 
the  dream  of  his  life  was  to  head  a  Spanish  invading  force  and 
land  in  his  own  country  to  set  her  free.  How  many  of  the  "Wild 
Geese"  cherished  that  dream  ?  Alas !  Alas !  It  was  never  realised. 
Only  as  disembodied  spirits  was  it  granted  to  them  to  revisit  the 
land  of  their  hearts'  desire.  Far,  far  away  from  Ireland  their 
bodies  have  mingled  with  foreign  earth  "and  the  graves  in  which 
they  are  buried  are  unknown."  But  a  poet  (Emily  Lawless)  had 
a  vision  of  a  company  of  them  "Sailing  home  together  from  the 
last  great  fight!  Home  to  Clare  from  Fontenoy  in  the  morning 
light!" 

And  surely  it  was  not  from  Fontenoy  alone,  but  from  the 
thousand  European  battlefields  on  which  Irish  valour  asserted  itself 
that  such  a  "singing  company"  set  forth,  and  reach  the  shores  of 
Ireland  at  last: 

"Mary  Mother  shield  us!     Say  what  men  are  ye 
Sweeping  past  so  swiftly  on  this  morning  sea? 
Without  sails  or  rowlocks,  merrily  we  glide, 
Home  to  Corca  Bascin  on  the  brimming  tide. 

"Jesus  save  you  gentry!     Why  are  ye  so  white 
Sitting  all  so  strange  and  still  in  the  misty  light? 
Nothing  ails  us  brother,  joyous  souls  are  we, 
Sailing  home  together  on  the  morning  sea."  " 

O'Callaghan  (John  Cornelius)  :     History  of  the  Irish  Brigades  in  the  Service 

of  France. 
O'Conor  (Matthew) :     Military  History  of  the  Irish  Nation. 
O'Connell  (Mrs.  Morgan  John):     The  Last  Colonel  of  the  Irish  Brigade. 
D'Alton  (John) :     Illustrations,  historical  and  genealogical  of  King  James's 

Irish  Army  List. 
Mitchel:     History  of  Ireland. 

"  It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  the  Irish  Brigade  in  the  French  service  joyously 
sent  its  quota  to  meet  the  old  enemy  of  the  race  on  American  battlefields.  The 
regiments  of  Dillon  and  Walsh  came  with  Lafayette  to  strike  for  American 
liberty.  And  it  is  recorded  that  they  demanded  the  right  to  be  the  first  of  the 
French  service  to  strike  Britain  on  American  soil. 


CHAPTER  LV 

THE    SUPPRESSION    OF    IRISH    TRADE 

The  systematic  ruthlessness  with  which  Ireland's  trade  and  in- 
dustries were  wiped  out  by  England,  has,  like  the  Irish  Penal 
Laws,  no  parallel  in  the  history  of  any  other  subject  land.  We 
shall  briefly  summarise  the  extraordinary  story. 

In  the  early  centuries  of  the  Christian  Era  the  highly  civilised 
Celt  was  slightly  inclined  to  trade  and  commerce — probably 
stimulated  thereto  by  the  Phoenicians  who  carried  on  a  large  com- 
mercial intercourse  with  Ireland.  The  early  Irish,  the  reader  will 
recollect,  were  famous  for  their  excellence  In  the  arts  and  crafts — 
particularly  for  their  wonderful  work  in  metals,  bronze,  silver 
and  gold.  Ten  hundred  hills  and  bogs  in  Ireland  constantly  yield 
up  testimony  to  this — even  if  we  discarded  the  testimony  of  his- 
tory, story  and  poem. 

By  the  beginning  of  the  14th  Century,  the  trade  of  Ireland 
with  the  Continent  of  Europe  was  Important — and  trading  ships 
were  constantly  sailing  betvveen  Ireland  and  the  leading  ports  of 
the  Continent.  Irish  merchants  were  known  in  the  great  Conti- 
nental markets.     And  Irish  money  commanded  credit. 

This  condition  of  things  naturally  did  not  suit  cornmercial  Eng- 
land. So  at  an  early  period  she  began  to  stifle  Irish  industry  and 
trade. 

In  1339  England  appointed  an  adrniral  whose  duty  was  to 
stop  trafiic  between  Ireland  and  the  Continent  (34  Edward  III,  c. 
17).  He  must  have  been  but  Indifferently  successful;  for  a  little 
more  than  a  century  later,  Edward  the  Fourth  deplores  the  pros- 
perity of  Ireland's  trade,  and  he  orders  (in  1465)  that  since  fish- 
ing vessels  from  the  Continent  helped  out  the  traffic  with  Ireland, 
these  vessels  should  not  henceforth  fish  in  Irish  waters  without  an 
English  permit  (5  Edwd.  IV). 

And  since  even  this  failed  to  stop  the  stubborn  Irish,  in  1494 
an  English  law  was  enacted  prohibiting  the  Irish  from  exporting 
any  industrial  product,  except  with  English  permit,  and  through 
an  English  port,  after  paying  English  fees. 

This  handicap,  too,  failed.     For,  we  find  English  merchants 

483 


484  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

in  1548,  unofficially  taking  a  hand  at  trying  to  end  the  traffic — by 
fitting  out  armed  vessels  to  attack  and  plunder  the  trading  ships 
between  Ireland  and  the  Continent — commercialised  piracy. 

But  official  piracy  had  to  be  fallen  back  upon.  Twenty  years 
after,  Ehzabeth  ordered  the  seizure  of  the  whole  Continental  com- 
merce of  Munster — much  more  than  half  of  the  trade  of  the 
Island — and  a  fleet  under  Admiral  Winter  was  despatched  to  do 
the  good  work.  In  1571  she  ordered  that  no  cloth  or  stuff  made 
in  Ireland,  should  be  exported  even  to  England,  except  by  English 
men  in  Ireland,  or  by  merchants  approved  by  the  Government. 
(Nearly  thirty  years  before,  her  much  married  father,  Henry,  had 
forbidden  Irish  cloths  to  be  exported  from  Galway.) 

And  Irish  trade  was  attacked  from  yet  another  angle.  At  the 
same  time  that  the  pirate  admiral  was  appointed  by  Edward  III, 
Irish  coinage  was  forbidden  to  be  received  in  England.  However, 
Irish  merchants  and  Irish  money  had  such  worthy  repute  that  not 
only  did  they  still  succeed  with  it  on  the  Continent,  but,  one  hun- 
dred years  later,  Irish  coinage  had  to  be  prohibited  again  in  Eng- 
land.   That  was  in  1447. 

In  1477,  after  Imprisoning  some  Irish  merchants  who  traded 
with  Irish  money  In  Bristol,  the  English  Government  adopted  a 
radical  reform  by  Introducing  Into  Ireland  an  English  coinage  de- 
based twenty-five  per  cent  below  the  English  standard,  and  com- 
pelled Ireland  to  accept  it  as  her  legal  currency. 

This  accomplished  two  good  objects.  English  merchants 
bought  In  Ireland  by  the  cheap  standard  and  sold  these  purchases 
abroad  by  the  dear  standard.  Also  England  was  enabled  to  pay 
her  army  in  Ireland  with  cheap  Irish  coin.  When  Ireland's  mer- 
chants refused  to  honour  at  its  face  value  the  debased  coinage 
tendered  by  the  soldiers,  an  Act  was  passed  (In  1547)  making 
such  refusal  treason. 

By  reason  of  their  big  Continental  trade  the  shipping  Industry 
had  In  itself  become  an  important  one  to  Irishmen.  Hence  it  was 
advisable  to  extinguish  it.  The  Navigation  Act  of  1637  provided 
that  all  ships  must  clear  from  English  ports  for  foreign  trade. 
But  as  this  did  not  sufficiently  discourage  Ireland,  the  Act  was 
amended,  In  1663  (15  Charles  II,  c.  7),  to  prohibit  the  use  of  all 
foreign-going  ships,  except  such  as  were  built  In  England,  mastered 
and  three-fourths  manned  by  English,  and  cleared  from  English 
ports.    Their  return  cargoes  too,  must  be  unladen  in  England.* 

1  "The  conveniency  of  ports  and  harbours  with  which  nature  had  blessed  Ire- 
land was  of  no  more  use  than  a  beautiful  prospect  to  a  tnan  shut  up  in  a  dungeon." 
—Swift. 


THE  SUPPRESSION  OF  IRISH  TRADE  485 

Ireland's  ship-building  industry  was  thus  destroyed,  and  her 
Continental  trade  was  practically  wiped  out. 

Yet,  Ireland,  ever  persevering,  began,  even  under  such  heavy 
restriction,  to  develop  a  lucrative  trade  with  the  Colonies.  This 
was  cured  in  1670  by  22  Charles  II,  c.  26,  which  forbade  Ireland 
to  export  to  the  Colonies  anything  except  horses,  servants,  and 
victuals ! 

Then  Ireland  fell  back  upon  the  little  profits  to  be  derived 
from  imports  from  the  Colonies.  And  England,  observing  this, 
put  a  bush  in  the  gap  (7  &  8  Wm.  II,  c.  22)  decreeing  that  no 
Colonial  products  should  be  landed  in  Ireland — till  they  had  first 
been  landed  in  England  and  paid  all  English  rates  and  duties. 
"Thus,"  says  Newenham,  "was  Ireland  deprived  of  the  direct 
lucrative  trade  of  the  whole  western  world." 

But  England  must  get  credit  for  repentance.  By  4  Geo.  II,  c. 
15,  Ireland  was  permitted  to  import  directly  from  the  Plantations 
all  goods,  etc.,  of  the  growth,  production  or  manufacture  of  the 
said  Plantations,  except  sugar,  tobacco,  indigo,  cotton,  wool,  mo- 
lasses, ginger,  pitch,  turpentine,  tar,  rice,  and  nine  or  ten  other 
specified  items — which,  stripped  of  its  facetious  verbiage,  just  means 
that  she  was  permitted  to  import  West  Indian  rum — thus  aiding 
the  planters  and  rum  makers  of  the  West  Indies,  at  the  expense 
of  Irish  farmers,  distillers,  and  constitutions. 

The  foregoing  will  seem  to  many  readers  a  good  English  joke. 
But  from  constant  reiteration  through  the  centuries  these  Eng- 
lish jokes  proved  rather  wearing  on  Ireland's  health. 

The  woollen  joke  was  not  the  least  trying. 

At  a  very  early  period  Ireland  had  been  forbidden  to  export 
her  cattle  to  England,  and  then,  turning  to  sheep-raising,  was,  by 
8  Eliz.  c.  8,  forbidden  to  export  sheep.  She  next  essayed  woollen 
manufactures. 

This  quickly  became  a  great  Irish  industry.  In  the  Conti- 
nental markets,  and  even  in  the  British,  Irish  woollens  were  in 
brisk  demand.  Consequently  this  trade  should  be  stopped. 
Though,  as  usual,  it  took  a  long  time  to  convince  the  pig-headed 
people  who  inhabited  Ireland  that  it  was  for  their  benefit  to  stop 
it.  The  good  work  was,  for  the  good  step-mother,  a  tedious  and  '' 
thankless  task.  But  with  praiseworthy  perseverance,  she  persisted 
till  iier  good  end  was  accomplished. 

The  Irish  woollen  manufacturers  began,  at  an  early  period,  to 
rival  England's.  So,  In  1571  Elizabeth  Imposed  restriction  upon 
the  Irish  woollen  trade  that  crippled  the  large  Irish  trade  with 
the  Netherlands  and  other  parts  of  the  Continent.     Yet  half  a 


486  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

century  later  Lord  Strafford,  then  Lord  Lieutenant  of  Ireland, 
begs  for  a  little  more  discouragement.  In  1634,  he  writes  to 
Charles  the  First,  "That  all  wisdom  advises  to  keep  this  (Irish) 
kingdom  as  much  subordinate  and  dependent  on  England  as  pos- 
sible; and,  holding  them  from  the  manufacture  of  wool  (which 
unless  otherwise  directed,  I  shall  by  all  means  discourage),  and 
then  enforcing  them  to  fetch  their  cloth  from  England,  how  can 
they  depart  from  us  without  nakedness  and  beggary?"  (Straf- 
ford's Letters.) 

But  it  was  not  until  1660  that  was  taken  the  radical  step  of 
forbidding  by  law  the  export  of  woollens  from  Ireland  to  Eng- 
land. When  this  blow  fell  the  Irish  resorted  to  exportation  of 
their  raw  wool.  This  was  stopped  by  12  Charles  II,  c.  32,  and  13 
and  14  Charles  II,  c.  18 — which  Acts  prohibited  Ireland  from 
exporting  sheep-wool,  wool-fells,  mortlings,  shortlings,  yarn  made 
of  wool  and  wool-flocks.     The  Acts  were  thorough. 

In  1673,  Sir  William  Temple  (by  request  of  Viceroy  Essex) 
advised  that  the  Irish  would  act  wisely  in  giving  up  altogether 
the  manufacture  of  wool  (even  for  home  use),  becauise  "it  tended 
to  Interfere  prejudicially  with  the  English  woollen  trade!"" 

Now  Ireland  was  almost  completely  cured  of  the  bad  habit 
of  exporting  both  woollens  and  wool — almost.  But  a  trace  of 
the  habit  still  lingered.  While  the  British  Colonies  (possibly  by 
oversight)  had  been  left  open  to  her,  she  continued  exporting  to 
them.  This  needed  attention.  So,  in  1697  an  act  was  introduced 
to  prohibit  Ireland  from  sending  out  any  of  her  woollen  manu- 
factures to  any  place,  whatsoever!^ 

But  It  was  very  soon  found  that  even  this  Act  was  Incomplete. 
It  Inadvertently  left  the  Irish  market  open  to  the  Irish  wool  manu- 
facturers— which  market  must,  of  course,  or  ought  to  be  the  pri- 
vate property  of  the  English  manufacturers.  The  mistake  must 
be  remedied.  So  on  June  9th,  1698,  both  English  Houses  of  Par- 
liament addressed  King  William  beseeching  him  to  chide  his  Irish 
subjects  for  that — in  the  language  of  the  Lords — "The  growth 
of  the  woollen  manufactures  there  hath  long  been,  and  ever  will 


-  This  is  the  same  English  statesman  who  pithily  put  the  maxim  which  England 
has  alv/ays  observed  in  protecting  Ireland,  and  fostering  Irish  welfare— "Regard 
must  be  had  to  those  points  wherein  the  trade  of  Ireland  comes  to  interfere  with 
that  of  England,  in  which  case  Irish  trade  ought  to  be  declined  so  as  to  give  way 
to  the  trade  of  England." 

3  Swift  said:  "Ireland  is  the  only  kingdom  I  ever  heard  or  read  pi  either 
in  ancient  or  modern  story,  which  was  denied  the  liberty  of  exporting  its  native 
manufactures  and  commodities  wherever  it  pleased." 


THE  SUPPRESSION  OF  IRISH  TRADE  487 

be,  looked  upon  with  great  jealousy  by  all  your  subjects  of  this 
kingdom,  and  if  not  timely  remedied  may  occasion  very  strict  laws 
totally  to  prohibit  and  suppress  same."  The  impending  punish- 
ment for  continued  wilfulness  on  the  part  of  the  naughty  Irish 
child  was  going  to  give  the  noble  lords  more  pain  than  it  would 
the  child,  which  was  being  punished  for  its  own  good. 

And  the  Commons  in  the  course  of  their  address  say,  "And 
therefore  we  cannot  without  trouble  observe  that  Ireland,  which 
is  dependent  on,  and  protected  by,  E7jgland,  in  the  enjoyment  of 
all  they  have,  should  of  late  apply  itself  to  the  woollen  manufac- 
ture, to  the  great  prejudice  of  the  trade  of  this  kingdom  .  .  . 
make  it  your  royal  care,  and  enjoin  all  those  whom  you  employ 
in  Ireland  to  make  it  their  care,  and  to  use  their  utmost  diligence, 
for  discouraging  the  woollen  manufacture  of  Ireland."  And  in 
token  of  their  solicitude  for  the  country  which  was  "dependent 
on,  and  protected  by  England  in  the  enjoyment  of  all  they  have," 
it  was  suggested  that  Irishmen  should  turn  from  woollens  to  hemp 
and  linen — which  England  had  little  means  of  making — and  which, 
more  betoken,  Ireland  had  then  less  means  of  making. 

King  William  answered  his  faithful  Lords  and  Commons,  "I 
shall  do  all  that  in  my  power  lies  to  discourage  the  manufacture 
of  woollens  in  Ireland."  And  the  king  was  this  time  as  good  as 
his  word  (despite  the  slanders  of  Limerick  men).  Li  this  year 
of  1698  he  signed  an  Act  to  the  effect  that  because  these  manu- 
factures are  daily  increasing  in  Ireland  (disastrous  to  relate!), 
the  exports  of  wool  and  woollen  manufactured  articles  from 
Ireland  are  hereby  forbidden  under  pain  of  forfeiture  of  the 
goods  and  ships  that  carried  them,  and  five  hundred  pounds 
fine! 

It  is  worth  remembering  that  though  the  mere  Irish  in  Ireland 
were  the  workers,  earning  a  subsistence  at  the  trade,  it  was  almost 
entirely  the  Anglo-Irish,  the  purely  British-blooded  people  of  the 
Island,  who  were  the  manufacturers — the  only  monied  people  in 
the  country — and  traders.  They,  having  had  the  misfortune  to 
be  born  and  bred  in  Ireland,  were  penalised  and  striven  to  be 
crushed  out  by  their  own  kin  beyond  the  Irish  Sea.  That  they 
richly  deserved,  however,  to  be  throttled  and  robbed,  is  proven  by 
the  fact  that  they,  servile  creatures,  acting  at  the  behest  of  William 
and  their  kin  beyond  the  water  did,  in  September,  1698,  actually 
pass  in  their  own  House  of  Parliament  (from  which  the  real  Irish 
w^ere  carefully  excluded)  an  act  laying  prohibitory  duty  (four 
shillings  in  the  pound)  on  their  own  woollen  manufactures — "the 


488  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

better  to  enable  His  Majesty,"  said  they,  "to  provide  for  the  safety 
of  his  own  liege  people!"* 

Except  for  a  few  little  items  such  as  coverlids  and  waddings 
which  were  overlooked  in  the  act  of  William  the  Third — but  care- 
fully attended  to  by  his  successors — the  great  Irish  woollen  manu- 
facture was  now  extinguished  forever.  But  to  make  assurance 
doubly  sure,  by  5  Geo.  II,  c.  11,  three  ships  of  war  and  eight  or 
more  armed  vessels  were  appointed  to  cruise  off  the  coast  of  Ire- 
land with  orders  to  seize  all  vessels  venturing  to  carry  woollens 
from  Ireland. 

The  Irish  woollen  joke  was  now,  at  last,  concluded.  "So 
ended,"  says  Lecky,  "the  fairest  promise  that  Ireland  had  ever 
known  of  becoming  a  prosperous  and  a  happy  country.  The  ruin 
was  absolute  and  final." 

For  a  long  time  after  this  destruction  of  one  of  the  country's 
chief  supports,  the  economic  conditions  in  Ireland  v/ere  fearful. 
Swift,  who  had  stated  that  "since  Scripture  says  oppression  makes 
a  wise  man  mad,  therefore,  consequently  speaking,  the  reason  that 
some  men  in  Ireland  are  still  not  mad  is  because  they  are  not 
wise" — Swift  thus  describes  the  pass  to  which  the  country  was 
now  brought — "The  old  and  sick  are  dying  and  rotting  by  cold 
and  famine,  and  filth  and  vermin.  The  younger  labourers  cannot 
get  work,  and  pine  away  for  want  of  nourishment  to  such  a  de- 
gree that  if  at  any  time  they  are  accidentally  hired  to  commence 
labour,  they  have  not  the  strength  to  perform  it." 

When  WilHam  took  from  Ireland  its  woollen  manufactures, 
he  promised  to  compensate  by  encouraging  in  its  stead  hemp  and 
linen.  And  his  Lords  Justice  in  their  address  to  the  Irish  Houses 
of  Parliament,  Sept.  27,  1698,  after  suavely  requesting  the  coun- 
try to  commit  felo  de  se  by  resigning  the  woollen  manufacture, 
said:  "Amongst  these  bills  there  is  one  for  the  encouragement 
of  the  linen  and  hemp  manufactures  which  we  recommend  to  you. 
The  settlement  of  those  manufactures  will  contribute  much  to  the 
people  of  this  country,  and  will  be  found  much  more  advantageous 
to  this  kingdom  than  the  woollen  manufacture,  which,  being  the 
staple  trade  of  England,  from  whence  all  foreign  markets  are 
supplied,  can  never  be  encouraged  here  for  that  purpose :  whereas, 
the  linen  and  hempen  manufactures  will  not  only  be  encouraged 
as  consistent  with  the  trade  of  England,  but  wiU  render  the  trade 
of  this  kingdom  both  useful  and  necessary  to  England." 

^  In  this  connection  it  is  worth  comparing  the  spinelessness  of  the  Anglo-Irish 
in  1698  with  the  spinefulness  of  their  cousins  in  America,  three  quarters  of  a 
century  later. 


THE  SUPPRESSION  OF  IRISH  TRADE  489 

Now  to  see  how  the  promises  of  William  and  his  Lords  Jus- 
tice were  kept.     First,  the  Irish  linen  manufacture. 

In  1705  it  was  enacted  that  only  the  coarsest  kinds  of  undyed 
Irish  linen  should  be  admitted  to  the  British  Colonies.  Checked, 
striped  and  dyed  Irish  linens  were  excluded.  Besides,  no  Colonial 
goods  could  be  brought  In  return.  And  Irish  linens  of  every  kind 
were  forbidden  to  be  exported  to  all  other  countries  with  the  ex- 
ception of  Britain.  There  a  thirty  per  cent  duty  met  it  with  a 
laugh,  and  turned  it  home  again.  And,  to  the  British  linen  manu- 
facturers a  bounty  was  granted  on  all  linen  exports  I 

But  English  attention  followed  and  sought  out  the  Irish  linen 
trade  even  within  the  four  seas  of  Ireland.  When  Crommelin, 
the  Huguenot,  who  had  helped  to  build  up  the  linen  trade  in  Ulster, 
tried  to  bring  the  manufacture  into  Leinster,  the  fiercest  English 
opposition  blazed  up. 

Edmund  Burke  excoriated  the  English  Government  for  its  gross 
breach  of  faith.  And  the  poor,  servile,  Anglo-Irish  Parliament  in 
1774,  addressing  the  Lord  Lieutenant  Harwood  on  the  subject 
of  the  linen  ruin,  said,  "The  result  is  the  ruin  of  Ulster  and  the 
flight  of  the  Protestant  population  to  America."  So,  it  was  the 
ruin  of  the  linen  trade  by  England  who  "protected  them  in  the 
enjoyment  of  all  they  have"  which  helped  to  give  to  America  her 
so-called  Scotch-Irish  population. 

Next,  the  promised  help  to  the  hempen  manufacture.  Al- 
though no  Act  came  to  their  aid,  the  Irish  went  ahead  with  the 
hemp  as  well  as  with  the  linen,  and  soon  developed  a  considerable 
trade  in  the  export  of  sail-cloth  to  Britain.  Then  came  the  long 
promised  aid.  By  23  Geo.  II,  c.  33,  there  was  a  heavy  import  duty 
placed  upon  sail-cloth  shipped  to  Britain.  And  to  pursue  the  beast 
to  its  lair,  very  soon  after  British  manufacturers  were  granted  a 
bounty  on  sail-cloth  exported  from  Britain  to  Ireland ! 

The  British  had  given  to  the  Irish  the  linen  and  hempen  manu- 
factures to  play  with,  while  they  were  carrying  off  their  woollen 
trade.  And  when  the  woollen  was  safely  got  away  from  them, 
they  were  politely  requested  to  hand  over  the  linen  and  hempen 
manufactures  also. 

Ireland  tried  its  hand  at  manufacturing  cotton.  England  met 
this  move  with  a  twenty-five  per  cent  duty  upon  Irish  cotton  im- 
ported into  England.  And  next  (in  the  reign  of  Geo.  I)  forbade 
the  inhabitants  of  Great  Britain  to  wear  any  cotton  other  than  of 
British  manufacture.  So  the  cotton  comedy  was  ended  before  it 
was  well  begim. 

From  an  early  period,  as  before  mentioned,  the  Irish  had  a 


490  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

large  trade  in  the  export  of  cattle  to  England.  This  wal  ^°°" 
prohibited.  But  when  England  felt  need  for  Irish  cattle,  ^"^^ 
were  admitted  once  more.  In  1665  Irish  cattle  were  no  long^.f 
welcome,  and  an  Act  of  Parliament  in  that  year  put  a  heavy  im- 
port duty  on  black  cattle  and  sheep. 

The  resourceful  Irish  then  began  killing  their  cattle  and  ex- 
porting the  dead  meat  to  England.  Their  equally  resourceful  pro- 
tectors countered  with  a  law  (18  Chas.  II,  c.  2)  declaring  that 
the  importation  of  cattle,  sheep,  swine  and  beef  from  Ireland  was 
henceforth  a  common  nuisance,  and  forbidden.  And  to  leave  no 
little  hole  without  a  peg — they  added  pork  and  bacon  for  good 
measure. 

But  the  contrary  Irish  ferreted  out  a  hole  to  get  through. 
They  developed  dairying,  and  began  exporting  butter  and  cheese 
from  Ireland.  Their  exasperated  protectors  had  to  go  to  the 
trouble  of  amending  the  prohibition  laws — adding  butter  and 
cheese  to  the  items  which  the  Irish  were  invited  to  keep  at  home. 

When  both  their  live  cattle,  their  dead  cattle  and  all  the  prod- 
ucts of  cattle  were  shut  out  from  Britain  the  Irish  again  fell  back 
upon  curing  the  killed  meat,  and  exporting  it  to  the  Continent. 
They  soon  developed  a  highly  profitable  trade  in  this  line.  "And," 
says  Newenham,  "Ireland  became  the  principal  country  from  which 
butchers'  meat  was  exported."  At  the  instigation  of  the  English 
contractors,  then,  the  English  Parliament  began  laying  embargo  on 
the  exportation  of  Irish  provisions,  on  pretence  of  preventing  the 
enemies  of  Britain  from  being  supplied  therewith !  And  the  trade 
in  salted  provisions  was  no  more."^ 

In  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century  Ireland,  developing  an 
important  silk  weaving  Industry,  began  to  disturb  the  dreams  of 
English  silk  weavers.  So  Britain,  which  imposed  a  heavy  duty  on 
Irish  silk  imported  into  England,  politely  requested  the  Irish  Par- 
liament to  admit  British  manufactured  silk  into  Ireland  free  !  What 
Is  more,  the  despicable  Anglo-Irish  Parliament  complied.  Within 
the  next  generation  the  number  of  silk  looms  at  work  in  Ireland 
was  reduced  from  eight  hundred  to  twenty.     "And,"  says  Newen- 

•'■•  The  Irish  next  killed  their  cattle  and  horses  for  their  hides,  and  bepan  what 
soon  proved  to  be  a  prosperous  trade  in  leather — which  was  in  demand  not  only  in 
England,  but  on  the  Continent  of  Europe.  And  their  vigilant  English  masters  soon 
came  along  with  another  prohibition  bill,  which  put  an  end  to  that  business.  Be- 
fore quitting  the  cattle  drive,  however,  it  is  only  fair  to  say  that  one  of  England's 
most  representative  commercial  writers  of  the  early  eighteenth  century,  Davenant, 
pleaded  that  England  should  permit  Ireland  to  resume  the  cattle  trade — because  it 
would  hold  the  Irish  from  manufactures! 


THE  SUPl^KLSSION  OK  IRISH  TRADE  / 

ham,  "three  thousand  persons  were  thereby  driven  to  beggary 
emigration." 

Ireland  attempted  to  develop  her  tobacco  industry.  But  a  law 
against  its  growth  was  passed  in  the  lirst  year  of  the  reign  of 
Charles  the  Second.  And  again,  in  1S31,  under  William  the 
Fourth,  it  was  enacted  that  any  person  found  in  possession  of  IrisK- 
grown  tobacco  should  suffer  a  heavy  penalty.  The  tobacco  trade 
was  tenderly  shown  out. 

In  the  latter  part  of  the  eighteenth  century  Ireland  began  not 
only  making  her  own  glass,  but  also  making  glass  for  export:  and 
Irish  glass  was  gaining  a  name.  Then  by  4  Geo.  II,  c.  15,  the  Irish 
were  forbidden  to  export  glass  to  any  country  whatsoever  under 
penalty  of  forfeiting  ship,  cargo,  and  ten  shillings  per  pound  weight 
of  cargo.  And  it  was  forbidden  to  import  any  glass  other  than 
that  of  English  manufacture. 

Four  and  five  centuries  ago  and  upward,  the  Irish  fisheries 
were  the  second  in  importance  in  Europe.  Under  careful  English 
nursing  they  were,  a  century  and  a  half  ago,  brought  to  the  van- 
ishing point.  Then  the  independent  Irish  Parliament  at  the  end 
of  the  eighteenth  century  saved  them.  It  subsidised  and  revived 
the  Irish  fisheries — till  they  were  rivalling  the  British.  A  few 
years  after  the  Union,  in  18 19,  England  withdrew  the  subsidy 
from  the  Irish  fisheries — at  the  same  time  confirming  and  aug- 
menting the  subsidies  and  grants  to  the  British  fishermen — with 
the  result  that,  notwithstanding  Ireland's  possession  of  the  long- 
est coastline  of  almost  any  European  country,  it  is  now  possessed 
of  the  most  miserable  fisheries.  Where  150,000  Irish  fishermen 
in  27,000  Irish  boats  worked  and  thrived  at  the  time  that  the 
English  Parliament  took  away  the  subsidy  in  18 19,  only  20,000 
Irish  people  get  a  wretched  support  from  Irish  fisheries  to-day. 
The  British  fisheries,  four  centuries  ago,  about  equalled  the  Irish. 
The  fisheries  of  Britain  to-day  are  valued  at  £9,000,000  annuallv. 
The  fisheries  of  Ireland  are  worth  £300,000.  The  Irish  fish 
were,  with  typical  British  solicitude,  protected  into  the  British  net. 

Here  have  been  set  down  only  the  principal  Acts  and  devices 
for  the  suppression  of  Irish  manufactures  and  Irish  Industries, 
but  yet  suflScIent  to  show  how  England  protected  her  beloved  Irish 
subjects  in  the  enjoyment  of  all  they  have — how  Ireland  pros- 
pered under  English  Rule  in  a  material  way — and  how  England, 
in  her  own  step-motherly  way,  took  each  toddling  Irish  industry 
by  the  hand,  led  its  childish  footsteps  to  the  brink  of  the  bottom- 
less pit,  and  gave  It  a  push — thus  ending  Its  troubles  forever. 


"^^^  )2  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

larf 

pr  And  thus  is  explained  in  part  why  Ireland,  one  of  the  most 
V  favoured  by  nature,  and  one  of  the  most  fertile  countries  in  Eu- 
rope,*^ is  yet  one  of  the  poorest.  And  why  it  is  that,  as  recent 
statistics  show,  ninety-eight  per  cent  of  the  export  trade  of  the 
three  kingdoms  is  in  the  hands  of  Britain  and  in  Ireland's  hands 
two  per  cent. 

Even  the  bitter  anti-Irish  Froude,  in  his  English  in  Ireland, 
is  constrained  to  confess,  "England  governed  Ireland  for  what 
she  deemed  her  own  interest,  making  her  calculations  on  the  gross 
balance  of  her  trade  ledgers,  and  leaving  her  moral  obligations 
aside,  as  if  right  and  wrong  had  been  blotted  out  of  the  statute 
book  of  the  Universe." 

Says  Lecky,  "It  would  be  difficult  in  the  whole  range  of  his- 
tory, to  find  another  instance  in  which  various  and  powerful  agen- 
cies agreed  to  degrade  the  character,  and  blast  the  prosperity  of 
a  nation." 

And  here  endeth  what  may  be  considered  by  those  who  know 
not  England's  way  with  Ireland  an  amazing  chapter — but  quite 
commonplace  to  those  who  have  a  bowing  acquaintance  with  Irish 
history. 

*>  Hear  the  testimony,  two-edged,  of  Carew  (sixteenth  century):  "Would  you 
had  seen  the  countries  we  have  seen  in  this  our  journey,  and  then  you  would  say 
you  had  not  seen  the  like,  and  think  it  were  much  pity  the  same  were  not  in  sub- 
jection." 

And  again :  "I  never,  nor  no  other  man  that  ever  I  have  communed  with,  but 
saith  that  for  all  things  it  is  the  goodliest  land  that  they  have  seen,  not  only  for 
pleasure  and  pastime  of  a  prince,  but  as  well  for  profit  to  his  Grace  and  to  the 
whole  realm  of  England."    The  final  clause  is  the  kernel  of  the  matter. 


CIIAPTJR    LVI 

THE    VULUNTEKRS 

On  Lammas  Eve  of  the  year  1778,  a  certain  harassed  English 
official  sat  him  down  in  his  room  in  Dublin  Castle  to  pen  a  letter 
to  one  Mr.  Stewart  Banks,  the  Sovereign  of  Belfast/  The  letter 
cannot  have  been  a  very  pleasant  one  to  write,  for  it  confessed 
the  utter  bankruptcy  of  the  system  of  government  under  which 
England  had  held  Ireland  since  the  advent  of  "civil  and  religious 
liberty,"  with  the  victory  of  William  III.  Such  as  it  is,  however, 
it  is  an  historic  document — 

"Dublin  Castle,  August  14th,  1778. 
"Sir: 

"My  Lord  Lieutenant  having  received  information  that  there  is 
reason  to  apprehend  that  three  or  four  privateers  in  company  may  in 
a  few  days  make  an  attempt  on  the  northern  coast  of  this  kingdom, 
by  his  Excellency's  command  I  give  you  the  earliest  account  thereof, 
in  order  that  there  may  be  a  careful  watch,  and  immediate  intelligence 
given  to  the  inhabitants  of  Belfast,  in  case  any  party  from  such  ships 
should  attempt  to  land.  The  greatest  part  of  the  troops  being  en- 
camped near  Clonmel  and  Kinsale,  his  Excellency  can  at  present  send 
no  further  military  aid  to  Belfast  than  a  troop  or  two  of  horse,  or 
part  of  a  company  of  invalids,  and  his  Excellency  desires  you  will  ac- 
quaint me  by  express,  whether  a  troop  or  two  of  horse  can  be  properly 
accommodated  in  Belfast,  so  long  as  it  may  be  proper  to  continue  them 
in  that  town.     Richard  Heron." 

The  shrewd  Belfast  man,  who  received  this  letter  from  Chief 
Secretary,  Sir  Richard  Heron,  was  well  able  to  read  between  the 
lines  and  interpret  the  panic  confession  of  impatience  it  contained. 
He  knew — none  better — that  all  over  the  world  the  power  of 
England  was  at  a  very  low  ebb.  In  America  her  affairs  were 
desperate.  The  surrender  of  General  Burgoyne  at  Saratoga  in 
the  previous  autumn  (1777)  had  been  followed  in  Spring  by  the 
formal  adhesion  of  France  to  the  American  cause. 

An  invasion  of  England  or  Ireland  by  the  allies  was  on  the 

1  This  office  in  the  smaller  town  corresponded  to  that  of  Mayor  in  the  larger. 

493 


494  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

cards — and  how  easy  It  would  have  been,  Mr.  Stewart  Banks  and 
his  fellow  townsmen  had  special  reason  for  knowing;  for  in  April, 
1778,  John  Paul  Jones  in  his  saucy  "Ranger,"  after  a  foray  marked 
by  the  capture  of  Dublin  and  Wexford  merchantmen,  the  plunder 
of  Kircudbright,  the  burning  of  shipping  at  Whitehaven,  had  sailed 
boldly  into  Belfast  Bay,  in  broad  daylight,  and  sunk  a  British  man- 
of-war  in  sight  of  them  all!  Here  he  was  back  again,  it  seems, 
with  new  companions  "three  or  four  privateers  in  company" — 
and  all  the  pauper  Irish  Government  (which  had  been  refused  a 
paltry  loan  of  a  few  thousand  pounds  a  month  or  two  by  its  own 
official  bankers)  was  able  to  send  to  oppose  him  was  "a  troop  or 
two  of  horse,  or  part  of  a  company  of  invalids." 

Thus,  moneyless,  soldierless,  amid  the  ruins  of  the  industries 
it  had  deliberately  set  Itself  to  wreck,  amid  the  starving  remnants 
of  a  people  it  had  deliberately  set  itself  to  exterminate,  the  English 
power  In  Ireland  stood,  a  shivering  and  impotent  thing,  after  a 
century  during  which  it  had  full  scope  to  work  its  will,  and  to  apply 
unopposed  Its  own  chosen  methods ! 

What  written  answer  the  Sovereign  of  Belfast  sent,  in  the  name 
of  his  town,  to  the  Chief  Secretary's  amazing  document  we  do  not 
know.    But  the  real  answer  of  Belfast  is  a  matter  of  history. 

It  was  the  Institution  of  the  first  corps  of  volunteers.  "England 
sowed  her  laws  In  dragon's  teeth,  and  they  had  sprung  up  in  armed 
men!" 

The  example  of  Belfast  was  speedily  followed  over  the  country, 
and  within  two  years  the  Volunteers  numbered  100,000  armed  and 
disciplined  men,  officered  by  the  greatest  personages  In  Ireland: 
Lord  Charlemont,  the  Duke  of  Leinster,  the  Earl  of  Clanrlcarde, 
Flood,  Grattan,  Ponsonby,  and  the  elite  of  the  landed  aristocracy, 
the  professions,  high  finance  and  politics.  Though  Catholics  were 
not  admitted  to  their  ranks  at  first,  they  supported  the  movement 
from  the  beginning,  and  to  this  circumstance  the  Volunteers  them- 
selves are  indebted  for  the  achievement  which  the  after-world  recog- 
nises as  the  only  lasting  one  to  their  credit — their  paternity  of  the 
"United  Irishmen." 

Government  on  the  other  hand  looked  askance  on  the  Volun- 
teers. But  the  position  being  described,  it  had  no  power  to  oppose 
them  openly — and  was  finally  constrained  to  help  to  equip  them  by 
turning  over  to  them  16,000  stand  of  arms  Intended  for  the 
Militia. 

The  threat  of  Invasion,  though  apparently  increased  when 
Spain  joined  America  and  France  in  1779,  did  not  materialise.  But 
as  the  lessons  of  the  American  War  were  pondered  by  citizen 


THE  VOLUNTEERS  495 

soldiers  on  their  way  to  the  reviews,  which  soon  became  a  promi- 
nent feature  in  Irish  colonial  life,  or  discussed  at  the  banquets  which 
re-united  them  in  good  fellowship  afterwards,  the  determination 
materialised  in  the  movement  to  secure  redress  for  the  intolerable 
evils  under  which  the  British  Colonists  in  Ireland,  in  common  with 
the  native  Irish,  were  suffering.  Of  these  evils  none  was  more 
keenly  felt  than  the  trade  restrictions,  which  with  their  disastrous 
consequences,  have  been  discussed  in  a  previous  chapter.  The 
ruin  of  the  centuries  old  Irish  woollen  trade,  completed  by  the 
third  William,  was  followed,  under  the  third  George,  by  the 
destruction  of  the  linen  and  provision  trade,  which  had,  to  some 
extent,  taken  its  place.  The  cries  of  the  starving  unemployed  filled 
the  land.  In  Dublin  alone,  twenty  thousand  artisans  were  out  of 
work,  and  they  and  their  families  were  only  kept  from  dying  ol 
hunger  by  the  exertions  of  charitable  institutions.  In  Cork  things 
were  equally  desperate.  Ulster  was  quiet  for  the  moment — but  it 
was  the  quiet  of  exhaustion.  Eler  fair  countrysides  had  been 
drained  of  their  population  by  landlord  oppressions,  and  the  ruin 
of  the  linen  industry — and  the  flower  of  her  manhood  in  Wash- 
ington's armies  was  avenging  her  quenched  hearths  and  wrecked 
homes. 

The  Volunteers  therefore  needed  no  special  perspicacity  to  see 
that  the  most  formidable  enemy  even  of  the  English  Colony  in 
Ireland  was  the  English  trade  interests,  to  which  their  advantages 
were  ruthlessly  sacrificed. 

The  first  invasion  they  set  themselves  to  repel  was  that  of 
English  manufactured  goods. 

Starting  in  Galway  a  "non-importation"  movement  spread  itself 
rapidly  through  the  country.  Meetings  organised  by  the  Volun- 
teers, and  supported  by  the  press  and  scientific  societies,  as  well  as 
the  most  influential  people  in  the  colony,  high  sheriffs,  grand  jury- 
men, county  magnates,  and — more  important  still — the  women  of 
fashion,  adopted  resolutions  pledging  themselves  to  boycott  English 
manufacture,  and  to  "wear  and  make  use  of  the  manufactures  of 
this  country  only."  Shopkeepers  and  merchants  who  imported 
foreign  goods,  or  tried  to  impose  them  on  their  customers  as  Irish 
manufacture,  were  warned  of  the  consequences.  The  Volunteers 
were  there  to  see  that  the  boycott  was  duly  observed. 

When  Parliament  met  in  October,  1779,  Grattan  moved  his 
celebrated  amendment  to  the  Address  to  the  Throne,  demanding 
Free  Trade  for  Ireland — that  is  the  right  to  import  and  export 
what  commodities  she  pleased,  unrestrained  by  foreign  legislation. 
His  speech  was  doubtless  very  eloquent,  as  were  those  of  Hussey, 


496  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

Burgh  and  Flood,  who  supported  him.  But  it  is  safe  to  say  that 
the  solid  ranks  of  the  placemen  and  "tied"  borough  members,  who 
made  up  the  Government's  permanent  majority  in  the  Irish  House 
of  Commons,  would  have  been  as  little  moved  by  them,  were  it  not 
that,  outside  in  College  Green,  bold  Napper  Tandy  had  his  artil- 
lery corps  mustered,  all  in  their  gallant  uniforms  of  emerald  and 
scarlet,  his  cannon  trained  on  the  Parliament  Houses  and  placarded 
with  the  inscription  "Free  Trade  or ." 

To  the  pregnant  argument  of  that  unwritten  alternative,  the 
prudent  placemen  yielded.  The  amended  address  was  carried  by 
a  huge  majority,  and  next  day  it  was  borne  to  the  Castle,  along 
streets  lined  by  Volunteers  in  full  war  kit,  and  thence  dispatched 
to  England  marked  "urgent." 

And  as  "urgent"  the  English  Prime  Minister  and  the  British 
Legislature  treated  it.  Acts  were  rushed  through  the  English 
Houses  of  Parliament  in  a  few  weeks  which  restored  to  the  Irish 
the  trade  rights  of  which  they  had  been  robbed.  The  embargo 
was  taken  off  their  export  of  woollens  and  glass;  the  colonial  trade 
was  thrown  open  to  them;  trade  between  Ireland  and  the  British 
settlements  in  America  and  Africa  was  placed  on  an  equal  footing 
with  that  between  Great  Britain  and  these  settlements.  Those 
Acts  were  repealed  which  prohibited  the  carrying  into  Ireland  of 
gold  and  silver.  "The  Irish  were  allowed  to  import  foreign 
hops,  and  to  receive  a  drawback  on  the  duty  on  British  hops.  They 
were  allowed  to  become  members  of  the  Turkey  Company,  and 
to  carry  on  a  direct  trade  between  Ireland  and  the  Levant  Sea." 

But  the  British  Parliament  from  which  Free  Trade  had  thus 
been  wrung  by  the  Volunteers — and  the  vivid  fear  of  Ireland  fol- 
lowing the  example  of  America — still  held  the  Irish  Parliament  in 
bondage.  At  any  moment  England  might  revoke  the  concessions 
she  had  granted  under  duress.  There  still  remained  on  the  Statute 
Books  of  the  two  countries  the  Acts  which  gave  her  this  power — 
Poyning's  Act,  and  the  Sixth  of  George  I. 

Poyning's  Act  was  a  piece  of  suicidal  legislation  imposed  on 
the  Parliament  of  the  Pale  in  1495,  by  Lord  Deputy  Sir  Edward 
Poyning,  who  was  sent  over  to  supersede  the  Earl  of  Kildare  after 
the  latter  had  failed  in  two  attempts  to  set  up  a  rival  kingdom  in 
Ireland.  It  bound  the  Irish  Parliament  to  legislate  only  as  the 
British  Parliament  permitted  it.  The  other  provided  that  all  the 
"causes  and  considerations"  for  calling  a  Parliament  in  Ireland, 
and  all  the  Bills  which  were  to  be  brought  in  during  its  Session, 
must  be  previously  certified  to  the  King  by  the  Chief  Governor 
and  Council  of  Ireland,  and  affirmed  by  the  King  and  his  Council 


THE  VOLUNTEERS  497 

under  the  Great  Seal  of  England,  and  that  any  proceedings  of  an 
Irish  Parliament  which  had  not  heen  so  certified  and  affirmed 
before  that  Parliament  was  assembled  should  be  null  and  void. 

The  "Sixth  of  George  P'  called  also  "the  Declaratory  Act," 
was  passed  in  the  English  Houses  of  Parliament  in  17  19,  and  "de- 
clared that  the  King,  with  the  advice  of  the  Lords  and  Commons 
of  England  hath  had  of  right,  and  ought  to  have,  full  power  and 
authority  to  make  laws  and  statutes  of  sufficient  force  and  validity 
to  bind  the  people  and  the  Kingdom  of  Ireland."  It  further  took 
away  from  the  Irish  House  of  Lords  its  power  of  appellate  juris- 
diction. 

In  April,  1780,  Grattan  moved  in  the  Irish  House  of  Commons 
his  "Declaration  of  Right."  There  were  three  resolutions  con- 
tained in  it,  and  on  these  was  ultimately  built  the  very  shaky  "Inde- 
pendence" with  which  his  name  is  associated.     They  were: — 

(1)  That  His  Most  Excellent  Majesty  by  and  with  the  consent  of 
the  Lords  and  Commons  of  Ireland  is  the  only  power  com- 
petent to  enact  laws  to  bind  Ireland. 

(2)  That  the  Cro\vn  of  Ireland  is,  and  ought  to  be,  inseparably 
annexed  to  the  Crown  of  Great  Britain. 

(3)  That  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  are  inseparably  united  under 
one  Sovereign,  by  the  common  and  indissoluble  ties  of  inter- 
est, loyalty  and  freedom. 

Though  the  stage  had  been  carefully  prepared,  though  the 
Volunteers  were  again  mustered  in  the  streets  of  Dublin,  though  the 
ladies  thronged  the  galleries  in  their  most  bewitching  gowns,  and 
the  orators  of  the  Opposition  had  prepared  their  most  eloquent 
speeches — It  was  all  in  vain.  "Mr.  Flood,  who  well  knew  that 
the  ministerial  mem.bers  were  committed  to  negative  the  motion  if 
it  came  to  a  division,  recommended  that  no  question  be  put,  and 
no  appearance  of  the  business  entered  in  the  journals,  to  which 
Mr.  Grattan  consented."  It  was  a  distinct  set-back,  not  alone  for 
Grattan,  and  for  those  politicians  who  thought  with  him,  but  for 
the  Volunteers.  Fortunately  the  latter  saw  the  lesson  to  be  learned 
from  it,  so  they  began  not  only  improving  and  consolidating  their 
organisation,  but  giving  it  a  national  extension  by  including  the 
Catholics.  Finally,  feeling  themselves  able  to  speak  at  last  for  the 
whole  Irish  nation,  they  determined  to  make  their  voice  heard 
above  that  of  the  corrupt  Parliament.  The  expedient  they  adopted 
for  this  end  was  that  of  provincial  conventions.  The  most  famous 
of  them  was  the  Convention  of  the  Ulster  Volunteers,  held  in 
Dungannon  on  the  15th  of  February,  1782. 


498  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

It  was,  however,  when  all  is  said  and  done,  the  progress  of 
events  in  America  which  ultimately  won  a  hearing  for  Grattan, 
when,  in  April,  1782,  he  moved  an  address  to  the  King,  asserting 
the  principles  already  embodied  in  his  "Declaration  of  Right." 
On  the  19th  of  October,  1781,  Cornwallis  surrendered  at  York- 
town,  and  not  only  the  cause  of  American  Independence,  but  that 
which  Grattan  called  Irish  "Independence"  was  won  that  day. 

The  Duke  of  Portland  wrote: — "If  you  delay,  or  refuse  to 
be  liberal.  Government  cannot  exist  here  in  Its  present  form,  and 
the  sooner  you  recall  your  Lieutenant  and  renounce  all  claim  to 
this  country,  the  better.  But,  on  the  contrary,  if  you  can  bring 
your  minds  to  concede  largely  and  handsomely,  I  am  persuaded  that 
you  may  make  any  use  of  this  people,  and  of  everything  they  are 
worth,  that  you  can  wish." 

Lord  Rockingham  and  his  friends  took  the  hint.  They  brought 
their  minds  to  concede  "largely  and  liberally" — that  is  to  say  all 
that  was  asked.  A  Bill  repealing  the  Sixth  of  George  I  was  intro- 
duced at  once  in  the  English  Parliament  and  carried  rapidly,  and 
when  the  Irish  Parliament  met  in  May  27th,  1782,  the  Lord  Lieu- 
tenant was  instructed  to  announce  to  it  that  the  King  was  prepared 
to  give  his  unconditional  assent  "to  Acts  to  prevent  the  suppressing 
of  Bills  in  the  Privy  Council  of  this  Kingdom,  and  the  alteration 
of  them  anywhere,  and  to  limit  the  duration  of  the  Mutiny  Act 
to  two  years." 

The  following  year,  1783,  under  pressure  from  the  Volunteers 
and  Flood  a  "Renunciation  Bill"  was  carried  through  the  British 
Parliament.  It  declared  that  the  "right  claim  by  the  people  of 
Ireland  to  be  bound  only  by  laws  enacted  by  His  Majesty  and  the 
Parliament  of  that  Kingdom  in  all  cases  whatever,  and  to  have  all 
actions  and  suits  at  law,  or  in  equity,  which  may  be  Instituted  In 
the  Kingdom,  decided  by  His  Majesty's  courts  therein  finally,  and 
without  appeal  from  thence,  shall  be  and  is  hereby  declared  to 
be  established  and  ascertained  for  ever,  and  shall  at  no  titne  here- 
after he  questioned  or  questionable" 

How  England  kept  that  promise  we  shall  see. 

MacNevin :     History  of  the  Volunteers  of  1 782. 
Lecky:     Leaders  of  Public  Opinion  in  Ireland. 

"  History  of  Ireland  in  the  Eighteenth  Century. 

Davis:     The  Patriot  Parliament. 
Grattan's  and  Flood's  Memoirs. 
Sir  Jonah  Barrington:     Rise  and  Fall  of  the  Irish  Nation. 


CHAPTER  LVII 

THEOBALD  WOLFE  TONE 

"I  HAVE  now  seen  the  Parliament  of  Ireland,  the  Parliament  of 
England,  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  of  America,  the  Corps 
Legislatif  of  France  and  the  Convention  Batave;  I  have  likewise 
seen  our  shabby  Volunteer  Convention  in  1783,  and  the  General 
Committee  of  the  Catholics  in  1793;  so  that  I  have  seen,  in  the 
way  of  deliberative  bodies  as  many  I  believe  as  most  men;  and  of 
all  those  I  have  mentioned,  beyond  all  comparison  the  most  shame- 
fully profligate  and  abandoned  of  all  sense  of  virtue,  principle,  or 
even  common  decency,  was  the  legislature  of  my  own  unfortunate 
country.  The  scoundrels!  I  lose  my  temper  every  time  I  think 
of  them!" 

The  keen-faced  young  man  in  uniform  of  an  Adjutant  General 
of  the  French  Army,  whom  we  discover  writing  these  angry  words 
in  his  Journal  on  returning  to  his  auberge  from  visiting  to  the 
Batavian  Convention  at  the  Hague  in  April,  1797,  has  every  claim 
to  have  his  opinion  of  the  "Independent"  Irish  Parliament  accepted 
as  the  ultimate  verdict  of  the  Irish  people  on  that  body.  For  he 
was  the  first  to  lay  his  fingers  on  what  was  really  wrong  with  it — 
and  to  show  the  Irish  people  the  way  to  remedy  it. 

This  man  was  registered  at  his  Dutch  inn  as  "J.  Smith,  Adjutant- 
General  of  the  Army  of  the  Sambre  and  the  Meuse."  His  true 
name,  written  in  letters  of  undying  light  across  the  most  memorable 
page  of  Irish  History,  was  Theobald  Wolfe  Tone. 

The  earlier  days,  when,  though  *'the  untameable  desire — to 
become  a  soldier,"  which  was  the  dominant  passion  of  his  boyhood 
and  young  manhood,  yet  politics  seemed  the  one  career  open  to 
him.  Young  Counsellor  Tone  used  to  spend  much  of  his  free 
time  (which  a  slender  law  practice  left  him  in  abundance)  in  the 
galleries  of  the  Irish  House  of  Commons.  There  he  speedily  made 
the  "Great  Discovery,"  which  was  to  influence  not  only  the  whole 
course  of  his  own  life,  but  the  future  direction  of  Irish  History. 
Let  us  hear  him  state  that  discovery  in  his  own  words: — 

''That  the  influence  of  England  was  the  radical  vice  of  our  Gov- 
ernment, and  that  Ireland  would  never  be  either  free,  prosperous, 

499 


500  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  Ri\CE 

or  happy,  until  she  zvas  independent,  and  that  independence  was 
unattainable  whilst  the  connection  with  England  existed." 

Other  people  had  felt  long  before  this  that  the  so-called  "In- 
dependence" which  Ireland  had  won  from  England  in  1782,  was 
not  the  genuine  article,  and  that  the  "Independent"  Irish  Parlia- 
ment was  a  libel  on  the  name  of  free  institutions.  But  until  Tone 
presented  a  true  diagnosis,  these  others,  like  unskilled  physicians, 
went  on  applying  remedies  to  the  symptoms,  and  neglecting  the 
root  cause  of  the  malady  which  laid  waste  the  Irish  Nation  in 
sight  of  all  men's  eyes.  And  that  root  cause  was  the  connection 
with  England.  The  defect  of  the  Constitution  of  1782  was  inherent 
in  the  clause  that  "united  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  under  one 
Sovereign,"  and  "annexed  the  crown  of  Ireland  inseparably  to  the 
crown  of  Great  Britain." 

It  is  perhaps  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  those  who  had  delib- 
erately chosen  this  constitution  were  unable  to  perceive  that  it  was 
wrong  and  unworkable  from  the  start,  and  that  its  evils  were 
inherent  in  its  very  essence.  But  it  was  hardly  in  action  when  they 
began  to  see  that  there  was  something  the  matter  with  it,  and  to 
look  round  for  a  remedy.  They  imagined  if  the  machinery  were 
improved  it  would  function  satisfactorily. 

The  two  defects  that  struck  everybody  were : — 

First,  that  more  than  three-fourths  of  the  Irish  Nation  were 
totally  unrepresented  in  this  "Irish"  Parliament;  for  the  Catholics, 
who  made  up  more  than  three  millions  of  the  four,  which  then  con- 
stituted the  population  of  Ireland,  could  neither  sit  in  it,  nor  vote 
for  a  member  of  it. 

Second,  that  even  as  the  instrument  of  the  Protestant  minority 
of  the  nation,  it  was  hopelessly  corrupt  and  unrepresentative.  Of 
its  300  members,  only  64  were  returned  by  counties.  The  remain- 
ing 236  represented  "rotten  boroughs"  (where  there  were  some- 
times as  many  as  six  voters,  sometimes  only  one)  ^  and  these 
boroughs  were  the  property  of  certain  peers  and  weathy  commoners 
who  trafficked  in  them  most  shamelessly.  "The  price  of  a  seat  in 
Parliament,"  said  the  Belfast  Reformers  in  one  of  their  petitions, 
"is  as  well  ascertained  as  that  of  the  cattle  in  the  fields."  ^    Of  the 

1  Lecky  pives  an  idea  of  the  tariff:  "Borough  seats  were  coininop.ly  sold  for 
£2,000  a  parliament ;  and  the  permanent  patronage  of  a  borough  for  from  £8,000 
to  £10,000.  In  his  examination  before  the  Select  Committee  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons (August,  1798)  Arthur  O'Connor  quoted  as  the  common  talk  of  tlie  House 
u'hen  he  himself  was  a  menil>er :  'How  much  has  such  a  one  given  for  his  seat? 
From  whom  did  he  purchase?  Has  not  such  a  one  sold  his  borough?  Has  not 
such  a  peer  so  many  members  in  this  house?  Was  not  such  a  meml>€r  witli  the 
Lord  Lieutenant's  Secretary  to  insist  on  some  greater  place  or  pension  ?' " 


THEOBALD  WOLFE  TONE  501 

total  number  of  members  more  than  a  third  were  "placemen  and 
pensioners"  in  the  direct  pay  of  the  English  Government. 

The  true  effect  of  the  so-called  "grant  of  Independence"  of 
1782  has  been  admirably  summed  up  by  Arthur  O'Connor.  "What 
was  called  the  emancipation  of  the  Irish  Legislature  in  1782  was 
nothing  more  than  freeing  a  set  of  self-constituted  individuals 
from  the  absolute  control  of  the  British  legislature,  that  they  might 
be  at  liberty  to  sell  themselves  to  the  corrupt  control  of  the  British 
Ministry." 

At  first  Grattan  (who,  though  a  brilliant  orator  and  phrase- 
maker,  was  no  statesman)  was  so  delighted  with  his  new  toy,  that 
he  could  not  bear  to  have  it  touched  or  criticised.  He  accordingly 
set  himself  strenuously  against  the  continuance  of  the  Volunteers, 
who  under  the  leadership  of  Flood,  were  pressing  for  the  reform 
of  the  Parliament.  A  great  national  Convention  of  the  Volunteers 
summoned  to  Dublin  for  December,  1783,  was  split  on  the  Catholic 
question,  boycotted  by  Grattan,  and  so  "nobbled"  by  his  friend, 
Lord  Charlemont,  that  it  dispersed  "re  infecta" ;  and  it  seemed 
for  a  moment  that  the  Volunteers,  as  an  effective  force  in  Irish 
public  life,   had   absolutely   disappeared. 

The  truth  was  that  they  were  eclipsed  for  a  time,  only  to  emerge 
from  a  temporary  obscuring  in  the  form  of  the  United  Irishmen. 

Up  in  his  place  in  the  gallery  of  the  "House"  in  College  Green, 
Theobald  W^olfe  Tone  had  at  length  got  his  own  political  theory 
clear.  "To  subvert  the  tyranny  of  our  execrable  government  to 
break  the  connection  with  England,  the  never  failing  source  of 
all  our  political  evils,  and  to  assert  the  independence  of  my  country, 
these  were  my  objects.  To  unite  the  whole  people  of  Ireland,  to 
abolish  the  memory  of  all  past  dissensions,  and  to  substitute  the 
common  name  of  Irishman  in  place  of  the  denominations  of 
Protestant,  Catholic,  and  Dissenter — these  were  my  means. ^ 

Absolute  freedom  from  England  and  no  absurd  theory  of 
"Sister  Kingdoms  united  by  the  golden  circle  of  the  crown,"  of 
"colonial"  independence — absolute  union  among  Irishmen,  and  no 
cutting  off  of  "Pales"  or  reserved  territories — such  was  the  solu- 
tion of  the  "Irish  Problem"  which  presented  itself  to  Theobald 
Wolfe  Tone  a  hundred  and  thirty  years  ago. 

Our  Theobald  had  his  theory  well  defined,  when  on  a  memo- 
rable day  he  turned  from  the  contemplation  of  the  antics  of  the 

-  Padraic  Pearse  considered  the  whole  Gospel  of  Irish  Nationality  as  contained 
in  tliese  words,  which  he  paraphrases,  "I  believe  in  an  Irish  Nation  and  that  free  and 
indivisible." 


502  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

"placemen  and  pensioners"  on  the  floor  of  the  House,  to  answer 
an  observation  addressed  to  him  by  another  occupant  of  the  gallery. 
Agreeably  attracted  by  the  appearance  of  his  interlocutor  (whose 
name,  he  presently  learned,  was  Captain  Thomas  Russell)  he 
entered  Into  a  discussion  with  him,  and  before  those  two  left  the 
gallery,  there  was  laid  the  foundations  of  a  friendship  which  was 
destined  to  become  one  of  the  supreme  motive  forces  of  Irish 
history. 

Let  us  look,  at  these  two  as  they  clasp  hands  for  the  first  time — 
conscious  that  we  are  assisting  at  one  of  the  great  moments  in  our 
country's  story.  Is  there  need  to  describe  Tone?  Have  we  not 
felt  him  like  a  living  presence  in  our  midst  all  through  these  great, 
if  sorrowful,  days  across  which  we  are  passing?  A  "rapid  moving 
angular  man  with  something  of  the  eagle  in  nose  and  eyes,  the  face 
sallow  and  thin  under  the  close-cropped  upstanding  hair."  And 
Thomas  Russell?  Does  he  not  live  for  us  in  the  portrait  painted 
of  him  by  the  hand  of  dear  Mary  MacCracken,  the  woman  who 
loved  him  to  the  end,  and  who  claimed  as  the  sole  reward  of  her 
years  of  unrequited  devotion  the  privilege  of  building  for  him  the 
tomb  in  holy  Downpatrick,  wherein  his  martyred  body  awaits  the 
Resurrection :  the  tall  black-haired  young  soldier,  built  and  modelled 
like  an  Apollo,  with  the  fire  and  pride  of  his  dark  eyes  and  pas- 
sionate mouth  softened  by  the  sweetness  of  his  soul — with  his  voice 
as  moving  and  melodious  as  that  of  Red  Hugh  himself?  So  we 
picture  them  standing  together,  and  we  keep  the  picture  In  our 
hearts  for  all  time. 

Tone  was  so  taken  by  his  new  friend  that  he  lost  no  time  in 
introducing  him  to  "the  little  box  of  a  house  on  the  seaside  at 
Irlshtown,"  where  Mrs.  Tone  and  her  baby  girl  were  that  summer, 
installed  for  the  sea  bathing.  A  charming  society  soon  made  that 
"little  box  of  a  house"  its  rendezvous.  Tom  Russell  frequently 
brought  his  father  and  his  brother,  John.  William  Tone  came  for 
week-ends  from  his  cotton  factory  at  Prosperous,  and  as  often 
as  not  was  accompanied  by  his  sister,  Mary.  They  lived  a 
delicious,  picnicky  kind  of  life,  where  everybody  helped  with  the 
cooking  and  washing-up,  and  then  spent  the  long  care-free  hours 
of  the  afternoon  camped  out  on  the  seashore,  in  endless  discussions. 

What  did  they  talk  of?  Of  everything  under  the  sun — and  then 
always  they  came  back  to  the  one  great  subject,  Ireland,  and  how 
she  too  might  take  up  her  position  In  the  march  of  liberated  nations 
who,  with  France  at  their  head,  were  advancing  toward  the  supreme 
ideals  which  the  French  people  In  July,  1789,  had  postulated  as 
the  true  basis  of  human  society:     "Liberty,  Equality,  Fraternity." 


THEOBALD  WOLFE  TONE  503 

For  the  French  Revolution  was  in  these  days  in  its  first  generous 
and  soul-stirring  phase — in  that  pure  dawn  of  v/hich  the  poet  has 
told  us 

"Bliss  was  it  in  that  dawn  to  be  alive, 

But  to  be  young  was  very  heaven." 

And  all  those  who  gathered  round  Matilde  Tone's  board  at  Irish- 
town  that  summer  were  young — even  seventy-year  old  Captain 
Russell.     Here  they  were 

"They  who  had  fed  their  childhood  upon  dreams." 

And  behold  I  their  dreams  had  become  true,  and  there  had  sprung 
forth 

"helpers  to  their  heart's  desire 
And  stuff  at  hand  plastic  as  they  could  wish." 

Tone  has  told  us  the  enormous  effect  produced  on  the  whole  people 
of  Ireland  by  the  French  Revolution.  "The  French  Revolution," 
he  writes  in  his  Autobiography,  "became,  in  a  little  time  the  test  of 
every  man's  political  creed,  and  the  nation  was  fairly  divided  into 
two  great  parties,  the  Aristocrats  and  the  Democrats." 

The  "Ascendancy  Party" — the  British-blooded  ones,  who, 
though  only  a  small  fraction  of  the  population,  held,  "by  right  of 
conquest,"  five-sixths  of  the  landed  property  of  the  country,  and 
v^'ere  in  possession  of  all  its  place,  power  and  patronage — hated  the 
new  manifestations  of  popular  power,  which  threatened  their  old 
monopoly,  and  were,  in  their  detestation  of  "French"  principles, 
brought  more  close  even  than  before  to  England  (who  was  pres- 
ently to  stand  forth  as  the  arch-enemy  of  these  principles,  and  the 
champion  of  reactionary  aristocracy  all  over  Europe).  The 
Catholics  were  divided.  The  bishops,  like  Dr.  Troy,  and  aristo- 
crats like  Lord  Kenmare,  as  well  as  the  country  people  of  those 
parts  of  Ireland  which  had  furnished,  for  generations,  recruits  for 
the  "Irish  Brigade  in  France,"  full  of  horror  at  the  stories  of 
Jacobin  "atrocities"  carefully  disseminated,  and  full  of  loyalty  and 
sympathy  for  the  Ancien  Regime,  were  bitterly  opposed  to  the 
French  Revolution.  On  the  other  hand,  it  was  greeted  with  a  warm 
welcome  by  the  new  class  of  educated,  enlightened  and  progressive 
men  among  the  Catholics :  wealthy  merchants  and  manufacturers 
like  John  Keogh  and  John  Sweetman  of  Dublin,  or  Luke  Teeling 
of  Lisburn,  and  young  professional  men,  trained  in  foreign  uni- 
versities, like  Dr.  MacNevin.  These  recognised  that  the  doctrines 
of  "Liberty,  Equality  and  Fraternity"  held  in  them  the  salvation 


504  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

of  the  enslaved,  debased,  and  outcast  Catholics  of  Ireland.  The 
Dissenters  of  the  North,  republican  both  by  tradition,  and  the 
genius  of  their  religion,  were  to  a  man,  enthusiastic  ajimirers  of 
the  French  Revolution  from  the  start. 

One  of  the  truths  presently  discovered  by  the  keen  minds  which 
canvassed  these  things,  that  summer  of  1790  at  Irishtown,  was 
that  England,  through  the  instrumentality  of  the  "Protestant  As- 
cendancy," had  kept  her  hold  on  Ireland  by  the  deliberate  fostering 
of  religious  differences.  Ergo  it  followed  that  if  Dissenters  and 
Catholics  could  be  persuaded  to  make  common  cause,  the  "Protes- 
tant Ascendancy"  would  not  only  suffer  a  rude  shock,  but  the 
supremacy  of  its  "owners  and  inventors,"  the  English  Government, 
would  meet  with  an  immediate  downfall.  The  first  task,  therefore, 
of  anyone  who  wanted  to  free  Ireland  was  to  unite  Catholics  and 
Dissenters. 

Their  similarity  of  views  on  the  French  Revolution  was  a  first 
step  to  this  union — and  we  shall  presently  see  how  skilfully  Tone 
and  his  friend,  Tom  Russell,  manoeuvred  from  it. 

Other  things  we  shall  see,  likewise :  how  England,  and  the 
servile  Irish  Parliament,  which  was  the  instrument  moulded  to  her 
hand,  set  themselves  with  demoniac  fury  to  break  the  union  of 
Irishmen,  making  of  it  a  crime  punishable  by  tortures  terrible 
and  fearful  death. 


CHAPTER  LVIII 

THE   UNITED  IRISHMEN 

During  the  leisure  of  these  days,  Tone,  who  had  a  ready  pen  and 
an  extraordinary  gift  of  convincing  exposition,  dashed  off  a  pamphlet 
addressed  to  the  (Presbyterian)  Dissenters,  and  entitled  "An 
Argument  in  behalf  of  the  Catholics  of  Ireland,"  in  which  he  dem- 
onstrated that  Dissenters  and  Catholics  had  "but  one  common 
interest  and  one  common  enemy:  that  the  depression  and  slavery 
of  Ireland  was  produced  and  perpetuated  by  the  divisions  existing 
between  them,  and  that  consequently,  to  assert  the  independence 
of  their  country  and  their  own  individual  Hberties,  it  was  necessar)' 
to  forget  all  former  feuds  to  consolidate  the  whole  strength  of 
the  entire  nation,  and  to  form  for  the  future  but  one  people." 

The  pamphlet  had  an  enormous  and  immediate  success,  and 
though  it  was  signed  "A  Northern  Whig,"  the  identity  of  its  author 
was  no  secret.  Presently  Counsellor  Tone  found  himself  quite  a 
personage,  and  he  was  assiduously  cultivated  by  the  two  sections  of 
the  people  whom  it  was  his  object  to  unite.  The  leaders  of  the 
advanced  party  among  the  Catholics — John  Keogh,  Byrne, 
Braughall,  Sweetman,  etc.,  showed  their  appreciation  of  his  efforts 
on  their  behalf,  not  only  by  inviting  him  to  all  their  splendid  social 
gatherings  but,  in  a  still  more  practical  way,  by  appointing  him 
(at  a  salary  counted  liberal  in  those  days)  to  the  post  of  Assistant 
Secretary  to  the  Catholic  Committee,  left  vacant  by  the  departure 
of  Richard  Burke,  son  of  the  great  Edmund. 

At  the  same  time  the  Dissenters  of  the  North  were  eager  to 
do  him  honour — their  eagerness  to  meet  the  author  of  the  pamphlet 
being  doubtlessly  increased  by  the  encomiums  of  his  friend  Captain 
Russell,  who  had,  since  the  close  of  those  pleasant  days  at  Irish- 
town,  been  stationed  at  Belfast  on  regimental  duty.  The  Volun- 
teers of  the  Northern  capital,  "of  the  first  or  green  company" 
paid  him  the  rare  compliment  of  electing  him  an  honorary  member 
of  their  corps  (a  privilege  never  before  extended  to  any  one  except 
Henry  Flood)  and  they  invited  him  to  Belfast,  in  the  words  of  the 
Autobiography,  "to  assist  in  forming  the  first  club  of  United  Irish- 
men." 

The  Idea  of  the  United  Irishmen  as  a  political  organisation 

505 


5o6  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

originated  with  Samuel  Neilson  (son  of  a  Presbyterian  minister), 
a  prosperous  woollen  merchant  in  Belfast.  Some  months  before 
Tone  first  set  foot  in  the  North,  he  had  discussed  the  matter  very 
fully  with  Henry  Joy  MacCracken  and  Thomas  Russell,  and  won 
over  to  his  views  other  enlightened  Belfast  merchants  like  the 
Simmses,  MacCabe,  Sinclair,  MacTier,  etc.  Tone's  services  were 
sought,  probably  at  the  suggestion  of  Russell,  to  organise  the 
Society,  frame  its  declaration,  elaborate  its  constitution,  etc. 

The  first  general  meeting  of  the  United  Irishmen  was  held  on 
1 8th  of  October,  179 1,  and  the  following  resolutions  v^^ere  proposed 
and  carried: 

( 1 )  That  the  weight  of  English  influence  in  the  Government 
of  this  country  is  so  great  as  to  require  a  cordial  union  among  all 
the  people  of  Ireland,  to  maintain  that  balance  which  is  essential 
to  the  preservation  of  our  liberties,  and  the  extension  of  our 
commerce. 

(2)  That  the  sole  constitutional  mode  by  which  this  influence 
can  be  opposed  is  by  a  complete  and  radical  reform  of  the  represen- 
tation of  the  people  in  Parliament. 

(3)  That  no  reform  is  just  which  does  not  Include  Irishmen 
of  every  religious  persuasion. 

There  we  have  the  original  programme  of  the  United  Irish- 
men— no  other  than  the  reform  programme  of  the  Volunteers, 
strengthened  by  the  frank  and  free  adoption  of  the  principles  of 
religious  equality,  and  united  action,  among  all  sections  of  the 
Irish  people. 

Shortly  after  Its  establishment  in  Belfast,  a  branch  of  the  Society 
was  started  by  Tone  in  Dublin — his  chief  adjutant  In  the  business 
being  that  sturdy  veteran,  Napper  Tandy,  whose  cannon  had  played 
a  great,  if  silent,  part  in  the  early  successes  of  the  Volunteers. 

The  new  Society  went  ahead  by  leaps  and  bounds,  and  the 
establishment  in  Belfast  early  in  1792  of  the  famous  newspaper. 
The  Northern  Star,  under  the  editorship  of  Samuel  Neilson,  did 
much  to  spread  Its  principles.  Neilson  and  his  friends  took  the 
greatest  possible  interest  in  the  Catholic  Convention,  which  the 
Catholic  Committee,  and  their  energetic  Assistant  Secretary,  Tone, 
were  organising  at  the  time ;  and  the  union  between  Dissenters  and 
Catholics  was  demonstrated  in  a  dramatic  and  startling  way  at 
the  end  of  the  Convention.  The  delegates  chosen  to  go  to  London 
to  bear  to  the  King  of  England  that  assembly's  demand  for  the 
complete  emancipation  of  the  Catholics  chose  (for  reasons  we 
can  conjecture)  to  make  the  journey  via  Belfast,  and  their  presence 
was  made  the  occasion  of  a  unique  demonstration.     "Upon  their 


THE  UNITED  IRISHMEN  507 

departure  the  populace  took  their  horses  from  their  carriages  and 
dragged  them  through  the  streets  amid  the  Hvehest  shouts  of  joy 
and  wishes  for  their  success." 

England  on  the  point  of  war  with  France  found  It  prudent 
to  make  the  Irish  Parliament — whose  policy  she  absolutely  con- 
trolled— yield  to  the  Catholic  demands,  at  least  in  part,  and  the 
Franchise  of  1793  was  passed/  The  concessions  were  not  made 
without  advertence  to  the  fact  that  Catholics,  having  got  portion 
of  their  demands,  might  be  detached  from  the  Dissenters,  and  the 
"Union"  be  broken  up. 

To  break  up  that  "Union" — all  the  weight  of  England's  power 
in  Ireland  was,  henceforth,  consistently  directed.  And  now  begins 
one  of  the  most  extraordinary  struggles  of  which  history  has 
record.  While  Tone,  Neilson  and  their  friends  were  doing  every- 
thing in  their  power  to  "found  a  brotherhood  of  affection,  a  com- 
munion of  right,  and  a  union  of  power  among  Irishmen  of  every 
religious  persuasion,  and  thereby  to  obtain  a  complete  reform  of 
the  legislature  founded  on  the  principles  of  civil,  political,  and 
religious  liberty,"  "  the  Clares,  Bcresfords,  Fosters,  Duignans,  etc., 
were  "exhausting  the  resources  of  civilisation"  to  keep  the  Irish 
nation  "a  heap  of  un-cementing  sand."  The  servile  Parliament 
passed  "Convention  Acts"  and  Irishmen  were  deprived  of  the  right 
of  public  meeting,  and  magistrates  and  policemen  were  given  carte 
blanche  to  search  houses  by  day  or  night,  for  arms.  The  "Black 
and  Tans"  of  that  period  smashed  up  newspaper  offices  and  news- 
paper plants,  wrecked  the  houses  and  business  premises  of  men 
suspected  of  "United"  principles  with  thorough  vigour  and  zest. 
The  forces  of  bigotry  were  invoked  in  a  series  of  Grand  Jury 
resolutions,  and  finally,  as  a  supreme  effort,  the  Orange  Order  was 
established.  And  while  all  this  was  being  done  the  men'who  worked 
for  the  union  of  all  Irishmen  were  persecuted  in  every  possible 
way,  their  properties  destroyed,  and  they  themselves  clapped  into 
jail — as  often  as  not  a  step  to  the  foot  of  the  gallows.  Cried  the 
poet,  as  he  stood  by  the  bloody  bier  of  young  William  Orr: 

"Why  cut  off  in  palmy  youth  ? 
Truth  he  spoke  and  acted  truth. 
'Counttymen,  unite,'  he  cried, 
And  died  for  what  our  Saviour  died." 

It  became  plain  to  the  leaders  of  the  "United  Irishmen"  that 


1  This    gave    Catholics    the    elective    franchise,    but    not    the    right    to    sit    in 
Parliament. 

-  Extract  from  a  Manifesto  of  the  United  Irishmen. 


5o8  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

if  they  wanted  to  effect  their  purpose  they  must  do  more  than  pass 
resolutions.  Accordingly,  the  Society,  which  had  been  started  as  a 
purely  "constitutional"  organisation,  after  about  four  years  of 
existence  was  remodelled  on  a  new  basis — a  military  one.  Govern- 
ment had  turned  down  their  efforts  to  reform  by  peaceful  methods, 
and  now  they  were  determined  to  fight  for  their  rights. 

With  the  example  of  America  before  them,  it  is  natural  that 
they  turned  to  France  for  aid.  It  so  happened  that  France  about 
the  same  time  was  thinking  much  of  Ireland.  One  Jackson,  an 
English  clergyman,  exiled  to  France  on  account  of  his  Jacobin  prin- 
ciples, was  sent  by  the  revolutionary  authorities  in  Paris  to  England 
and  Ireland  on  a  secret  mission.  In  London  he  communicated  his 
plans  to  an  old  friend,  an  English  attorney  called  Cockayne. 
Cockayne  immediately  put  the  information  thus  obtained  in  the 
possession  of  Pitt,  who  instructed  him  to  accompany  Jackson  to 
Ireland  and  report  all  his  proceedings.  Through  the  instrumen- 
tality of  Leonard  McNally  (then,  and  for  long  years  afterwards, 
posing  as  a  patriot  barrister,  but  in  reality  a  Castle  spy),  some  of 
the  United  Irishmen,  especially  Tone,  Hamilton  Rowan,  and  Dr. 
Reynolds,  were  implicated  with  Jackson,  and  when  the  case  against 
the  latter  was  complete  and  he  was  put  on  trial  for  high  treason, 
they  had  to  fly  the  country. 

Before  Tone  left  Dublin  for  America,  he  promised  his  friends, 
Thomas  Russell  and  Thomas  Addis  Emmet  (a  prominent  Dublin 
barrister) ,  that  he  would  take  the  earliest  opportunity  of  Interesting 
the  French  minister  to  the  United  States  In  the  cause  of  an  alliance 
between  France  and  Ireland,  and,  furnished  if  possible  with  a 
recommendation  from  that  official,  present  himself  in  Paris  to  seek 
aid  from  the  French  Directory.  On  his  way  through  Belfast  he 
made  a  similar  engagement  with  his  Republican  friends  of  that 
city.  On  a  certain  June  day  in  1795,  Tone,  in  company  with  Russell, 
Nellson,  MacCracken,  SImms  and  some  others,  climbed  to  the  top 
of  MacArt's  Fort  on  the  top  of  Cave  Hill — and  there  looking 
down  on  the  quiet  little  city,  they  swore  "never  to  desist  from  their 
efforts  until  they  had  subverted  the  authority  of  England  over  their 
country,  and  asserted  their  Independence." 

A  little  more  than  half  a  year  later,  Wolfe  Tone  was  In  Paris, 
In  direct  touch  with  the  French  Directory,  and  received  as  the 
representative  of  the  people  of  Ireland,  on  a  mission  for  "the 
separation  of  Ireland  from  England,  and  her  establishment  as  an 
Independent  Republic  In  alliance  with  France."  By  the  following 
June,  matters  had  so  far  advanced  that  the  republicans  In  Ireland 
sent  another  mission  to  France,  this  time  consisting  of  Lord  Edward 


THE  UNITED  IRISHMEN  509 

Fitzgerald  and  Arthur  O'Connor,  and  those  negotiations  were 
concluded  which  led  to  the  great  expedition  under  Hoche  in  the 
winter  of  1796 — the  "Bantry  Bay"  expedition,  whose  story  we 
shall  presently  relate. 

During  the  year  1796,  events  had  moved  in  Ireland  with  extraor- 
dinary rapidity.  On  the  one  hand  the  Government  had  let  loose 
on  the  country  a  storm  of  organised  terrorism,  and  on  the  other  the 
country,  as  a  measure  of  self-protection,  if  nothing  else — had  gone 
solidly  into  the  ranks  of  the  "United"  men. 

It  was  mentioned  that  among  the  sinister  measures  adopted  by 
Government  to  break  the  "Union,"  was  the  establishment  of  the 
Orange  Society.  Of  this  association,  and  its  works,  it  becomes 
necessary  now  to  speak. 

The  Orange  Society  was  established  in  the  village  of  Lough- 
gall,  Co.  Armagh,  on  the  21st  September,  1795,  the  evening  of  the 
"Battle  of  the  Diamond."  ^  Their  "test"  at  that  period  is  said  to 
have  been  "In  the  awful  presence  of  Almighty  God,  I,  A.  B.,  do 
solemnly  swear  that  I  will  to  the  utmost  of  my  power  support  the 
King  and  the  present  government  and  I  do  further  swear  that  I 
will  use  my  utmost  exertions  to  exterminate  all  the  Catholics  of  the 
Kingdom  of  Ireland." 

The  extermination  clause  was  afterwards  repudiated,  but, 
whether  the  original  Orange  oath  contained  it  or  not,  the  Orange- 
men themselves  left  no  doubt  that  the  raison  d'etre  of  their  existence 
was  the  extermination  of  the  Catholics  of  their  neighbourhood. 
"They  would  no  longer  permit  a  Catholic  to  exist  in  Co.  Armagh." 
They  forced  masters  to  get  rid  of  their  Catholic  servants  and  land- 
lords of  their  Catholic  tenants.  They  posted  up  on  the  cabins  of 
the  unfortunate  Catholic  small  farmers,  and  cottiers  and  weavers, 
ill-spelt  notices  threatening  dreadful  things  if  the  inmates  did  not 
clear  out  at  once  "to  Hell  or  Connacht."  If  the  persons  whose 
houses  were  thus  "papered"  as  the  phrase  went,  neglected  the  warn- 
ing, large  bodies  of  armed  Orangemen,  mad  with  drink  and  re- 
ligious fanaticism,  assembled  at  night,  destroyed  the  furniture, 
broke  down  the  looms,  burned  the  habitations  and  forced  the 
ruined  families  to  fly  elsewhere  for  shelter.  Several  Catholic 
chapels  were  burned,  and  the  disturbances  presently  extended  to 
Derry,  Down,  Antrim  and  Tyrone.     It  is  estimated  that  in  Co. 

3  The  "Battle  of  the  Diamond"  was  fought  between  the  "Peep  o'  Day  Boys," 
fanatical  Protestants  of  the  lower  order  who  used  to  raid  Catholic  houses  for  arms 
at  the  break  of  day,  and  the  "Defenders,"  Catholics,  who  had  banded  themselves 
together  to  resist  these  outrages.  It  resulted  in  the  defeat  of  the  "Defenders"  who 
left  many  of  their  number  dead  on  the  field. 


5IO  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

Armagh  alone  over  7,000  persons  were  thus  left  homeless — and 
turned  out  in  the  dead  of  winter  to  die  by  the  wayside,  or  find 
shelter — God  only  knows  where.  Those  who  died  were  the  hap- 
piest. As  the  others  wandered  from  place  to  place  seeking  shelter, 
they  were  met  by  the  magistrates  and  their  armed  followers — and 
clapped  into  jail  as  "vagrants."  From  the  jails  the  pick  of  the 
young  men  were  press-ganged  for  the  English  Fleet  1  * 

What  did  the  Irish  Government  do  to  protect  the  defenceless 
Catholics,  and  to  punish  their  Orange  aggressors?  The  atrocities, 
the  murders,  the  extermination  campaign  against  the  Cathohcs, 
were  all  "according  to  plan,"  and  those  who  carried  them  out 
were  sure  of  Government  protection.  It  happened,  however,  that 
some  of  the  zealous  "law  and  order"  men  were  too  zealous.  Lord 
Carhampton,  for  instance,  and  other  magistrates  who  had  ("acting 
with  a  vigour  beyond  the  law,")  been  conscripting  hundreds  of 
untried  prisoners  for  the  Fleet,  had  not  the  slightest  sanction  of 
legality  for  their  proceedings.  What  did  it  matter?  "Let  us," 
said  the  Irish  Parhament,  "make  their  illegalities  legal."  And 
accordingly,  that  Parliament  proceeded  to  pass  the  "Insurrection" 
and  "Indemnity"  Acts.  The  Attorney  General,  in  introducing  the 
Bills,  explained  the  former  as  designed  for  "preventing  insurrec- 
tions, tumults  and  riots  in  this  kingdom,"'  and  the  latter  for  "indem- 
nifying magistrates,  and  others,  who  in  their  exertions  for  the 
preservation  of  the  public  tranquillity,  might  have  acted  against 
the  forms  and  rules  of  law."  But  Grattan's  famous  commentary 
on  them  explained  far  more  clearly  their  true  inwardness.  "A  bill 
of  indemnity  went  to  secure  the  offending  magistrates  against  the 
consequences  of  their  outrages  and  illegalities;  that  is  to  say,  in 
our  humble  opinion,  the  poor  were  stricken  out  of  the  protection 
of  law,  and  the  rich  out  of  its  penalties,  and  then  another  bill  was 
passed  to  give  such  lawless  proceedings  against  his  Majesty's  sub- 
jects continuation,  namely,  a  bill  to  enable  magistrates  to  perpetrate 
by  law  those  offences  which  they  had  before  committed  against  it;  a 
bill  to  legalise  outrage,  to  barbarise  law,  and  to  give  the  law  itself 
the  caste  and  colour  of  outrage.  By  such  a  bill  the  magistrates 
were  enabled,  without  legal  process,  to  send  on  board  a  tender,  his 

^  If  the  atrocities  of  the  Orangemen  had  stopped  at  house-wrecking  they  would 
have  been  bad  enough.  But  there  were  still  worse  crimes  to  their  account — and 
some  of  tliese  had  been  collected  in  a  famous  pamphlet,  praised  by  Presbyterian 
J^mie  Hope  "as  containing  more  truth  than  anything  ever  written  of  the  events 
tfet  led  up  to  the  Rising  of  '98." 

5  This  Act  gave  magistrates  the  most  unlimited  powers  to  arrest  and  imprison 
and  search  houses  for  arms. 


THE  UNITED  IRISHMExN  511 

Majesty's  subjects,  and  the  country  was  divided  into  two  classes — 
his  Majesty's  magistrates  and  his  Majesty's  subjects;  the  former 
without  restraint,  and  the  latter  without  privilege." 

Thus  deprived  of  the  protection  of  the  laws,  the  people  were 
more  rapidly  driven  into  the  ranks  of  the  "United  Irishmen"; 
and  by  the  end  of  1796  the  organisation  had  a  membership  of  half- 
a-million,  and  included  men  of  all  classes  of  the  nation:  Lord 
Edward  Fitzgerald  (son  of  the  Duke  of  Leinster),  Arthur 
O'Connor  (nephew  of  Lord  Longueville),  Thomas  Addis  Emmet 
the  successful  barrister,  Dr.  MacNevin  the  clever  physician,  John 
Sweetman  the  wealthy  brewer,  and  innumerable  Catholic  priests 
and  Presbyterian  clergymen  joined  the  Society  in  the  year.  Pres- 
ently it  was  reckoned  that  100,000  men  were  drilling  secretly — 
ready  to  take  the  field  when  the  French  should  land. 

In  order  to  break  up  the  organisation,  Government,  in  1796, 
arrested  the  best  known  of  the  leaders,  Samuel  Neilson,  Thomas 
Russell,  Henry  Joy  MacCracken,  William  MacCracken,  etc.,  in 
Belfast;  young  Charles  Teeling  in  Lisburn,  and  numerous  others 
in  Dublin.  But  for  every  man  arrested,  ten  men  sprang  forward 
to  fill  his  place,  and  v/hen  the  message  came  that  the  French,  with 
Tone  on  board  "were  on  the  sea,"  there  was  the  proud  feeling  that 
the  "United  Irishmen"  were  ready  to  give  a  good  account  of 
themselves.*^ 

6  THE  SHAN  VAN  VOCHT 
(A  Street  Ballad  of  '98) 

Oh!  the  French  are  on  the  sea,  What  should  the  yeomen  do. 

Says  the  Shan  Van  Vocht;  But  throw  off  tlie  red  and  blue, 

The  French  are  on  the  sea,  And  swear  that  they'll  be  true 

Says  the  Shan  Van  Vocht;  To  the  Shan  Van  Vocht? 

Oh !  the  French  are  in  the  Bay, 

They'll  be  here  without  delay,  And  what  colour  will  they  wear? 
And  the  Orange  will  decay  Saj^s  the  Shan  Van  Vocht; 

Says  the  Shan  Van  Vocht.  What  colour  will  they  wear? 

Says  the  Shan  Van  Vocht; 
And  where  will  they  have  their  camp?       What  colour  should  be  seen 

Says  the  Shan  Van  Vocht ;  Where  our  fatliers'  homes  have  been, 

Where  will  they  have  their  camp?  But   our  own   immortal  Green? 

Says  the  Shan  Van  Vocht;  Says  tlie  Shan  Van  Vocht 

On  the  Curragh  of   Kildare 

The  boys  they  will  be  there      ^  And  will   Ireland  then  be  free? 
With  their  pikes  in  good  repair  Says  the  Shan  Van  Vocht; 

Says  the  Shan  Van  Vocht.  Will  Ireland  then  be  free? 

Says  the  Shan  Van  Vocht; 

Then  what  will  the  yeomen  do?  Yes!    Ireland  shall  be  free. 

Says  the  Shan  Van  Vocht;  From  the  centre  to  the  sea; 

What  will  the  yeomen  do?  Then  hurrah  for  Liberty! 

Says  the  Shan  Van  Vocht;  Says  the  Shan  Van  Vocht 


512  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

When  the  news  of  the  arrest  of  his  "dear  friends,  Russell  and 
Samuel  Neilson,"  reached  Tone,  he  was  on  his  way  to  Brest  to 
join  General  Hoche  and  the  great  expedition  then  preparing  for 
the  invasion  of  Ireland.  A  fortnight  later,  he  was  giving  messages 
for  Oliver  Bond,  Richard  MacCormack,  etc.,  to  MacSheehy, 
before  the  latter  embarked  in  a  "safe  American"  vessel  to  tell  the 
republicans  in  Ireland  what  was  forward  at  Brest. 

There  is  no  more  dramatic  or  moving  narration  in  all  history, 
than  that  set  forth  in  Tone's  "Journals"  dealing  v/ith  the  Hoche 
expedition.  Those  vivid  pages  make  us  actually  Uve  through  all 
the  events  they  commemorate.  We  share  his  exasperation  at  the 
unaccountable  delays,  his  exultation  when  he  saw  his  cherished 
dreams  at  length  reahsed,  and  on  board  the  "Indomptable"  he  set 
sail  for  the  land  of  his  heart's  desire.  The  expedition  consisted 
of  forty-three  sail  under  Admiral  Morand  de  Galles  and  Bouvet, 
with  an  army  of  fifteen  thousand  men  under  General  Hoche,  one 
of  the  greatest  generals  in  Europe,  and  General  Grouchy.  It  had 
on  board  abundance  of  stores  and  artillery,  and  arms  for  45,000 
men. 

But  treachery  seems  to  have  been  at  work  from  the  start,  and 
if  Tone  knew  some  of  the  things  we  know  now,  much  that  puzzled 
him  might  have  been  explained  to  him.  Since  French  ministers  and 
French  generals  were  tempted  by  English  gold  and  fell,^  can  we 
assume  that  the  virtue  of  French  Admirals  was  altogether  tempta- 
tion proof.  A  few  very  suspicious  facts  are  to  be  recorded.  The 
English  fleet  (though  the  English  Government  through  its  spies 
was  quite  as  well  informed  of  the  incidents  of  the  expedition  as  the 
promoters  themselves)  never  once  showed  up  to  bar  its  passage. 
Was  it  because  it  was  understood  that  there  was  no  need?  A  mys- 
terious message,  the  source  of  which  never  was  traced  (but  the 
purport  of  which  was  obvious),  reached  the  Irish  leaders  shortly 
after  MacSheehy's  arrival,  stating  that  the  expedition  was  post- 
poned. The  French  fleet  had  only  been  a  day  at  sea  when  the 
frigate,  the  "Fraternite,"  having  General  Hoche  on  board,  as  well 
as  Admiral  Morand  de  Galles,  got  separated  from  Its  companions 
— and  by  some  very  curious  fatality  never  reached  the  Irish  coast 

■^  Baxth^lemy,  the  French  minister  in  Switzerland,  with  whom,  in  the  summer  of 
1796,  Lord  Edward  Fitzgerald  and  Arthur  O'Connor  conducted  the  negotiations 
which  led  to  the  expedition,  was  a  paid  agent  of  Pitt.  Many  of  the  French  Generals 
like  Pichegru  were  also  in  the  pay  of  England,  When  Doctor  MacNevin  went  to 
Hamburg  as  an  envoy  of  the  United  Men  all  his  proceedings  were  carefully  retailed 
to  the  English  Government  and  the  Memoir  he  wrote  for  the  French  Directory 
pp.ssed  straight  into  the  hands  of  Pitt  who  submitted  it  to  the  Irish  Executive. 


THE  UNITED  IRISHMEN  513 

at  all — but  rejoined  its  companions,  safe  and  sound,  when  the 
remnants  of  the  expedition  returned  to  Brest  in  January.^  At  day- 
break on  the  2 1  St  December,  Tone  was  looking  once  more  with 
emotions  one  may  not  describe  on  the  "fair  hills  of  holy  Ireland." 
At  eight  in  the  morning  of  the  22nd  his  ship  was  at  the  mouth  of 
Bantry  Bay.  "I  am  now  so  near  the  shore,"  he  writes  later  that 
day,  "that  I  can  see  distinctly  two  old  castles,  yet  I  am  utterly 
uncertain  whether  I  shall  ever  set  foot  on  it."  The  following  day, 
so  desperate  was  he,  that  he  proposed  to  head  a  landing  himself 
and  asked  General  Cherin  to  give  him  "the  Legion  de  France,"  a 
company  of  the  artillerie  legere  and  as  many  officers  as  desired  to 
come  as  Volunteers  in  the  expedition,  with  what  arms  and  stores 
remained,  and  to  land  them  in  Sligo  Bay.  The  proposal  appealed 
to  the  gallantry  of  the  French  officers — and  -on  Christmas  eve 
Grouchy  determined  to  land  with  the  force  he  had. 

What  a  strange  Christmas  that  must  have  been  for  Tone — so 
near  the  land  "that  he  could  in  a  manner  touch  the  sides  of  Bantry 
Bay  with  his  right  and  left  hand,"  yet  conscious  how  doubtful  it 
was  that  he  should  ever  tread  again  the  sacred  soil  of  Ireland. 
What  thoughts  were  his,  when,  wakened  by  the  wind  at  two  o'clock 
on  Christmas  morning,  he  paced  the  galley  in  his  great  coat  "de- 
voured by  the  most  gloomy  reflections." 

That  night,  at  "half  after  six,  in  a  heavy  gale  of  wind,"  orders 
came  to  the  "Indomptable"  from  Admiral  Bouvet  "to  cut  her 
cable  and  put  to  sea  instantly."  "Our  first  idea,"  writes  Tone, 
"was  that  it  might  be  an  English  frigate  lurking  in  the  bottom 
of  the  bay,  which  took  advantage  of  the  storm  and  darkness  of 
the  night  to  make  her  escape,  and  wished  to  separate  our  squadron 
by  this  stratagem;  for  it  seemed  incredible  that  an  Admiral  should 
cut  and  run  in  this  manner  without  any  previous  signal  of  any  kind 
to  warn  the  fleet,  and  that  the  first  notice  we  should  have  of  its 
intention  should  be  his  hailing  us  in  this  extraordinary  manner  with 
such  unexpected  and  peremptory  orders." 

The  brave  Captain  Bedout  and  officers  on  board  the  "In- 
domptable" refused  at  first  to  accept  the  orders  as  genuine,  and  on 
the  27th  December,  a  council  of  war  was  held,  at  which  a  plan  of 
Tone's  for  a  landing  at  the  mouth  of  the  Shannon  was  carefully 

8  "I  believe,"  writes  Tone,  "it  is  the  first  instance  of  an  Admiral  in  a  clean 
frigate,  with  moderate  weather,  and  moonlight  night,  parting  company  with  his 
fleet."  But  he  does  not  seem  to  have  allowed  himself  to  entertain  the  suspicion  we 
cannot  avoid,  viz.,  that  General  Hoche  was  the  victim  of  a  trick.  Tone  blamed  him. 
however,  for  not  embarking  on  the  flagship  with  his  staflt. 


514  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

discussed.  But  a  frightful  storm  that  arose  the  same  night  made 
any  further  effort  impossible  and  on  the  morning  of  the  29th  the 
Commander  made  the  signal  to  steer  for  France. 

The  Bantry  Bay  expedition  was  ended.     "England  had  not 
had  such  an  escape  since  the  Spanish  Armada." 

Wolfe  Tone's  Autobiography. 

Barrington:     Personal  Sketches. 

MacNevin:     Pieces  of  Irish  History. 

Lecky:     History  of  Ireland  in  the  Eighteenth  Century. 


CHAPTER  LIX 

THE  RISING  OF  1798 

After  the  failure  of  the  "Bantry  Bay  Expedition"  there  were 
many  who  thought  the  United  Irishmen  ought  to  take  the  field 
themselves  without  waiting  for  foreign  aid — and  during  the  course 
of  1797  this  opinion  gained  ground,  especially  in  the  North.  But 
the  Dublin  men,  Thomas  Addis  Emmet,  John  Keogh.  William 
Murphy,  were  opposed  to  it — and  their  views  prevailed  when  it 
was  learned  that  through  the  efforts  of  the  indomitable  Tone,  a  new 
expedition  was  being  fitted  out.  This  time  it  was  the  Dutch,  who 
claimed  for  themselves  the  role  of  chief  helper  in  the  drama  of  Ire- 
land's deliverance. 

In  the  meantime  Government  was  making  a  desperate  attempt 
to  break  up  the  United  Irishmen,  or,  failing  that,  to  goad  the 
people  into  a  premature  and  unsupported  rising.  In  March,  Gen- 
eral Lake  was  sent  to  Ulster  to  disarm  it.  The  Lord  Lieutenant, 
Camden,  in  a  letter  of  instructions,  gave  Lake  to  understand  that  he 
was  not  to  be  too  squeamish  about  the  means  he  used,  "if  the 
urgency  of  the  case  demanded  a  conduct  beyond  that  which  could 
be  sanctioned  by  the  law,  the  General  was  not  to  suffer  the  cause  of 
justice  to  be  frustrated  by  the  delicacy  which  might  possibly  actuate 
the  magistracy." 

The  hint  not  to  spare  "frightfulness"  was  not  lost  on  General 
Lake  and  the  "Yeos,"  ^  and  "Ancient  Britons"  and  "Essex  Fenci- 
bles"  who  formed  his  army.  The  burning  of  peaceful  homes,  the 
slaughter  of  old  men,  women  and  children,  the  torturing  of  pris- 
oners (picketing  and  half-hanging  were  familiar  forms),  the  most 
shocking  outrages  on  women,  this  was  what  General  Lake  and 
his  heroes  interpreted  as  comprehended  in  the  "conduct  beyond 
that  sanctioned  by  the  law,"  which  Viceregal  recommendations 
favoured.  Lecky  found  in  the  Government  archives  a  letter  from 
one  John  Giffard,  an  officer  in  the  Dublin  militia,  to  Under-Secre- 

^  The  "Yeos"  were  Orangemen  and  other  British  Colonists  armed  by  Govern- 
ment. 

515 


-516  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

tary  Cooke,  describing  what  happened  in  one  of  the  raids  for  arms. 
As  his   damaging   testimony  cannot  under  the   circumstances   be 
doubted  I  select  it  in  preference  to  other  evidence — even  that  of 
Lord  Moira  in  the  EngHsh  House  of  Lords — to  show  what  was 
done  during  the  disarming  of  Ulster  in  the  summer  of  1797.    The 
scene  is  laid  near  Newry  where  the  "Ancient  Britons"  had  their 
Headquarters.     Giffard  tells   how  the   "Britons  burned   a   great 
number  of  houses,  and  the  object  of  emulation  bet\\'een  them  and 
the  Orange  Yeomen  seems  to  be  who  shall  do  most  mischief."     He 
describes  an  expedition  to  the  mountains  in  search  of  arms.     His 
party  returned  to   the   main  body  of  the  Ancient   Britons,    "to 
which,"  he  says,  "I  was  directed  by  the  smoke  and  flames  of  burn- 
ing houses,  and  by  the  dead  bodies  of  boys  and  old  men  slain  by 
the  Britons,  though  no  opposition  whatever  had  been  given  them, 
and,  as  I  shall  answer  to  Almighty  God,  I  beheve  a  single  gun  was 
not  fired,  but  by  the  Britons  or  Yeomanry.     I  declare  there  was 
nothing  to  fire  at,  old  men,  women,  and  children  excepted.     Six- 
teen prisoners  were  taken  and  marched  to  Newry  where  their  cap- 
tors were  asked  why  they  made  any  prisoners  at  all,  meaning  that 
we  should  have  finished  them.  .  .  .  Two  of  the  Britons  desirous 
to  enter  a  gentleman's  house,  the  yard  gate  was  opened  to  them  by 
a  lad,  whom  for  his  civility  they  shot  and  cut  in  pieces." 

The  perfect  discipline  of  the  "United  Men"  kept  the  people 
quiet,  and  this  effect  was  the  more  readily  obtained,  as  it  was  felt 
their  time  would  come  speedily.  The  Dutch  were  fitting  out  a  great 
expedition  at  the  Texel. 

It  is  a  sad  story,  that  of  the  new  disappointment  caused  by  the 
failure  of  the  Dutch  expedition  to  materialise.  In  May  and  June 
a  great  mutiny  broke  out  in  the  English  fleet,  the  Mutiny  of  the 
Nore.  If  the  Dutch  had  been  ready  then — with  the  United  Irish- 
men In  the  full  perfection  of  their  organisation  to  co-operate  with 
them  after  a  landing — the  cause  of  Irish  liberty  would  have  been 
surely  won.  Unfortunately  the  chance  was  missed,  and  the  defeat 
of  the  Dutch  fleet  by  the  English  at  Camperdown,  on  the  nth 
October,  put  a  definite  end  to  the  hopes  connected  with  It. 

A  few  weeks  previously  a  blow  even  heavier  fell  on  the  Irish 
cause — the  death  of  General  Hoche. 

The  disappointments  and  the  sufferings  of  the  tragic  year  had  a 
bad  effect  on  many  of  the  United  Irishmen  of  the  North,  who,  by 
this  time,  were  convinced  that  the  cause  was  doomed  to  failure, 
and  that  It  was  the  part  of  wise  men  to  save  themselves,  and 
what  they  could,  from  the  impending  catastrophe.     Accordingly, 


THE  RISING  OF  1798  517 

we  find  some  of  them,  to  their  eternal  disgrace,  selling  themselves 
as  spies  and  informers  to  the  Government."  The  most  noted  of 
these  traitors  vv'as  one  Samuel  Turner,  of  Newry,  who  had  fled  to 
Hamburg  in  June,  1797.  Here  he  was  in  touch  with  Madame 
Matthiessen,  a  cousin  of  Lady  Edward  Fitzgerald  (Pamela), 
through  whom  the  communications  of  the  United  Irishmen  with 
the  French  minister  at  Hamburg,  Reinhardt,  were  conducted.  As  a 
consequence  all  the  plans  of  the  republicans  in  Ireland  and  the 
efforts  of  their  envoys  Levins  and  MacNevin  at  Hamburg,  were 
at  once  communicated  to  the  English  Government.  In  Ireland,  too, 
the  "battalion  of  testimony"  was  numerous  and  unsuspected.  There 
was  the  unspeakable  Leonard  MacNally,  who  acted  in  public  the 
part  of  a  patriot  barrister,  shared  with  Curran  the  task  of  defending 
the  L'nited  Irishmen  at  the  trials — and  put  the  knowledge  he  thus 
gained  at  the  service  of  the  Government,  whose  secret  pensioner 
he  had  been  for  years.  There  was  MacGuckin,  the  legal  adviser  of 
the  Northern  leaders,  who  acted  the  same  part  towards  his  un- 
fortunate clients.  There  was  Reynolds,  a  sworn  "United  man," 
the  friend  of  Lord  Edward,  there  was  Magan,  the  immaculate 
Catholic  barrister — the  horrible  list  is  too  long  to  finish! 

In  consequence  of  information  thus  received  the  English  Gov- 
ernment, early  in  1798,  arrested  Arthur  O'Connor  and  Father 
Quigley,  on  their  way  to  jFrance  to  make  a  new  effort  to  secure 
French  aid.  O'Connor  they  kept  in  prison  or  internment  until 
1801,  but  Fr.  Quigley  they  hanged.  On  the  12th  March  1798, 
acting  on  information  supplied  by  Reynolds,  the  Irish  Government 
swooped  upon  a  meeting  of  the  Leinster  Directory  at  the  house  of 

2  As  it  has  been  a  fashion  with  English  and  pro-English  people  falsely  to  taunt 
the  Irish  that  informers  could  always  be  procured  in  any  of  their  movements,  it  is 
worth  while  adducing  a  bit  of  valuable  testimony  to  the  contrast  between  Irish 
staunchness  and  British,  in  the  "United"  movement.  Gamble,  an  eminently  just- 
minded  man,  and  an  able  writer,  of  British  stock,  residing  in  Strabane  in  the  early 
part  of  the  eighteenth  century,  knowing  intimately  both  his  own  stock  and  the  Irish, 
and  evidently  well  versed  in  the  local  United  Irish  chronicles,  gives  in  his  "Tour  in 
Ireland"  (published  in  1825)  striking  testimony  on  the  matter.  On  page  271  of 
his  book  he  says :  "On  these  occasions  tlie  Protestant  was  almost  always  the  in- 
former. The  fidelity  of  the  Catholic  could  rarely  be  shaken."  And  on  page  272: 
*'Tbe  Government  therefore  was  probably  benefited,  rather  than  injured  by  the 
share  the  Protestant  had  in  the  rebellion — hanging,  as  he  often  did,  a  dead-weight 
about  the  neck  of  his  Catholic  associate,  restraining  his  efforts  and  discovering  his 
plans.  *  *  *  Events  of  that  day  (at  least  as  far  as  present  generations  are 
concerned)  have  placed  an  everlasting  bar  between  the  two — the  one  has  no  wish  to 
be  trusted ;  but  if  he  had,  no  inducement,  I  daresay,  would  prevail  on  the  other  to 
trust  him."  However,  the  latest  Irish  movement,  in  v/hich  more  than  a  hundred 
thousand  people  have  conspired,  struggled,  fought,  without  a  single  individual  being 
purchasable  by  all  the  gold  of  England,  is  the  most  striking  proof  of  Irish  fidelity. — 
S.  M.  M. 


5i8  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

Oliver  Bond,  arrested  all  those  present,  and  seized  their  papers, 
which  put  them  in  possession  of  all  their  plans.  The  same  day  the 
authorities  arrested  Thomas  Addis  Emmet,  John  Sweetman,  Dr. 
Nevin,  Oliver  Bond,  and  issued  warrants  against  Lord  Edward 
Fitzgerald,  Richard  MacCormack  and  Sampson — who  immediately 
went  "on  the  'run."  The  two  latter  escaped  to  the  continent,  but 
nothing  would  induce  Lord  Edward  to  leave  Ireland,  though  strong 
hints  were  given  to  his  family  (by  Lord  Clare  himself)  that  the 
ports  were  open  to  him.  He  knew  that  the  country  would  rise 
now,  and  he  was  determined  that  the  Commander-in-Chief  should 
not  be  proclaimed  a  deserter. 

The  vacant  places  in  the  Directory  were  filled  by  Henry  and 
John  Sheares,  two  successful  barristers,  and  Lord  Edward,  assisted 
by  his  sturdy  lieutenant,  Sam  Neilson,  was  very  active  in  superin- 
tending operations.  A  new  promise  came  from  the  French  that 
they  would  send  an  expeditionary  force  in  May. 

On  the  30th  March,  Martial  Law  was  proclaimed  all  through 
the  country.  The  most  frightful  atrocities  were  committed  by  the 
troops  under  its  shelter,  for  the  purpose  avowed  by  Lord  Castle- 
reagh  himself  "to  cause  a  premature  rebellion."  To  the  "fright- 
fulness"  associated  with  General  Lake's  conduct  in  Ulster  in  1797, 
new  terrors  were  added  by  the  policy  of  "free  quarters."  A  savage 
and  undisciplined  soldiery,  mad  with  lust  and  drink,  were  let 
loose  in  the  pure  homes  of  the  countryside,  and  the  land  was  filled 
with  the  cries  of  ravished  women,  the  shrieks  of  the  victims  of 
pitch  cap  and  triangle,  the  lamentations  of  those  who  saw  their 
homes  go  up  in  flames.  So  dreadful  was  the  conduct  of  the  troops, 
that  their  Commander-in-Chief,  Sir  Ralph  Abercrombie,  unable  to 
stomach  them  any  longer,  resigned.  He  had  previously  declared 
the  "army  was  in  a  state  of  licentiousness,  which  must  render  it 
formidable  to  everyone  but  the  enemy."  "Within  these  twelve 
months,"  he  writes,  on  another  occasion,  "every  crime,  every  cruelty 
that  could  be  committed  by  Cossacks  and  Calmucks  has  been  trans- 
acted here." 

Whether  the  French  came  or  not  the  people  could  hold  out 
no  longer.  The  insurrection  was  fixed  for  the  23rd  May,  and  the 
signal  was  to  be  the  stopping  of  the  mail  coaches  from  Dublin. 

Four  days  before  the  appointed  date  Lord  Edward  was  taken 
at  Murphy's  house  in  Thomas  Street,  on  information  supplied  by 
Magan;  and  the  following  day,  while  he  lay  in  Newgate  prison, 
wounded  to  death,  the  two  Sheares  were  betrayed  by  Captain 
Armstrong. 

On   the   day  of  Lord   Edward's   death,   Napoleon   definitely 


THE  RISING  OF  1798 


519 


abandoned  the  Irish  cause,  and  set  out  on  his  Egyptian  campaign.' 
The  insurrection,  long  delayed  in  the  hope  of  the  promised 
aid  from  France,  now  broke  out  under  the  worst  possible  condi- 
tions for  success.  Left  without  leaders,  is  it  astonishing  that  it 
should  have  been  confined  to  only  a  portion  of  the  country,  and 
that  the  efforts  of  the  counties  that  "rose"  were  speedily  sup- 
pressed? The  astonishing  thing  is  to  find  what  these  poorly-armed, 
leaderless  people  could  do  when  they  had  capable  officers.  Be- 
tween 24th  and  27th  May  there  were  engagements  with  the  military 
at  Naas,  Clane,  Prosperous,  Kilcullen  and  Monasterevin  in  Kildare, 
at  Dunboyne  and  Tara  in  Meath,  at  Baltinglass  in  Wicklow,  at 
Lucan,  Rathfarnham,  and  Tallaght  in  Dublin.  Though  the  only 
definite  success  on  the  insurgents'  side  was  at  Prosperous,  where 
they  were  capably  led  by  Lieutenant  Esmond,  they  gave  such  a  good 
account  of  themselves  that  Government  was  very  glad  to  make 
terms.  How  these  "terms"  were  kept  will  be  long  remembered. 
Around  Gibbet  Rath  on  the  Curragh  of  Kildare,  where  the  assem- 
bled insurgents  surrendered  their  arms,  having  previously  obtained 
a  promise  of  "pardon  and  liberty,"  they  were  set  upon  by  Lord 
Roden,  and  his  mounted  "fencibles"  and  butchered  in  cold  blood! 
In  the  meantime  Wexford  had  "risen,"  goaded  to  the  step  by 

3  In  St.  Helena  Napoleon  expressed  bitter  regret  for  this  act.  He  intimated 
that  if  he  had  chosen  Ireland  instead  of  Egypt,  the  current  of  history  could  have 
been  radically  changed. 

For  Lord  Edward's  death— and  the  blow  it  was  to  Ireland — Ethna  Carbery 
sings  the  lament  of  Mairin-Ni-Cullinan : — 

MAIRIN-NI-CULLINAN 

(Ireland's  Lament  for  Lord  Edward) 


Underneath  the  shrouding  stone, 
Where  you  lie  in  Death  alone, 

Can  you  hear  me  calling,  calling. 
In  a  wild  hot  gush  of  woe? 

'Tis  for  you  my  tears  are  falling — 
For  you,  mo  Chraoibhin  Cno! 

When  j'ou  stood  up  in  the  Green 
As  beseemed  the  Geraldine, 

Slender  sword  a-glancing,  glancing. 
Over   you   the  tender   skies. 

How  the  warrior-joy  kept  dancing. 
In  your  brave  bright  eyes. 

"  'Stor"  I  said,  "A  stor  ma  chroidhe, 
Hope  of  Mine  and  Hope  of  Me, 

Take  our  honour  to  your  keeping. 
Bare  your  swift  blade  to  the  Dawn. 

Freedom's  voice  hath  roused  from 
sleeping 
Mairin-ni-Cullinan." 


So  I  dreamt  the  Day  had  come. 
Now  your  ardent  lips  are  dumb. 

And  the  sword  is  rusty,  rusty. 
Through  a  hundred  weary  years; 

All  the  winds  are  blowing  gusty 
With  a  storm  of  tears. 

'"Stor,"  I  cry,  above  your  bed. 
Where  I  kneel  uncomforted — 

"Feel  you  not  the  battle-anger 
Shake  the  Nations  of  the  World  ? 

While  amid  the  stress  and  clangour. 
Still  my  Flag  is  furled. 

"Were  you  here,  O  Geraldine, 
This  oblivion  had  not  been." 

Thus  I  mourn  you  pining,  pining. 
For  the  gallant  heart  long  gone. 

Whose  love  was  as  a  true  star  shin- 
ing^ 
To  Mairin-ni-CulHnan. 


520  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

the  atrocities  of  the  Yeos  and  British  troops  these  let  loose.  The 
story  of  Father  John  Murphy  might  stand  for  the  story  of  Wex- 
ford: its  efforts  for  peace,  its  disinclination  to  resort  to  the  arbi- 
tration of  the  sword  as  long  as  any  other  choice  was  left  it — and 
then  its  sturdy  courage,  the  extraordinary  military  ability  shown 
by  its  improvised  leaders:  priests  like  Father  John  Murphy  himself 
or  his  namesake,  Father  Michael,  Father  Philip  Roche,  and  Father 
Doyle,  young  farmers  like  Edmund  Kyan  or  Myles  Byrne.  It  is 
in  the  vivid  narrative  of  the  latter  that  we  must  follow  the  events 
of  the  Wexford  campaign — from  that  Whit  Saturday  when  Father 
John  Murphy  "seeing  his  chapel  and  his  home,  like  many  others 
of  the  parish  on  fire,  and  in  several  of  them  the  inhabitants  con- 
sumed in  the  flames  .  .  .  betook  himself  to  the  next  wood, 
where  he  was  soon  surrounded  by  the  unfortunate  people  who  had 
escaped,  all  came  beseeching  his  Reverence  to  tell  them  what  was 
to  become  of  them  and  their  poor  families.  He  answered 
them  abruptly  that  they  had  better  die  courageously  in  the  field 
than  be  butchered  in  their  houses;  that  for  his  own  part,  if  he  had 
any  brave  men  to  join  him,  he  was  resolved  to  sell  his  life  dearly, 
and  prove  to  those  cruel  monsters  that  they  should  not  continue 
their  murders  and  devastations  with  impunity.  All  answered  and 
cried  out  that  they  were  determined  to  follow  his  advice,  and  to  do 
whatever  he  ordered.  'Well,  then,'  he  replied,  'we  must,  when  night 
comes,  get  armed  the  best  way  we  can,  with  pitchforks  and  other 
weapons,  and  attack  the  Camolin  Yeomen  cavalry  on  their  way 
back  to  Mountmorris,  where  they  will  return  to  pass  the  night 
after  satisfying  their  savage  rage  on  the  defenceless  country 
people.'  " 

Father  John's  plans  succeeded — and  by  the  arms  taken  in  the 
ambush  of  the  Camolin  Yeomen  that  night,  and  at  Camolin  Park 
the  next  day,  his  men  reinforced  their  pitchforks  with  more  effective 
weapons.  The  following  day,  Whit  Sunday,  he  won  a  great  victory 
with  his  Pikemen  on  Oulart  Hill  and  followed  it  with  the  capture 
in  quick  succession  of  Camolin,  Ferns,  Enniscorthy,  and  Wexford. 
In  a  few  days  that  whole  southeastern  country  was  in  the  hands 
of  the  insurgents  except  Duncannon  Fort  and  New  Ross. 

They  had  three  encampments,  one  at  Three  Rocks,  one  seven 
miles  west  of  Gorey,  and  one  at  Vinegar  Hill,  just  outside  Ennis- 
corthy. An  attempt  was  made  on  New  Ross  on  the  5th  June  but 
it  failed  after  desperate  fighting  and  severe  losses  on  both  sides. 
A  few  days  later  Gorey  and  Carnew  were  captured  and  the  way 
to  Arklow  lay  open.  This  town  was  assaulted  on  the  9th  June, 
but  by  this  time  strong  reinforcements  had  been  sent  to  the  military 


THE  RISING  OF  1798  521 

from  Dublin.  The  battle  lasted  from  four  in  the  morning  until 
late  at  night,  but  tiic  death  of  Father  Michael  Murphy,  cliprging 
bravely  at  the  head  of  his  column,  turned  what  was  on  the  point  of 
being  a  success  into  a  defeat. 

Govemment  made  a  huge  effort  to  stamp  out  the  flames,  and 
General  Lake,  who  had  succeeded  Abercrombie  as  Commander-in- 
Chief,  took  the  field  in  person.  On  June  21st  the  insurgents  were 
attacked  by  overwhelming  forces  and  defeated  at  their  last  strong- 
hold in  Vinegar  Hill. 

Even  Castlereagh  was  roused  to  unwilling  admiration  of  the 
martial  qualities  and  achievements  of  the  "boys  of  Wexford." 
"He  could  never  have  believed,"  he  said,  "that  untrained  peasants 
could  have  fought  so  well."  Compared  with  their  exploits  the 
Ulstermen,  who  had  been  the  "backbone"  of  the  United  Irish 
movement,  and  its  most  ardent  advocates,  made  a  poor  showing. 
It  was  not  until  the  7th  of  June  that  Ulster  made  any  move.  The 
explanation  is  that  the  Ulster  leader,  Simms,  got  cowardly  and 
shirked  his  post.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Dickson,  who  was  appointed  to 
take  his  place,  was  arrested,  and  only  that  the  gallant  Henry  Joy 
McCracken  rose  from  a  bed  of  illness  to  step  into  the  gap,  Ulster's 
disgrace  would  have  been  complete.  Under  McCracken  an  attack 
was  made  on  Antrim  town  on  7th  June,  which  was  retained  by  the 
military  after  a  desperate  struggle.  A  few  days  later  McCracken 
was  taken  prisoner,  and  after  a  summary  trial,  was  executed  in 
Belfast.  He,  for  one,  had  faithfully  kept  the  oath  made  on  the 
bright  June  day  three  years  earlier  when  he  had  stood  with  Tone 
on  Cave  Hill — and  swore  to  sacrifice  everything  even  life  itself 
for  Ireland's  liberty. 

The  only  other  important  engagements  in  Ulster  were  at  Saint- 
field  and  Newtownards,  where  the  insurgents  were  successful,  and 
at  Ballinahinch  where  Monroe  and  his  United  Men  were  defeated 
by  General  Nugent. 

News  of  those  events  came  in  due  time  to  Tone  in  France,  and 
made  him  frantic  with  anxiety  and  impatience  to  be  with  his  com- 
rades in  Ireland,  sharing  their  desperate  fortunes.  The  last  entry 
in  his  Journal,  written  on  the  20th  June — his  thirty-fifth  birthday, 
and  the  eve  of  the  Battle  of  Vinegar  Hill — shows  him  straining 
every  nerve  to  get  the  dilatory  French  authorities  to  hurry  forward 
the  promised  aid  while  the  Irish  were  still  in  the  field.  General 
Grouchy  (who  had  never  forgiven  himself  for  not  throwing  Bouvet 
overboard  in  Bantry  Bay  when  the  latter,  opposing  the  landing, 
lost  the  greatest  chance  France  ever  knew)  did  all  he  could  to 
second  him;  but  General  Kilmaine  was  more  inclined  to  take  the 


522  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

Minister  of  Marine's  point  of  view  and  defer  the  expedition  until 
it  could  be  carried  out  on  "the  grand  scale,"  and  at  a  more  favour- 
able opportunity.  Tone  pointed  out  that  it  was  now  or  never.  An 
expedition  on  a  "grand  scale"  was  all  very  well,  but  "5,000  men 
that  could  be  sent  were  better  than  50,000  that  could  not."  The 
time  to  assist  the  Irish  was  when  they  were  still  fighting;  "in  three 
months  it  might  be  too  late,  and  the  forces  then  sent,  if  the  Irish 
were  overpowered  in  the  meantime,  find  themselves  unsupported, 
and  in  their  turn,  be  overpowered  by  the  English!" 

By  the  beginning  of  July  these  arguments  had  their  way  with  the 
the  Directory.  Tone  was  called  to  Paris  to  consult  with  the 
Ministers  of  War  and  Marine  in  the  organisation  of  a  new  expe- 
dition. Tone's  son  explains  clearly  which  were  the  proposals  now 
accepted. 

The  plan  adopted  was  to  dispatch  small  detachments  from 
several  ports,  in  the  hope  of  keeping  up  the  insurrection,  until  an 
opportunity  should  be  found  for  landing  the  main  body  under 
General  Kilmaine.  General  Humbert,  with  about  1,000  men,  was 
quartered  for  this  purpose  at  La  Rochelle,  General  Hardy  with 
3,000  at  Brest,  and  Kilmaine  with  9,000  remained  in  reserve. 

But  the  preparations  were  very  slow,  owing  to  the  poverty  of 
the  French  Government;  and  Humbert,  a  gallant  soldier  of  fortune, 
whose  heart  was  better  than  his  head,  fired  by  the  recitals  of  the 
Irish  refugees  (who  came  to  France  in  large  numbers  with  awful 
tales  of  Irish  suffering),  and  urged  on  by  the  impetuous  old  Napper 
Tandy,  determined  to  act  on  his  own  responsibility.  Towards  the 
end  of  August  he  requisitioned  money  and  stores  from  the  mer- 
chants and  magistrates  of  La  Rochelle,  and  "embarking  on  board 
a  few  frigates  and  transports,  with  1,000  men,  1,000  spare  mus- 
kets, 1,000  guineas,  and  a  few  pieces  of  artillery,  he  compelled  the 
Captains  to  set  sail  for  the  most  desperate  attempt  which  is  perhaps, 
recorded  in  history."  Three  Irishmen  accompanied  him:  Matthew 
Tone,  a  brother  of  Theobald,  Bartholomew  Teeling,  and  Sullivan. 
The  little  expedition  landed  at  Killala  on  22nd  August.  That  town, 
as  well  as  Ballina,  was  taken  without  difficulty,  and  on  the  27th 
of  the  month  the  French  inflicted  a  great  defeat  on  the  "Red 
Coats"  of  General  Lake  at  Castlebar.  So  swiftly  did  the  English 
soldiers  run  from  the  desperate  charge  of  the  French  and  their 
Irish  allies  that  the  battle  is  known  to  this  day  as  "the  Races  of 
Castlebar.'* 

In  the  meantime  Cornwallis  had  landed  in  Ireland  with  im- 
mense reinforcements.  Hastening  to  Lake's  aid,  he  met  Humbert 
at  Ballinamuck   (8th  September),  overpowered  him  by  the  mere 


THE  RISING  OF   1798  523 

force  of  numbers  and  compelled  his  surrender.  The  French 
soldiers  taken  were  treated  as  prisoners  of  war.  Their  Irish 
auxiliaries  were  slaughtered.  Matthew  Tone  and  Bartly  Feeling 
were  courtmartialed  and  hanged. 

The  Directory  were  naturally  thrown  into  the  greatest  per- 
plexity by  the  news  of  Humbert's  proceedings.  They  determined 
to  hurry  up  the  dispatch  of  the  force  under  General  Flardy.  "But 
such  was  the  state  of  the  French  navy  and  arsenals  that  it  was 
not  until  the  20th  September  that  this  small  expedition,  consisting 
of  one  sail  of  the  line,  and  eight  frigates  under  Commodore 
Bompard  and  3,000  men  under  General  Hardy  were  ready  for 
sailing.  Four  Irishmen  accompanied  the  expedition:  Wolfe  Tone, 
Corbctt,  Maguire,  and  Hamilton. 

Tone  had  absolutely  no  delusions  as  to  the  expedition's  chances 
of  success.  But  he  had  said  that  if  the  French  Government  sent 
only  a  corporal's  guard  he  would  go  with  them.  Such  was  the 
wretched  indiscretion  of  the  Government,  that,  before  his  depar- 
ture, he  read  In  a  Paris  newspaper,  the  Bien  Informe,  a  detailed 
account  of  the  whole  armament,  where  his  own  name  was  mentioned 
in  full  letters,  with  the  circumstance  of  his  being  embarked  on  board 
the  Hoche. 

The  flotilla,  which  had  taken  a  wide  sweep  to  avoid  the  English 
fleet,  met  with  contrary  winds  and  was  scattered.  After  twenty 
days'  cruise  the  Hoche,  with  two  frigates,  the  Loire  and  the 
Resolue,  and  one  schooner,  the  Biche,  arrived  off  Loch  Swilly. 
An  English  squadron  under  Sir  John  Borlace  Warren,  consisting 
of  six  sail  of  the  line,  one  Razee  of  sixty  guns,  and  two  frigates, 
instantly  bore  down  on  them.  The  Hoche,  a  large  and  heavy  man- 
of-war,  had  no  chance  of  escape,  so  Bompard  signalled  the  two 
frigates  and  schooner  to  make  off  through  the  shallow  water  and 
he,  himself  alone  "to  honour  the  flag  of  his  country  by  a  desperate 
defence."  At  that  moment  a  boat  came  from  the  Biche  for  his 
last  orders.  That  ship  had  the  best  chance  to  get  off.  The  French 
officers  all  supplicated  Tone  to  embark  on  board  of  her.  "Our 
contest  is  hopeless,"  they  observed,  "we  will  be  prisoners  of  war, 
but  what  of  you?"  "Shall  it  be  said,"  replied  he,  "that  I  fled 
while  the  French  were  fighting  the  battle  of  my  country?" 

And  so,  through  the  long  hours  of  that  desperate  engagement 
wherein  the  Hoche  stood  up  alone  to  the  guns  of  five  heavy  British 
ships,  he  commanded  one  of  the  batteries,  fighting  with  a  courage 
which  even  these  brave  Frenchmen  had  never  seen  equalled. 

"During  six  hours  the  Hoche  sustained  the  fire  of  a  whole  fleet, 
till  her  masts  and  rigging  were  swept  away,  her  scuppers  flowed 


524  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

with  blood,  her  wounded  filled  the  cock-pit,  her  scattered  ribs 
yawned  at  each  new  stroke  and  let  in  five  feet  of  water  in  the  hold, 
her  rudder  was  carried  off,  and  she  floated  a  dismantled  wreck 
on  the  waters;  her  sails  and  cordage  hung  in  shreds,  nor  could 
she  reply  with  a  single  gun  from  her  dismounted  batteries  to  the 
unabating  cannonade  of  the  enemy.  At  length  she  struck,"  and 
her  personnel  surrendered. 

At  first,  Tone,  who  had  become  in  language  and  appearance  a 
regular  Frenchman,  was  not  recognised  among  the  French  officers. 
His  discovery  was  the  act  of  a  college  friend  of  the  old  days  in 
Trinity,  one  Sir  George  Hill.  Narrowly  scanning  the  features  of 
ihe  French  officers  who  sat  at  breakfast  at  Letterkenny  with  the 
Earl  of  Cavan,  he  stopped  before  one  and  said,  "Mr.  Tone,  I  am 
very  happy  to  see  you."  Cool  as  ever.  Tone  rose  from  his  seat 
with  a  courteous:  "Sir  George,  I  am  happy  to  see  you,  how  are 
Lady  Hill  and  your  family?"  A  moment  later  he  was  being  put 
in  irons  by  military  in  the  next  room.  The  indignity  roused  him  to 
a  momentary  outburst.  Flinging  off  his  uniform,  he  cried,  "These 
fetters  shall  never  degrade  the  revered  insignia  of  the  free  nation 
which  I  have  served."  Then  a  new  thought  struck  him — and  he 
stretched  forth  his  limbs  proudly  for  their  chains :  "For  the  cause 
which  I  have  embraced,  I  feel  prouder  to  wear  these  chains  than 
if  I  were  decorated  with  the  star  and  garter  of  England." 

For  the  credit  of  human  nature  one  would  fain  believe  that 
even  the  Earl  of  Cavan  and  Sir  George  Hill  and  their  followers 
would  have  been  shamed  into  admiration  at  his  generous  and  noble 
act.  Alas!  no  indignity  was  spared  him — and  he  was  compelled 
to  make  the  big  journey  from  Letterkenny  to  Dublin,  on  horseback, 
with  his  legs  pinioned  beneath  the  horse's  belly  and  his  arms 
manacled!  On  reaching  Dublin  he  was  thrown  to  the  tender 
mercies  of  Major  Sandys  in  the  Provost's  prison — whence  he  was 
only  taken  for  his  court-martial  on  the  loth  November. 

He  made  a  gallant  figure  as  he  stood  before  his  judges  in  the 
uniform  of  a  French  Colonel,  making  his  last  profession  of  faith 
in  the  principles  to  which  he  had  devoted  all  that  was  his  to  give. 
"From  my  earliest  youth  I  have  regarded  the  connection  between 
Ireland  and  Great  Britain  as  the  curse  of  the  Irish  nation,  and  felt 
convinced,  that  while  it  lasted,  this  country  would  never  be  free 
or  happy.  In  consequence,  I  determined  to  apply  all  the  powers 
which  my  individual  efforts  could  move,  in  order  to  separate  the 
two  countries.  That  Ireland  was  not  able,  of  herself,  to  throw  off 
the  yoke,  I  knew.  I  therefore  sought  for  aid  wherever  it  was  to 
be   found.   .   .   .  Under  the   flag  of  the   French   Republic   I   origi- 


THE  RISING  OF  1798  525 

nally  engaged  with  a  view  to  save  and  liberate  my  own  country. 
For  that  purpose  I  have  encountered  the  chances  of  war  amongst 
strangers:  for  that  purpose  I  have  repeatedly  braved  the  terrors 
of  the  ocean,  covered  as  I  knew  it  to  be  with  the  triumphant  fleets 
of  that  Power  which  it  was  my  glory  and  my  duty  to  oppose.  I 
have  sacrificed  all  my  views  in  life;  I  have  courted  poverty;  I 
have  left  a  beloved  wife  unprotected,  and  children  whom  I  adored, 
fatherless.  After  such  sacrifices,  in  a  cause  which  I  have  always 
considered  as  the  cause  of  justice  and  freedom — it  is  no  great 
effort  at  this  day  to  add  the  sacrifice  of  my  life!" 

How  that  final  sacrifice  was  made  all  the  world  knows.  He 
had  made  but  one  request  of  his  foes,  that  In  deference  to  the 
uniform  he  wore  he  should  be  adjudged  the  death  of  a  soldier. 
Even  this  poor  favour  was  denied  him.  He  was  condemned  to  die 
:the  death  of  "a  traitor"  within  forty-eight  hours  of  the  promulga- 
tion of  his  sentence.  To  save  himself  from  that  crowning  indignity, 
while  In  the  winter  night  the  soldiers  were  erecting  the  gallows  for 
him  before  his  window,  he  Inflicted  a  deep  wound  across  his  own 
throat  with  a  penknife  he  had  managed  to  secrete.  Of  this  wound 
he  died  in  great  agony  a  week  later — 19th  November,  1798. 

They  buried  him  at  dead  of  night  in  the  old  cemetery  at 
Bodenstown,  by  the  side  of  his  brother,  Matthew,  who  had 'died 
for  the  same  glorious  cause  a  few  weeks  earlier. 

And  there,  side  by  side,  those  two  mangled  bodies — each  broken 
so  cruelly  in  the  conqueror's  murder  machine — await  the  Resur- 
rection— In  the  "green  grave"  which  Ireland  cherishes  as  the  most 
precious  thing  she  owns. 

Authorities  on  the  1793-1803  period: 
Madden:     Lives  and  Times  of  the  United  Irishmen, 
Tone:     Autobiography  of  Theobald  Wolfe  Tone. 
Concannon  (Mrs.  Helena):     Women  of  '98. 
Fitzpatrick:     Secret  Service  under  Pitt,  and  The  Sham  Squire. 
Kavanagh:     Rebellion  of  '98. 
Rev.  Mr.  Gordon:     History  of  the  Rebellion. 
Mitchel:     History  of  Ireland. 
Fitzpatrick:     Ireland  before  the  Union. 


CHAPTER  LX 

THE    UNION  ^ 

Although  Ireland  was  officially  conquered  to  Britain  centuries 
before,  the  Island  was  alleged  to  have  a  Parliament  of  its  own, 
under  the  British  Crown,  up  to  the  year  1800. 

It  was,  of  course,  a  Parliament  of,  and  for,  the  British  in 
Ireland.  The  mere  Irish  had  no  say  in  it — except  for  an  insignifi- 
cantly brief  period.  Had  no  right  even  to  vote  for  a  member  of 
it.  It  was  not  considered  that  they  whose  land  this  was,  and  who 
constituted  six-sevenths  of  the  population  of  the  land,  could  pre- 
sume to  take  even  the  humblest  part  in  governing  their  own  country. 
The  Parliament  was  for  half  a  million  British  in  Ireland — to 
hold  three  million  Irish  in  subjection.  Moreover,  of  the  300  mem- 
bers,* only  72  were  really  elected.  Three-fourths  of  its  members 
were  just  appointed  by  the  Borough  owners,  the  British  Lords 
who  owned  Irish  towns. 

It  was  only  at  rare  intervals  that  the  Anglo-Irish  who  owned 
and  ran  this  Parliament  dared  assert  their  right  to  make  it  a 
Parliament  in  reality,  as  well  as  in  name.  For  centuries  it  was 
held  in  the  stranglehold  of  Poynlng's  Law — a  law  which  forbade 
it  to  initiate  any  legislation — only  gave  it  liberty  to  legislate  under 
the  direction  and  command  of  the  English  Parliament — to  pass  into 
law  whatever  the  English  Parliament  recommended — and  to  refrain 
from  legislating  upon  all  things  that  the  English  Parliament  for- 
bade It  to  legislate  upon. 

Under  this  state  of  things  naturally  Ireland's  woes  increased 
with  the  years.  Just  before  the  Anglo-Irish  Parliament,  In  1782, 
took  heart  to  shake  from  its  shoulders  Its  Old  Man  of  the  Sea,  the 
English  Parliament  which  paralysed  It,  Hely  Hutchinson,  speaking 
in  the  Irish  House  of  Commons  (in  1779)  said:  "Can  the  history 
of  any  other  fruitful  country  on  the  globe,  enjoying  peace  for  eighty 
years,  and  not  visited  by  plague  or  pestilence,  produce  so  many 

^  This  chapter,  with  trifling  change,  is  taken  from  Ireland's  Case,  by  Seumas 
MacManus. 

526 


THE  UNION  527 

recorded  instances  of  the  poverty  and  the  wretchedness,  of  the 
reiterated  want  and  misery  of  the  lower  order  of  people?  There 
is  no  such  example  in  ancient  or  modern  story." 

In  1782,  as  we  saw,  when  Britain's  hands  were  filled  with  an 
American  problem,  Henry  Grattan  and  the  great  army  of  Ireland's 
Volunteers,  100,000  strong,  demanded  the  independence  of  their 
Parliament.  And  as  they  had  in  their  hands,  when  making  the 
request,  a  hundred  thousand  muskets,  their  request  was  graciously 
granted.  During  the  succeeding  years,  this  Anglo-Irish  Parliament, 
acting  independently  of  the  British  Parliament,  was  enabled  to  do 
wonderful  things  for  the  restoration  of  Ireland's  commerce  and 
manufactures.  Many  of  the  disabilities  of  the  Irish  Catholics,  too, 
were,  under  it,  removed — and  an  Irishman  was  acknowledged  to 
have  some  citizen  rights. 

But,  it  did  not  suit  England's  book  to  have  any  body  of  people 
in  Ireland,  even  their  own  Anglo-Irish  kin,  running  Ireland  with 
profit  to  Ireland — and  consequently  a  curtailment  of  English  profit. 
So,  the  mistake  must  be  corrected.  And  the  best  way  to  correct  it 
was  bodily  to  remove  the  cause  of  the  trouble.  Parliament,  both  in 
reality  and  in  name,  must  be  taken  from  Ireland  altogether.  So, 
Prime  Minister  Pitt  of  England  conspired  with  his  good  instru- 
ments, Cornwallis,  Lord  Lieutenant  of  Ireland,  and  Castlereagh, 
the  Irish  Secretary,  to  attain  the  desired  end.  For  this  splendidly 
corrupt  object  Pitt  fortunately  had,  in  Cornwallis  and  Castlereagh, 
a  pair  of  splendidly  corrupt  tools. 

To  undermine  the  prestige  of  the  Irish  Parliament  and  prove 
its  incompetence  for  governing  Ireland,  they  first  goaded  the  Irish 
people  into  a  premature  rebellion.  And  they  then  launched  their 
campaign  for  giving  to  the  English  Parliament  the  sole  right  of 
directly  governing  this  Island. 

That  the  Anglo-Irish  Inhabitants  of  the  Island  would  not  easily 
yield  their  right  Pitt  and  his  Instruments  knew  well.  But  that  a 
large  portion  of  their  representatives  was  purchasable,  they  divined. 
So  they  set  themselves  enthusiastically  to  the  congenial  work  of 
bribing  and  debasing  right  and  left,  and  buying  men's  souls. 

Lies,  perjury,  and  fraud  were  the  official  stock-in-trade  during 
all  of  Britain's  connection  with  Ireland.  But  there  was  never 
another  period  In  which  so  much  baseness  was  crowded  into  so 
little  tim.e  as  now,  when  they  were  debasing  their  own  kin  and  rob- 
bing them  of  their  "rights."  No  other  scandal  of  British  admin- 
istration, before  or  since,  ever  equalled  this  one  of  buying  the 
Union.  The  Immediate  chief  instruments,  Cornwallis  and  Castle- 
reagh, were  probably  no  worse  than  any  other  English  admlnlstra- 


528  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

tors  in  Ireland — only  that  this  large  job  gave  them  an  exceptional 
opportunity  to  distinguish  themselves.^ 

Cornwallis,  through  all  the  vile  business,  took  the  superior 
stand  of  the  hypocrite  who  thinks  he  conceals  his  hypocrisy  beneath 
the  cloak  of  frankness.  He  writes  to  a  friend,  "My  occupation 
is  of  the  most  unpleasant  nature,  bargaining  and  jobbing  with  the 
most  corrupt  people  under  Heaven"  (the  Anglo-Irish).  "I  despise 
and  hate  myself  for  ever  engaging  in  such  dirty  work."  In  another 
place  he  confesses  that  he  is  "involved  in  this  dirty  business  beyond 
all  bearing." 

The  people  were  wheedled,  coaxed,  threatened,  and  bribed.  Into 
signing  petitions  in  favor  of  Union  with  England.  Harrington 
tells  us  that,  under  promise  of  pardon,  felons  in  the  jails  were  got 
to  sign  the  Union  petition.  Everyone  holding  a  government  job 
in  the  country  had  not  only  to  sign  the  petition  himself,  but  was 
compelled  to  make  his  relatives  and  the  relatives  of  their  relatives 
sign  it  likewise. 

Not  merely  those  who  held  positions  under  the  government 
were  required  to  do  this;  but  to  every  man  who  hoped  or  dreamt 
of  ever  standing  chance  of  a  position  under  the  government.  It  was 
plainly  Intimated  that  he  and  his  relatives'  relatives  must  become 
petitioners.  Mixed  bribes  a«nd  threats  were  scattered  over  the  land 
fike  seed  corn — falling  upon,  sticking  to,  and  germinating  In  thou- 
sands upon  thousands  of  every  rank  from  the  public  hangman  all  the 
way  up  to  the  Archbishop  of  the  Estabhshed  Church. 

The  pro-British  historian,  Lecky,  says,  "Obscure  men  in  un- 
known political  places  were  dismissed  because  they  or  some  of  their 
relatives  declined  to  support  it."  He  says,  "The  whole  force  of 
Government  patronage  in  all  branches  was  steadily  employed.  The 
formal  and  authoritative  announcement  was  made,  that,  though 
defeated  Session  after  Session  and  Parliament  after  Parliament — 
the  act  of  Union  would  always  be  reintroduced — and  that  support 
of  it  would  hereafter  be  considered  the  main  test  by  which  all  claims 
to  government  favor  would  be  determined." — "Everything  In  the 
government  of  the  Crown  In  Ireland,"  Lecky  further  states,  "In 
the  church.  In  the  army,  in  the  law,  In  the  revenue,  was  uniformly 
and  steadily  devoted  to  the  single  purpose  of  carrying  the  Union. 
From  the  great  noblemen  who  were  bought  for  marquisates  and 
ribands;  from  the  (Protestant)  Archbishop  of  Cashel  who  agreed 
to  support  the  Union  on  being  promised  the  reversion  of  the  See 

2  Castlereagh  indeed  partly  redeemed  himself  by  living  to  cut  his  throat. 


THE  UNION 


529 


of  Dublin  and  a  seat  in  the  Imperial  House  of  Lords,  the  virus 
of  corruption  extended  and  descended  through  every  rank  and  title, 
and  saturated  the  political  system,  including  even  crowds  of  obscure 
men  who  had  it  in  their  power  to  assist  or  obstruct  addresses  on  the 
subject." 

Men  who  dared  be  independent  and  stand  for  their  rights  were 
hounded  and  persecuted  and  dismissed  from  office.  Even  the  high- 
est in  rank,  such  as  the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  and  a  Prime 
Sergeant  and  Privy  Chancellor,  were  kicked  out  for  daring  to  deny 
England's  divine  right  to  do  wrong. 

Men  who  refused  to  be  bribed  were  forced  out  of  their  seats 
in  the  Irish  Parliament  by  every  vile  means  known  to  vile  men. 
Their  own  instruments,  their  own  official  aides,  even,  were  put  into 
office  and  put  into  Parliament  for  the  openly  avowed  purpose  of 
voting  away  Ireland's  rights.  Englishmen  who  never  before  had 
given  any  thought  to  Ireland,  were  actually  imported  to  sit  as 
Irish  members  of  Parliament — and  vote  away  Ireland's  Parliament 
to  England.^ 

They  overawed  patriotic  people  who  ventured  to  make  any 
protest  against  the  proposed  Union.  Harrington  relates  how,  on 
the  occasion  of  an  Anti-Union  meeting  in  King's  County,  Darley, 
the  High  Sheriff,  and  Major  Rogers  (acting  of  course  under  in- 
structions from  Dublin  Castle)  placed  two  six  pounders,  charged 
with  grape  shot,  opposite  the  Court-house  where  the  meeting  was 
being  held — bringing  England's  logic  to  bear  on  the  misguided  ones 
who  thought  they  could  better  know  than  England,  what  was  for 
Ireland's  benefit. 

The  Habeas  Corpus  Act  was  suspended. 

Martial  law  was  proclaimed. 

England  stationed  in  Ireland,  126,000  soldiers. 

All  constitutional  guarantee  was  annulled. 

The  use  of  torture  was  frequently  availed  of. 

Meetings  of  the  people  were  dispersed  by  military  force. 

Offices  and  commands  were  trafficked  in. 

Every  foul  device  that  the  most  ingeniously  mean-minded  tools 
could  contrive  was  employed  against  Irish  liberty — or  Anglo-Irish 
liberty. 

3  Some  of  these  latter  rascals  never  saw — sometimes  hardly  knew — the  name  of 
the  Irish  Boroug-h  for  which  they  sat.  When  one  of  them,  one  day,  presented  him- 
self at  the  English  House  of  Parliament  and  requested  some  privilege  that  was  of 
courtesy  accorded  there  to  members  of  the  Irish  Parliament,  he  was  asked  for  what 
Irish  Borough  he  sat.  "By  Heaven,"  he  replied,  "the  name  of  the  devilish  place  'as 
escaped  me. — But  if  you  bring  me  the  Irish  Directory  I  believe  I  can  pick  it  out" 


530  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

And  by  use  of  all  conceivable  and  inconceivable  mean  devices 
they  managed,  at  length,  to  secure  a  bare  majority  in  favour  of  the 
Union — 162  out  of  303  members.  One  hundred  and  sixteen  of 
these  162  were  their  own  salaried  tools — placemen. 

They  carried  their  "Union."  It  has  been  stated  that  as  much 
as  eight  thousand  pounds  was  paid  for  one  vote.  Henry  Grattan 
is  authority  for  it  that,  of  those  who  voted  in  favour  of  the  Union 
with  England,  not  more  than  seven  were  unbribed.  Cornwallis  had 
no  illusions  about  the  quality  of  the  men  whom  he  purchased — 
knew  right  well  that  they  could  be  just  as  faithless  to  him,  despite 
his  gold,  as  they  were  to  their  adopted  country,  despite  their  duty. 
He  wrote,  "I  believe  that  half  of  our  majority  would  be  as  much 
delighted  as  any  of  our  opponents,  if  the  measure  could  be  de- 
feated." 

Place,  title,  and  gold,  were  the  Inducements  for  sacrificing 
Ireland  at  England's  bidding.  As  reward  for  good  work  done — 
or  to  be  done — twenty-eight  Irish  peerages  were  created.  Six 
Irish  peers  got  English  peerages.  Twenty  Irish  peers  were  ele- 
vated in  rank.  New  and  lucrative  jobs,  offices,  government  appoint- 
ments, were  created — for  bestowal  on  those  who  rendered 
"services." 

In  those  days  the  boroughs  in  Ireland  were  "owned"  by  Lordly 
proprietors  who  put  in  for  them  such  puppet  members  of  Parlia- 
ment as  they  pleased.  In  1782,  out  of  300  members,  only  72  were 
really  elected — and  of  course  only  one-seventh  of  the  people  in 
Ireland  (the  British  portion)  got  a  chance  at  electing  those.  This 
ownership  came  to  be  recognised  by  law!  And  to  compensate 
eighty  titled  Borough  owners  in  Ireland  (who  owned  one  hun- 
dred and  sixty  members)  an  act  was  passed  appropriating  for 
them  £1,260,000 — being  at  the  rate  of  about  £8,000  for  each 
member. 

And,  crowning  joke  of  all  the  grim  jokes  played  upon  Ireland 
by  England,  this  million  and  quarter  for  greasing  the  groove  down 
which  Ireland's  Parliament  was  to  be  skidded  to  England — was 
added  to  the  Irish  National  Debt! 

Lord  Ely,  who  had  at  first  been  opposed  to  the  Union,  but 
came  finally  to  see  the  light  and  voted  for  it,  received  £45,000 
for  his  Boroughs. 

These  moneys  were  paid  as  "compensation"  for  "disturbance" 
caused,  or  to  be  caused,  or  in  danger  of  being  caused,  by  the  LTnion. 
And  not  only  Anglo-Irishmen  but  likewise  every  pocket-picking 
Englishman  and  hungry  Scotchman  who  could  get  near  it,  fought 


THE  UNION  531 

and  struggled  and  mauled  one  another,  for  the  chance  of  getting 
a  hand  in  the  Compensation  bag/ 

And  this  wonderful  story  of  Ireland's  eager  Union  with 
England  is  a  fair  illustration  of  England's  clean  handedness,  clean 
mindedness,  in  dealing  with  the  island  that  was  and  is  "dependent 
on  and  protected  by  England." 

The  carrying  of  the  Union  reflected  nearly  as  much  credit  upon 
England's  nice  honour,  as  did  the  Treaty  of  Limerick  upon  the 
pledged  faith  and  honour  of  the  British  Crown. 

Barrington:     The  Rise  and  Fall  of  the  Irish  Nation. 

"  Personal  Sketches. 

Swift  MacNeill:     The  Irish  Parliament. 
Lecky:     PIistor>'  of  Ireland  in  the  Eighteenth  Century. 

*  Harrington  records  that  even  the  necessary  woman  of  the  English  Privy 
Council  asked  "compensation"  from  Ireland  for  the  extra  trouble  which  the  influx 
of  Irish  Privy  Councillors  would  cause  in  her  department ! 

And  the  I^rd  Lieutenant's  official  rat  catcher  insisted  on  the  right  to  get  his 
paw  in  the  bag  as  compensation  for  "decrease  of  employment."  Why  the  Union 
with  England  should  affect  this  gentleman's  employment  is  not  stated — but  it  is 
easy  to  suppose  that  he  foresaw  the  certainty  of  droves  of  British  rats  quitting  the 
sinking  ship. 

Daniel  O'Connell  once  said,  that  he  could  not,  under  Heaven,  apprehend  how 
it  was  that  they  forgot  to  charge  against  Ireland  the  price  of  the  razor  wth  which 
Castlereagh  afterwards  cut  his  throat. 


CHAPTER  LXI 

ROBERT  EMMET 

When  the  Insurgents  had  laid  down  their  arms,  the  country  was 
given  over  to  further  horrors.  The  idea  was  to  break  the  spirit 
so  thoroughly,  by  a  calculated  campaign  of  *'frightfulness,"  that 
Ireland  should  never  dare  to  dream  of  liberty  again,  or  offer  the 
slightest  resistance  to  the  new  chains  that  were  being  forged  for 
her  in  the  "Legislative  Union"  with  England. 

So  all  through  the  bright  summer  days  that  followed  the  day 
of  "Vinegar  Hill"  the  shrieks  of  tortured  men  came  from  the 
Prevot  Prison  in  the  Royal  Barracks,  Dublin,  where  Major  Sandys 
had  set  up  his  triangles,  or  from  the  "riding  school"  in  Marl- 
borough Street,  where  Mr.  John  Claudius  Beresford  carried  on 
his  pitch-cappings  and  picketings,  his  half  hangings  and  his  lacera- 
tions. Day  after  day  were  court  martials,  followed  immediately 
by  executions.  Day  after  day  the  most  terrible  tales  reached  the 
Capital  of  the  atrocities  committed  by  the  militia,  the  "Yeos"  and 
the  "Hessians"  in  the  districts  where  they  were  now  supreme.  The 
statistics  preserved  by  Cloney,  for  Wexford  alone,  of  women  vio- 
lated, and  then  bayoneted  or  shot,  of  unarmed  folk  slaughtered 
in  the  fields  and  along  the  roads,  of  whole  families  burned  alive 
in  their  cabins,  of  wounded  men  incinerated  in  the  hospital  at  Ennis- 
corthy  (which  went  ablaze  through  a  mere  accident — "the  bed 
clothes  being  set  on  fire  by  the  wadding  of  the  soldiers'  guns,  who 
were  shooting  the  patients  in  their  beds"),  represent  a  degree  of 
human  suffering  which  even  at  this  distance  of  time  makes  us  sick 
to  read  of. 

What  of  those  who  in  their  prison  cells — the  State  Prisoners 
like  Thomas  Addis  Emmet,  Thomas  Russell,  John  Sweetman, 
Arthur  O'Connor,  Samuel  Neilson — were  hearing  of  them  from 
day  to  day?  Does  one  wonder  that  when  a  proposal  came  from 
Government  that  these  horrors  would  be  stopped,  on  certain  con- 
ditions when  men  of  honour  could  accept,  they  felt  it  their  duty 
to  explore  the  avenues  to  peace  thus  indicated?  On  the  initiative 
of  Mr.  Dobbs,  acting  for  the  Government,  sev^enty-three  prisoners 
in  Newgate,  Kllmalnham  and  Bridewell,  put  their  names  to  a  paper 

532 


ROBERT  EMMET  533 

engaging  to  give  every  information  in  their  power  as  to  the  whole 
internal  transactions  of  the  United  Irishmen,  and  their  negotiations 
with  foreign  states,  with  the  proviso  that  they  were  not  by  naming 
or  describing  to  implicate  any  person  whatever.  In  return  the 
executions  were  to  be  stopped,  and  the  State  Prisoners  allowed  to 
emigrate  to  a  country  to  be  agreed  upon  between  them  and  the 
Government. 

This  agreement  was  kept  with  the  most  scrupulous  exactitude 
by  the  State  Prisoners.  But  nobody  who  knows  the  Government's 
record  for  tearing  up  "scraps  of  paper"  will  be  very  much  sur- 
prised to  learn  that  its  conditions  were  grossly  violated  by  the 
Irish  Executive — even  though  one  of  its  own  members,  Lord  Clare, 
had  thus  expressed  himself  to  one  among  the  prisoners,  who  raised 
a  doubt  as  to  the  Executive's  good  faith:  "Gentlemen,  it  comes 
to  this — a  Government  that  breaks  faith  with  you  could  not  stand, 
and  ought  not  be  allowed  to  stand." 

The  ink  was  hardly  dry  upon  the  paper  when  one  of  the  con- 
demned prisoners,  Byrne  (to  save  whose  life  was  the  Immediate 
object  of  the  treaty),  was,  in  flagrant  violation  of  its  provisions, 
led  forth  to  execution.  The  other,  Oliver  Bond,  was  murdered 
in  prison. 

The  State  Prisoners,  themselves,  who  signed  the  agreement 
were  (also  in  violation  of  it)  kept  in  prison,  or  internment  in  Fort 
George,  Scotland,  during  the  remaining  four  years  of  the  war 
then  raging  with  France.  Worse  still — though  the  fact  will  sur- 
prise no  one  acquainted  with  the  records  of  English  propaganda — 
a  garbled  account  of  the  whole  business,  very  injurious  to  the 
United  Irishmen,  was  sent  forth  broadcast;  and  the  prisoners' 
remonstrations  were  met  by  a  peremptory  message  from  Lord 
Lieutenant  Cornwallis  that  if  they  dared  to  say  another  word  he 
would  annul  the  agreement,  and  go  forward  with  wholesale 
executions. 

This  breach  of  faith  on  the  part  of  Government  caused  the 
State  Prisoners  to  consider  the  contract  null  and  void  on  their 
side  also;  and  as  may  readily  be  surmised,  they  looked  eagerly 
around,  after  their  liberation  from  Fort  George  in  the  summer  of 
1802,  for  a  chance  to  strike  a  blow  once  more  for  Irish  Inde- 
pendence. 

Everybody  knew  that  the  war  between  France  and  England, 
to  which  the  peace  of  Amiens  had  put  a  temporary  cessation,  would 
soon  break  out  again;  and  it  was  common  belief  likewise  that 
when  the  war  did  break  out,  an  invasion  by  Bonaparte  either  of 
England  or  Ireland  would  be  attempted. 


534  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

The  United  Irishmen,  both  on  the  continent  and  in  Ireland, 
therefore  (and  in  spite  of  all  that  had  happened  they  were  still 
numerous  and  powerful  in  the  homeland) ,  were  prepared  to  sacrifice 
their  just  resentment  against  France  for  her  failure  to  keep  her 
engagements  with  them  in  '98,  and  enter  into  a  new  aUiance  with 
her.  They  had  recruited  unexpected  aUies  in  Ireland,  itself,  from 
among  certain  statesmen  and  politicians,  who  had  formerly  been 
their  bitterest  enemies,  but  v/ho  now  saw  themselves,  to  an  equal 
degree,  the  victims  of  English  intrigue — left  high  and  dry  by  the 
"Legislative  Union."  It  is  morally  certain,  indeed,  that  though 
these  statesmen  kept  themselves  well  and  safely  in  the  background 
during  the  events  which  make  1803  as  tragic  a  memory  as  1798, 
they  took  the  initiative  in  the  secret  negotiations  which  led  to 
them.  Who  were  they?  Shall  we  ever  know  more  than  Robert 
Emmet  (who  paid  the  penalty  of  their  deeds)  has  chosen  to  tell 
us  of  them  as  he  stood  in  the  dock,  making  his  immortal  appeal  to 
the  yet  unborn  tribunal  of  his  hberated  country's  judgment? 
"When  I  came  to  Ireland  I  found  the  business  ripe  for  execution, 
I  was  asked  to  join  in  it  I  took  time  to  consider,  and  after  mature 
deliberation  I  became  one  of  the  Provisional  Government;  and 
there  then  was  my  Lords,  an  agent  from  the  United  Irishmen  and 
Provisional  Government  in  Paris,  negotiating  with  the  French  Gov- 
ernment to  obtain  from  them  an  aid  sufficient  to  accomphsh  the 
separation  of  Ireland  from  Great  Britain;  the  preliminary  to 
which  assistance  has  been  a  guarantee  to  Ireland  similar  to  that 
which  Franklin  obtained  for  America."  And  again :  "I  have  been 
charged  with  that  importance  in  the  efforts  to  emancipate  my 
country  as  to  be  considered  the  keystone  of  the  combination  of 
Irishmen,  or  as  it  has  been  expressed,  'the  life  and  blood  of  this 
conspiracy.'  You  do  me  honour  overmuch;  you  have  given  to 
the  subaltern  all  the  credit  of  the  superior.  There  are  men  con- 
cerned in  this  conspiracy,  who  are  not  only  superior  to  me  but  even 
to  your  own  conceptions  of  yourself,  my  lord;  men  before  the 
splendour  of  whose  genius  and  virtues  I  should  bow  with  respectful 
deference,  and  who  would  not  deign  to  call  you  friend — who  would 
not  disgrace  themselves  by  shaking  your  blood-stained  hand." 

The  Agent  of  the  United  Irishmen  in  Paris,  referred  to  above, 
was  Thomas  Addis  Emmet,  who  left  Brussels  for  the  French 
Capital  early  in  1803,  to  act  in  that  capacity  on  definite  instructions 
from  the  Provisional  Government  in  Ireland.  We  possess  in  his 
diary  from  the  30th  of  May,  1803,  to  the  loth  of  March,  1804, 
with  its  detailed  account  of  his  transactions  with  the  French  Gov- 


ROBERT  EMMET  535 

ernment,  then  controlled  by  J^onaparte  and  Talleyrand,  all  the 
evidence  re(juired  to  prove  that  the  Rising  of  1803,  so  far  from 
being,  as  Ix)rd  Castlercagh  estimated  it,  "the  wild  and  contemptible 
project  of  a  young  man  of  heated  and  enthusiastic  imagination" 
was  the  well  thought  out  plan  of  long-headed  men  and  had  ii 
priori  good  reason  to  promise  success. 

In  the  first  place  there  was  an  absolute  promise  on  the  part  of 
France  of  a  large  expeditionary  force  to  aid  the  Rising  in  Ireland. 
In  the  second,  there  was  an  understanding  with,  and  guarantees  of 
co-operation  from  the  revolutionary  societies  in  England  and 
Scotland.  In  the  third,  there  were  pledges  from  men  of  the  highest 
social,  military  and  political  standing  in  Ireland  to  aid  the  move- 
ment with  money,  moral  and  other  backing.  If  ever  an  effort  for 
Irish  Liberty  seemed  destined  to  succeed,  it  was  that  to  which 
Robert  Emmet  found  himself  committed  when  he  returned  to 
Ireland,  after  his  "Grand  Tour"  on  the  continent,  in  the  Autumn 
of  1802. 

His  first  care,  after  he  became  organiser  for  the  Provisional 
Government  (which,  as  has  been  already  said,  had  been  formed 
before  his  return)  was  to  get  in  touch  with  surviving  fighters  of  '98, 
men  like  Myles  Byrne  of  Wexford,  and  Jimmie  Hope  of  Belfast. 
It  is  to  the  narratives  of  these  two  in  particular  that  we  o<^ve  our 
best  knowledge  of  his  aims  and  hopes,  and  the  methods  he  adopted 
to  attain  them. 

His  primary  object  w^as  to  get  the  country  organised  and  armed, 
ready  to  co-operate  with  the  French  landing.  The  organisation 
of  the  counties  was  left  to  tried  men  of  local  influence,  and  as 
early  as  the  Autumn  of  1802  Emmet  was  able  to  assure  John  Keogh 
and  John  Philpot  Curran  that  "nineteen  counties  could  be  relied 
upon."  Very  influential  promises  of  help  came  from  the  North 
in  particular,  and  the  business  of  procuring  arms  went  briskly  for- 
ward. Early  in  1803  Thomas  Russell,  his  nephew-in-law,  Elarn- 
ilton,  and  Quigley,  came  over  from  France  to  help,  and  the  greatest 
hopes  were  entertained  that  Russell's  influence  in  Ulster  would 
keep  it  straight  this  time,  at  least — though  it  had  failed  so  griev- 
ously in  '98. 

Emmet's  owti  work  was  mainly  confined  to  Dublin,  but  he  was 
in  close  touch  with  the  men  of  Carlow,  Wicklow,  Wexford,  through 
his  friends  Michael  Dwyer  and  Myles  Byrne,  and  with  the  men 
of  Kildare  through  one  Bernard  Duggan  and  others.  Alas,  Mr. 
Bernard  Duggan,  as  we  now  know,  was  a  paid  Castle  spy;  and 
all  the  preparations  for  the  Rising  were  faithfully  retailed  to  his 


S36  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

employer,  the  Under  Secretary  Mr.  Alexander  Marston,  who  let 
them  go  forward,  having  the  comfortable  assurance  that  he  could 
circumvent  them  the  moment  it  suited  his  own  purpose  1 

On  the  1 6th  July  an  explosion  took  place  in  a  house  in  Patrick 
Street,  which  Emmet  had  taken  as  a  depot  for  arms  and  explosives. 
This  event,  which  made  him  regard  the  discovery  of  his  plans  as 
imminent,  caused  him  to  fix  an  early  date  for  the  Rising  without 
waiting  for  the  promised  French  aid.  It  may  have  been  that 
Russell  had  infected  him  with  his  own  fears  that  Bonaparte  was 
only  playing  with  the  Irish,  and  this  may  have  been  an  additional 
motive  for  hurrying  him  on.  Assurances  came  from  all  over  the 
country  that  if  Dubhn  rose  the  rest  of  Ireland  would  speedily 
follow. 

Saturday,  the  23rd  of  July,  was  the  day  arranged  for  the  Rising 
in  Dublin,  in  which  the  Wicklow,  Kildare  and  Wexford  men  were 
to  assist.  The  plans  included  an  attack  not  only  on  Dublin  Castle, 
but  on  the  Pigeon  House  Fort  and  the  Artillery  Barracks  at  Island 
Bridge.  But  on  the  day  appointed  it  was  discovered  that  only  a 
small  fraction  of  the  men  expe'cted  to  help  had  turned  up.  "1 
expected,"  Emmet  himself  tells  us,  "two  thousand  to  assemble  at 
Costigan's  Mills — the  grand  plajce  of  assembly.  The  evening  be- 
fore the  Wicklow  men  failed  through  their  officer.  The  Kildare 
men,  who  were  to  act  particularly  with  me,  came  in,  and  at  five 
o'clock  went  off  again,  from  the  canal  harbour,  on  a  report  from 
two  of  their  officers  that  Dublin  would  not  act. 

"In  Dublin  itself  it  was  given  out  by  some  treacherous  or  cow- 
ardly person  that  it  (the  Rising)  was  postponed  until  Wednesday. 
The;  time  of  assembly  was  from  6  to  9,  and  at  9  instead  of  2,000 
there  were  only  80  men  assembled." 

The  romantic  sequel  of  Robert  Emmet*s  story  has  given  to 
the  occurrences  of  the  23d  of  July  an  importance  which  the  men 
who  organised  the  CQnspiracy  of  which  they  were  only  an  incident, 
did  not  recognise.  One  part  of  the  plan,  the  Rising  in  Dublin,  had 
miscarried,  through  no  fault  of  Robert  Emmet's;  but  if  the  French 
had  been  true  to  their  plighted  word  the  rest  of  the  country  would 
have  risen  later,  according  to  plan,  and  the  dream  to  which  the 
gallant  youth  sacrificed  fortune,  life,  and  love,  might  yet  have  come 
true. 

But  the  French  failed  their  Irish  allies  once  more,  and  Thomas 
Addis  Emmet,  though  he  still  continued  for  a  time  his  negotiations 
with  the  agents  of  the  First  Consul,  and  though  he  actually  saw 
an  Irish  Legion  embodied,  and  Irish  colours  prepared  for  an 
expeditionary  force,  had  at  length  to  convince  himself  that  "Bona- 


ROBERT  EMMET  537 

parte  was  the  worst  enemy  Ireland  ever  had,"  a  man  who  played 
with  her  hopes  and  utilised  them  for  his  own  purpose.  In  180+ 
Emmet  shook  the  soil  of  France  from  his  feet  forever,  and  set 
sail  for  the  great  Western  Republic  where  fame,  success  and  happi- 
ness, and  In  the  fulness  of  time,  an  honoured  tomb  were  awaiting 
him. 

As  for  his  brother,  Robert,  when  he  saw  the  blood  of  Lord 
Kilwardcn  stain  the  stones  of  that  Dublin  street,  he  dispersed  his 
followers,  and  sought  out  Michael  Dwyer  in  the  WIcklow  hills. 
Dwyer  and  his  men  (whose  failure  to  be  present  at  the  rendezvous 
was  due  to  a  gross  dereliction  of  duty  on  the  part  of  the  man 
charged  with  the  message  for  them)  urged  that  an  attempt  should 
be  made  on  the  neighbouring  towns,  but  Emmet  determined  to  do 
nothing  more  until  the  promised  French  aid  had  arrived.  To 
expedite  its  coming  he  sent  Myles  Byrne  to  France  v/ith  an  urgent 
message  to  his  brother,  Thomas  Addis. 

Before  Myles  Byrne  had  arrived  In  Paris,  Robert  had  been 
arrested  by  Major  Sirr  at  Harold's  Cross,  to  whose  dangerous 
neighbourhood  he  had  been  drawn  by  an  overpowering  desire  to 
see  once  more  his  "bright  love"  the  exquisite  Sarah  Curran.  On 
the  19th  of  September,  two  days  after  Byrne  had  delivered  his 
message  to  Thomas  Addis,  Robert  Emmet  stood  in  the  dock  In 
Green  Street,  uttering  that  Immortal  oration  which  no  one  who 
loves  great  poetry  or  high  passion  can  ever  read  without  all  that 
is  best  In  him  flaming  up  at  the  contact  of  Its  fire.  On  the  20th 
of  September  the  sacrifice  was  consummated.  The  brave  youth 
was  publicly  beheaded  on  a  Dublin  street. 

Authorities: 
Madden :     Lives  of  the  United  Irishmen. 
Myles  Byrne's  Memoirs. 
Thomas  Addis  Emmet:     The  Emmet  Family. 
O'Donoghue:     Life  of  Robert  Emmet. 
Mitchel:     History  of  Ireland. 


CHAPTER  LXII 

DANIEL   O'CONNELL 

Throughout  almost  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth  century  Ire- 
land's history  is  reflected  in  the  life  of  Daniel  O'Connell. 

O'Connell  was  thirty-three  years  of  age  when  his  national 
career  began.  That  was  In  1808,  when  the  Catholic  Committee, 
which  sought  to  get  for  Catholic  citizens  their  rights,  began  to  be 
riven  between  the  aristocratic  advocates  of  "dignified  silence,"  led 
by  the  aged  Keogh,  and  the  revolutionary  advocates  of  agitation, 
of  whom  O'Connell  assumed  the  spokesmanship. 

The  great  man  was  born  in  Cahirclveen  in  the  southwest  of 
Kerry.  Various  biographers  of  O'Connell  give  us  interesting 
glimpses  of  what  life  was  like  on  the  western  seaboard  in  the  lat- 
ter part  of  the  eighteenth  century.  Cut  off,  as  they  were,  from 
the  rest  of  the  world  by  wild  mountain  ranges,  the  ancient  family 
of  the  O'Connells  had  succeeded  in  retaining  a  larger  share  of 
the  world's  goods  than  the  laws  permitted  to  Papists,  though 
even  for  their  partial  good  luck  they  had  to  thank  strategy  as 
well  as  the  mountain  barriers.  O'Connell's  father  held  his  lands 
for  long  years  by  leaving  them  in  the  legal  possession  of  his  Prot- 
estant friend,  Hugh  Falvey  (who  had  conformed  for  emolument 
sake).  From  the  smuggling  trade  then  common  in  the  whole 
west  of  Ireland,  the  O'Connell  family  had  long  derived  a  steady 
income.  Wines,  brandies,  velvets,  and  other  taxable  commodities, 
were  being  constantly  imported  from  the  Continent,  without  get- 
ting the  gauger's  blessing — and  circulated  Inland.  The  smuggling 
smacks  which  constantly  ran  these  goods  into  the  western  bays, 
carried  away  with  them  miscellaneous  export  cargoes — "Wild 
Geese,"  young  men  for  the  Irish  Brigade  in  France  and  for  other 
Continental  armies;  students  for  the  schools  of  Spain,  Italy,  Aus- 
tria, France,  Flanders;  the  flannel  homespun  of  the  cottage  looms; 
Irish  butter,  hides  and  wool.  And  the  seaweed  called  slaucan 
(sloke)  for  which  the  Spanish  appetite  craved,  was  exported  by 
the  women  to  raise  spare  money  for  themselves.  We  are  told 
that  in  the  O'Connell  country — as   probably  happened  in  many 

538 


DANIEL  O'CONNELL  539 

other  western  regions — the  women  used  to  borrow  one  another's 
cloaks  to  go  to  the  Spanish  market  in  the  smugghng  smacks,  and 
there  sell  their  own  slaucan. 

O'Connell's  uncle,  Daniel,  was  one  of  the  many  Wild  Geese 
which  the  smuggling  smacks  carried  away  to  the  great  world  of 
war  and  romance,  abroad;  and  when  that  man  sailed  there  were 
no  less  than  seventeen  of  the  O'Connell  kinsmen  in  foreign  service. 
He  became  Count  O'Connell,  and  was  the  last  Colonel  of  the  Irish 
Brigade.  As  he  was  a  royalist,  the  French  Revolution,  in  time, 
threw  him  back  upon  England — where  he  became  a  fine,  crusty 
old  Tory — and  bitter  opponent  of  his  nephew's  Repeal  idea. 

In  O'Connell's  infancy  the  splendid  Paul  Jones  was  scouring 
the  seas  off  the  Kerry  headlands,  and  giving  England  many  un- 
comfortable gasps.  Then,  the  banned  priest,  Father  O'Grady 
(graduate  of  Louvain)  hidden  by  the  great  hills  from  the  Gov- 
ernment's eyes  and  spies  (though  once  tried  for  the  crime  of  being 
a  Papist  priest,  and  freed  for  want  of  evidence)  was  teaching 
the  child  Dan  his  catechism.  And  the  itinerant  schoolmaster, 
David  O'Mahony,  likewise  banned  by  the  paternal  government, 
was  instructing  the  child  in  the  complications  and  combinations 
of  Cadmus'  invention — and  while  he  nursed  him  and  combed  his 
hair  "without  hurting,"  the  infant  protege,  it  is  recorded,  learned 
the  whole  alphabet  in  an  hour  and  a  half.  And  the  child  saw 
"Cousin  Kane,"  a  landless  half-sir  who  was  typical  of  the  times, 
with  his  pair  of  hunters  and  twelve  couples  of  dogs,  circulating 
among  the  gentry  of  Kerry,  and  honouring  and  living  off  each  in 
turn. 

The  O'Connells  were  a  great,  strong,  long-lived  and  prolific 
family.  Though,  in  those  days  and  in  those  districts,  such  was 
too  common  to  deserve  mention.  Dan's  immediate  parents  in- 
deed were  somewhat  exceptional.  They  had  only  ten  children. 
Grandfather  O'Connell  and  his  celebrated  wife  (of  the  O'Dono- 
hue  family)  Maire  Ni  Duibh,  had  twenty-two.  The  ancient  Irish 
system  of  fosterage  was  still  common  in  the  mountains,  and  Dan's 
father  and  many  uncles  had  all,  for  the  first  few  years  of  their 
lives,  been  fostered  by  neighbours,  relatives,  friends,  tenants. 

Young  Dan  himself  was  fostered  by  his  Uncle  Maurice — "Old 
Hunting  Cap"  as  he  was  known,  because  to  evade  the  tax  upon 
gentlemen's  beaver  hats.  Uncle  Maurice  resolutely  lived  under  a 
hunting  cap.  The  unceremoniousness  of  Old  Hunting  Cap  and 
his  household  is  well  illustrated  by  a  characteristic  incident  re- 
corded of  the  country  carpenter's  shoving  his  tousled  head  in  at 
the  dining-room  door  when  the  household  with  their  guests  had 


540  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

well  begun  upon  the  plentiful  pile  that  always  bent  their  festive 

board. 

"Go  away,  Buckley,"  said  Mrs.  O'Connell.  "This  is  no  time 
to  talk  business." 

"I'm  sorry,  ma'am,  in  troth,  but  I  just  only  wanted  a  word  of 
his  honour,  about  his  coffin." 

Old  Hunting  Cap  a  few  days  before  had  given  orders  that  a 
coffin  should  be  prepared  for  him  from  a  loved  oak-tree  that  was 
being  cut  down  on  the  lawn. 

"Coffin  or  no  coffin,  to-morrow  will  be  a  long  enough  day  to 
talk  of  it." 

"No,  no,  bean  a*tighe,  let  us  hear  what  he  wants — what's  the 
matter  about  the  coffin,  Buckley?"  says  Old  Hunting  Cap. 

"  'Tis  to  fix  about  the  measurements  that  will  make  your  hon- 
our comfortable." 

Then  ensues  a  wrangle  between  Old  Hunting  Cap  and  the 
carpenter  regarding  the  space  that  should  make  a  coffined  man 
comfortable — while  the  diners  pause  and  listen.  Old  Hunting 
Cap  objects  to  the  generous  measurem.ents  that  the  carpenter  in- 
sists on  allowing  him.  "You  know  my  height  is  only  six  foot 
two." 

"But  your  honour  forgets  that  you'll  stretch  after  you're  a 
Corp." 

"That's  so,  to  be  sure.  You're  right,  Buckley.  Then  leave 
me  three  inches  for  stretching." 

"All  right,  your  honour,  I'll  make  it  six  foot  six  to  the  good, 
so  as  to  give  you  no  chance  of  complaint.  Good  night  and  ex- 
cuse me." 

"Good  night,  Buckley,  and  thank  you." 

And  while  knives  and  forks  begin  to  ply  again,  Old  Hunting 
Cap  bravely  resumes  the  discussion  in  which  he  had  been  inter- 
rupted by  the  coffin-maker's  intrusion. 

After  David  O'Mahony's  fireside  teaching,  and  then  some 
schooling  in  Cork,  Daniel  O'Connell  had  a  short  university  term 
at  St.  Omer,  in  Flanders,  and  then  at  Douay  in  France — short, 
because  of  the  French  Revolution,  which  closed  Douay  in  the 
beginning  of  1793 — just  when  he  had  completed  two  years  of 
university  study. 

What  he  saw  and  heard  of  this  revolution  made  him  a  Tory. 
It  might  be  more  correct  to  say  that  it  confirmed  Toryism  in  him; 
for  the  O'Connell  family,  taking  example  from  their  friends,  the 
well-to-do  Anglo-Irish  county  gentry,  were  always  Tory. 

And  when  the  French  came  into  Bantry  Bay  in  '96  to  assist 


DANIEL  O'CONNELL  541 

the  United  Irishmen,  Uncle  Maurice,  good  loyalist,  just  missed 
being  the  first  to  get  the  intelligence  to  the  English  Government. 
The  man  who  was  first  got  a  fortune.  In  his  diary  Dan  then  wrote 
apropos  of  the  French  visit  (probably  recalling  his  experience  of 
one  revolution)  :  "Liberty  is  in  my  bosom  less  a  principle  than 
a  passion.  .  .  .  But  Ireland  is  not  yet  sufficiently  enlightened  to 
bear  the  sun  of  liberty.  Freedom  would  soon  dwindle  into  licen- 
tiousness. They  would  rob;  they  would  murder.  The  altar  of 
liberty  totters  when  cemented  only  with  blood,  when  supported 
with  carcasses.  The  liberty  I  look  for  is  that  which  would  in- 
crease the  happiness  of  mankind."^ 

But  Dan's  Toryism  almost  completely  fell  away  from  him 
when,  studying  for  the  Bar  at  Lincoln's  Inn  in  London  in  '94 — 
for  the  ban  against  Papists  entering  the  outer  bar,  had  just  been 
lifted — he  attended  the  trial  of  Home  Tooke,  and  saw  and  learnt 
at  first  hand  the  astounding  tyranny  and  intolerance  practised  by 
the  rulers  on  their  own  people. 

And  in  Dublin,  a  few  years  later,  he  associated  with  the  United 
Irishmen  and,  it  is  believed,  joined  them.  Anyhow  he  shared 
their  national  sentiments.  Yet,  when  the  hour  of  action  came, 
Daniel  O'Connell  slipped  out  of  Dublin  by  sea,  and  rusticated  for 
a  time  in  the  safety  of  his  Kerry  home.  There  evidently  reading 
the  official  accounts  of  the  barbarity  of  the  wicked  rebels,  whom 
the  kind  Government  reluctantly  chastised,  he  grievingly  com- 
munes with  his  diary  about  the  outrages  that  are  committed  in 
liberty's  name!  He  thinks  he  sees  in  Ireland  a  repetition  of  what 
he  knew  in  France — the  unbridled  blood-lust  of  a  frenzied  and 
ignorant  populace  that  had  suddenly  burst  its  bonds. 

And  when  he  returned  to  Dublin  he  evidently  became  a  good, 
pious  Tory  again.  For  although  he  was  bitterly  anti-Union  (like 
the  great  body  of  the  Tories  in  Ireland),  when  the  Emmet  alarm 
burst  on  the  country  in  1803,  he  flew  to  arms  to  preserve  the  Con- 
stitution. He  was  one  of  the  Lawyers'  Corps  that  was  then  formed 
for  defence  of  the  realm  against  the  assault  of  French  principles. 
In  far  later  days  when  it  was  less  objectionable  to  sympathise  with 
Emmet,  O'Connell  tried  to  justify  his  action  by  exclaiming: 
"Poor  Emmet,  he  meant  well  I  But  was  ever  a  madder  scheme 
conceived  outside  of  Bedlam  than  that  of  facing,  with  seventy- 

^  This  is  the  first  indication  we  have  of  O'Connell's  abject  respect  for  law.  It 
did  not  press  itself  upon  him  that  the  foreigner  in  his  country  was  every  year  in- 
dulging in  robbery  and  murder — even  of  his  own  kin.  The  foreigner  did  it  "legally" 
— prescribed  robbing  and  killing  by  Parliamentary  Statute,  and  hence  it  shoclced 
him  not. 


542  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

four  men  and  twelve  hundred  pounds,  King  George  and  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  thousand  of  the  best  troops  in  Europe — with  finances 
unlimited."  ^ 

It  was  in  1808,  as  before  mentioned,  that  O'Connell  first  got 
marked  prominence  in  Irish  affairs.  In  that  year  Fox  and  Greville, 
in  the  British  Parliament,  had  sought  to  remove  a  few  of  the 
smaller  restrictions  under  which  the  banned  Cathohcs  laboured. 
It  was  a  belated  pretence  at  redeeming  the  bribe-promise  made 
them  in  '99  that  after  the  Union  the  British  Parhament  would 
emancipate  them.  But  even  the  very  sorry  bill  of  Fox  and  Gre- 
ville, which  only  emphasised  their  slavery  by  essaying  to  hack 
away  some  of  the  loose  links  that  dangled  from  their  chains, 
aroused  a  no-popery  wave  which  overswept  England,  engulfed 
Fox,  Greville  and  their  Parliament,  and  put  in  power  a  no-popery 
party.  This  dashed  the  hopes  of  the  Catholic  Committee  of  Ire- 
land— a  committee  which  almost  entirely  represented  the  aristo- 
cratic Catholics,  the  bishops  and  the  wealthy  merchant  and  pro- 
fessional class.  It  wa's  then  that  the  former  Catholic  leader,  Keogh, 
now  an  old  man,  recommended  as  the  best  policy  for  the  Catholics 
''dignified  silence."  But  O'Connell,  with  the  bounding  blood  of 
youth,  caught  the  ear  and  the  mind  of  the  country  at  large,  by 
hotly  opposing  this  servile  policy,  and  urging  agitation  for  their 
commonest  rights.  All  the  more  thoroughly  did  he  arouse  the 
country  by  hammering  on  the  fact  that  the  aristocrats  and  their 
fellows  were  willing  to  give  the  English  government  a  veto  upon 
the  appointment  of  Roman  Catholic  bishops  in  Ireland  in  exchange 
for  the  few  beggarly  crumbs  with  which  Fox  had  tempted  them. 

When  it  was  now  disclosed  that  in  '99  ten  bishop  trustees  of 
Maynooth  College  had  secretly  agreed  to  the  veto,  O'Connell  so 
roused  the  country  and  evoked  such  an  outburst  of  wrath  as  com- 
pelled twenty-six  bishops  in  council  to  repudiate  the  offer,  and 
swing  into  the  popular  camp.  And  then  the  nation,  which  since 
the  cataclysm  of  1 798-1 800  had  been  pitifully  drifting,  joyfully 
hailed  a  new  captain  I 

But  several  years  were  yet  to  pass  before  the  new  captain  called 
up  in  his  people's  hearts  the  extraordinary  confidence  and  the  pride 


2  This  is  one  of  the  many  instances  we  have  of  the  astonishing  nearsightedness 
(4  a  very  great  man.  Emmet's  failure  in  Dublin  was  a  more  permanent,  more 
far-reaching  success  than  Wellington's  triumph  at  Waterloo — for.  more  than  a 
hundred  years  after,  the  memory  of  his  heroism,  his  patriotism,  and  his  faith  was 
enthivsing,  inspiring,  stimulating  and  sustaining  one  of  the  world's  smallest  nations 
in  its  unending  struggle  against  earth's  most  powerful  Empire.  But  Daniel  O'Con- 
nell throughout  his  wonderful  career  was  always  the  lawyer  or  politician,  who 
could  only  be  convinced  by  immediate  results. 


DANIEL  OXONNELL  543 

that  were  to  make  him  the  mightiest  power  in  the  nation.  His 
defence  of  John  Magec  in  '13  was  to  put  him  on  a  unique  pedestal, 
and,  a  httie  hiter,  the  tidal  wave  of  enthusiasm  created  by  his 
victory  over  D'Esterre  was  to  sweep  him  into  the  popular  heart 
and  there  enthrone  him. 

Sut  before  those  golden  milestones  were  reached  the  people 
had  learnt  to  know  his  great  qualities  as  he  fought  shoulder  to 
shoulder  with  them  in  the  Catholic  cause.  The  demure  Catholic 
Board  he  turned  into  a  Board  of  such  boldness  that  the  Govern- 
ment suppressed  it  in  181 1.  And,  beginning  the  legal  and  political 
strategy  that  was  to  be,  later,  his  staple  manoeuvre,  he  re-formed 
the  association  under  the  name  of  a  General  Committee  of  the 
Catholics  of  Ireland.  And  henceforward,  through  his  career,  im- 
mediately his  organisation  under  one  title  was  suppressed,  he  was 
ready  to  re-start  it  next  day  under  a  new  name. 

But,  leading  his  people  in  the  desert  now,  he  had  not  only  to 
fight  the  oppressor  without  but  also  the  aristocratic  and  reactionary 
element  within.  And  when  in  "13  those  Protestant  champions  of 
Catholic  Emancipation,  Grattan  and  Plunkett,  had  introduced  in 
Parliament  a  Catholic  Relief  Bill  which  had  every  chance  of  pass- 
ing, and  which  had  the  approval  of  the  Irish  Catholic  aristocratic 
party  and  the  English  Catholics,  O'Connell  aroused  Ireland 
against  it  because  it  was  saddled  with  the  objectionable  veto  and 
also  gave  to  the  British  the  right  to  supervise  all  documents  pass- 
ing between  Rome  and  the  Roman  Catholic  hierarchy  in  these 
islands. 

The  British  Government  got  Quarantotti,  Secretary  and  Vice- 
Prefect  of  the  Sacred  College  who  was  then,  so  to  speak,  acting 
Pope — Pius  the  Seventh  being  a  prisoner  of  Napoleon — to  ap- 
prove the  veto  and  the  supervision  right,  and  issue  a  rescript  to 
the  Irish  bishops  to  that  effect.  Then  was  precipitated  turmoil  in 
Ireland.  From  the  altar  steps  of  the  chapel  of  the  Friars  in  Clar- 
endon Street,  Dublin.  O'Connell  denounced  the  rescript  to  an  ex- 
cited gathering.  He  threatened  the  prelates  and  threatened  the 
secular  clergy,  that,  if  they  signed  themselves  over  to  England, 
the  people,  refusing  their  ministrations,  would  import  poor  friars 
from  the  continent  of  Europe,  and  willingly  revert  to  the  depriva- 
tions and  sufferings  of  the  worst  of  the  penal  days. 

And  a  little  later,  when  the  Pope  had  returned  to  Rome,  and 
there  were  rumours  that  he  was  bargaining  with  England,  Dan 
boldly  rang  out  his  defiance  to  the  Pope  himself  if  he  dared  to 
bargain  away  Ireland's  traditional  rights  and  the  national  rights 
of  the  Church.     "Though  I  am  a  Catholic,"  he  thundered,  "I  am 


544  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

no  Papist  I  And  I  deny  temporal  rights  to  the  Pope  in  this  island." 
And  prelates  who,  in  synod  assembled,  had  previously  sent  to 
Quarantotti  a  respectful,  very  firm,  remonstrance,  not  to  say 
threat,  now  for  Pius'  behoof  and  warning,  unanimously  passed 
this  resolution: 

"Though  we  sincerely  venerate  the  supreme  Pontiff  as  Visible 
Head  of  the  church  we  do  not  conceive  that  our  apprehensions 
for  the  safety  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  in  Ireland  can,  or 
ought  to  be,  removed  by  any  determination  of  His  Holiness,  adopted 
or  intended  to  be  adopted,  not  only  without  our  concurrence  but 
in  direct  opposition  to  our  repeated  behest,  and  so  ably  supported 
by  our  deputy,  the  most  Rev.  Dr.  Murray,  who  in  that  quality 
was  more  competent  to  inform  His  Holiness  of  the  real  state  and 
interests  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  in  Ireland  than  any  other 
with  whom  he  is  said  to  have  consulted." 

The  passion  of  O'Connell,  the  people,  and  the  prelates  had 
the  desired  effect.  The  rights  of  the  Irish  church  were  no  longer 
to  be  considered  a  negotiable  security  at  Rome. 


CHAPTER  LXIII 

O'CONNELL  THE  IDOL 

In  1 8 13  occurred  the  John  Magee  trial  which  lifted  O'Connell 
on  a  mighty  wave  of  popular  favour.  Magee,  a  Dublin  Presby- 
terian of  staunch  Irish  principle,  owned  The  Evening  Post,  one  of 
the  only  two  or  three  journals  (out  of  a  dozen)  in  Dublin  which 
the  Government  could  not  corrupt.  When  in  May  of  '13  the  Duke 
of  Richmond  resigned  the  Viceroyalty,  he  and  his  administration 
left  a  bad  taste  in  the  public  mouth;  and  The  Evening  Post  pub- 
lished a  scathing  article  on  the  occasion.  Of  various  previous  ad- 
ministrations it  said,  "They  insulted,  they  oppressed,  they  mur- 
dered— the  profligate  unprincipled  Westmoreland,  the  cold-hearted 
and  cruel  Camden,  the  artful  treacherous  Cornwallis,  left  Ireland 
more  depressed  and  divided  than  they  found  her.  They  increased 
coercion  and  corruption,  and  uniformly  employed  them  against 
the  liberties  of  the  people."  But  bad  as  they  were,  he  said,  "Rich- 
mond out-matched  the  worst  of  them." 

The  Government  immediately  instituted  proceedings  against 
Magee.  Attorney  General  Saurin,  a  bitter,  Irish-hating  Orange- 
man, had  charge  of  the  prosecution.  Magee  engaged  O'Connell 
for  his  chief  counsel,  and  both  sides  girded  themselves  for  the 
battle  of  the  age.  But  of  course  Saurin  held  the  cards,  and  dealt 
them  unscrupulously.  In  choosing  the  jury  every  man  who  was 
suspected  of  the  possibility  of  entertaining  the  most  remote  regard 
for  Irish  liberties,  was  set  aside.  A  solidly  Orange  jury,  every 
man  of  them  a  noted  bigot,  was  picked.  The  Bench  was  occupied 
by  Lord  Chief  Justice  Downes,  who  was  clay  in  the  hands  of  the 
administration,  and  three  other  judges  of  the  same  quality. 

O'Connell,  recognising  that  his  clients  had  as  much  chance  of 
escape  from  the  Bench  of  Tory  tools  and  the  Box  of  bigots,  as 
would  a  sparrow  in  a  field  of  hawks,  resolved  to  use  the  oppor- 
tunity, not  to  seek  justice  in  a  court  of  manifest  injustice,  but  to 
fire  the  already  excited  nation  by  pillorying  the  mockery  of  justice 
to  which  the  British  Government  treated  them. 

In  all  his  career  O'Connell  made  no  more  popular  speech  than 

545 


546  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

his  pretended  "defence"  of  Magee — ^and  made  few  that  had  more 
far-reaching  effect.  Peel  who  had  come  to  Ireland  as  Chief  Sec- 
retary, and  who  was  present  in  a  court  that  was  crammed  and 
surrounded  by  masses  of  men  who  could  not  get  near  the  door — 
Peel  wrote  to  the  Viceroy  that  O'Connell's  speech  was  an  in- 
finitely more  atrocious  libel  upon  the  Government  and  the  admin- 
istration of  justice  in  Ireland  than  the  gross  libel  which  he  pro- 
fessed to  defend.  O'Connell  browbeat  and  insulted  the  jury  in 
the  box,  and  the  judges  on  the  bench,  flaying  the  Chief  Justice  him- 
self more  cruelly  than  any  of  them;  besides  arraigning,  denounc- 
ing, defying,  and  scarifying  the  Government  and  all  its  works,  its 
hangers-on  and  tools,  and  the  whole  vulture  tribe  which  formed 
the  British  administration  in  Ireland.  "I  have  unfeigned  respect," 
he  said,  to  the  Orange  jury,  "for  the  form  of  Christian  faith  you 
profess.  Would  that  its  preaching  were  deeply  impressed  on  your 
mind — that  its  substance  rather  than  forms  and  temporal  advan- 
tages appealed  to  you.  Then  should  I  not  address  you  in  the 
cheerless  and  hopeless  despondency  which  now  clouds  my  mind. 
I  respect  and  venerate  your  religion — but  I  despise  your  preju- 
dices as  much  as  the  Attorney  General  has  cultivated  them.  There 
are  amongst  you  men  of  great  religious  zeal — of  much  public  piety. 
Are  you  sincere?  Do  you  believe  what  you  profess?  With  all 
this  zeal,  with  all  this  piety,  is  there  any  conscience  amongst  you? 
Is  there  any  terror  of  violating  your  oaths?  Be  ye  hypocrites,  or 
does  genuine  religion  inspire  you?  If  you  be  sincere,  if  you  have 
consciences,  if  your  oaths  can  control  your  prejudice — then  Mr. 
Magee  confidently  expects  an  acquittal.  If  amongst  you  there  be 
cherished  one  ray  of  pure  religion,  if  amongst  you  there  glows  a 
single  spark  of  liberty,  if  I  have  alarmed  the  passion  of  religious 
liberty,  or  roused  the  spirit  of  political  freedom  in  one  breast 
amongst  you,  Mr.  Magee  is  safe,  his  country  is  served.  But  if 
there  be  none — if  you  be  slaves  and  hypocrites,  he  v/ill  await  your 
verdict  and  despise  it." 

With  astounding  audacity  he  taunted,  mimicked,  scoffed  to  his 
face,  and  whipped,  the  squirming  Lord  Chief  Justice,  cowering 
on  the  bench  in  his  scarlet  and  his  ermine  before  the  inspired  man 
who  spoke  for  an  outraged  people.  "At  some  future  period,  my 
lord,"  he  mocked  him,  "some  man  may  attain  the  first  place  on 
the  Bench  by  the  reputation,  which  is  easily  acquired,  of  a  certain 
degree  of  church-wardening  piety,  added  to  a  great  gravity  and 
maidenly  decorum  of  manners.  Such  a  man  may  reach  the  Bench 
— for  I  am  putting  a  purely  imaginary  case.  He  may  be  a  man 
without  passions,  and  therefore  without  vices.     He  may,  my  lord, 


O'CONNELL  THE  IDOL  547 

be  a  man  superfluously  rich,  and  therefore  not  to  be  bribed  with 
money,  but  amenable  to  the  smile  of  the  masters  on  whom  he 
fawns  and  to  whom  he  is  partial  by  his  prejudice.  Such  a  man, 
inflated  by  flattery  and  bloated  in  his  dignity,  may  hereafter  use 
his  character  for  sanctity  which  has  served  to  promote  him,  as  a 
sword  to  hew  down  the  struggling  liberties  of  his  country,"  And 
he  told  the  jury  not  to  stand  dictation  from  this  man. 

Saurin  who,  above  all  others,  richly  deserved  it,  he  excoriated, 
lashing  him  till  almost  he  yelped,  and  to  his  face  branding  him 
an  infamous  and  profligate  liar. 

A  vivid  picture  of  Saurin,  under  his  castigation,  was  drawn  by 
Dennis  Scully,  in  an  introduction  which  he  wrote  for  O'Connell's 
speech,  published  immediately  after  by  The  Post,  and  distributed 
in  tens  of  thousands:  "How  did  you  feel  when  Mr,  O'Connell 
branded  you  as  a  libeler  before  the  court,  a  calumniator  in  the 
face  of  your  country,  and  in  your  beard  a  liar?  The  sweat  trickled 
down  Saurin's  forehead,"  continues  Scully.  "His  lips  were  as  white 
as  ashes,  his  jaws  elongated,  and  his  mouth  unconsciously  open, 
while  the  lava  of  the  indignant  orator  poured  around  him  with 
unsparing  tide,  and  seemed  absolutely  to  dry  up  and  burn  the 
source  of  respiration." 

O'Connell's  speech,  by  most  authorities  reckoned  his  greatest 
forensic  effort,  set  the  country  wild  with  enthusiasm — and  no  won- 
der, for  he  had  bearded  the  lion  of  injustice  in  his  very  lair,  and 
he  had  lashed  him  till  his  roars  of  rage  were  heard  to  the  corners 
of  the  land.  All  the  vultures  attendant  upon  the  Government  of 
Ireland  were  screeching  and  screaming  in  discordant  chorus,  for 
the  astounding  brazenness  of  a  common  demagogue  attacking  and 
mocking  all  sacred  things  which  it  had  hitherto  been  considered 
most  shocking  sacrilege  to  breathe  the  faintest  whisper  against. 
In  their  wrath  the  Government  minions  went  so  far  as  to  try  to 
have  O'Connell  disrobed  or  driven  from  the  Bar.  But  for  their 
petty  persecutions,  which  went  by  him  as  the  wind,  O'Connell  was 
repaid  a  thousandfold  by  the  exuberant  gratitude  of  a  prostrate 
people  arising  to  the  knowledge  that  they  had  found,  if  not  a  de- 
liverer, at  least  a  defender,  who  feared  not  to  face  and  defy  their 
oppressor.^ 

1  Magee  was  of  course  found  guilty.  He  was  sentenced  to  two  years*  imprison- 
ment and  a  heavy  fine,  besides  having  to  find  securities  to  be  of  good  behaviour 
for  seven  years.  He  was,  moreover,  given  another  six  months'  imprisonment,  to- 
gether with  a  hea\'y  fine,  for  a  further  aggravation  of  his  offence  in  publishing  in 
The  Evening  Post  after  the  trial  a  resolution  from  the  Irishmen  of  Kilkenny,  con- 
demnatory of  judges  and  jury,  and  the  whole  carriage  of  the  trial. 


548  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

And  if  anything  was  now  needed  to  further  endear  O'Connell 
to  the  people,  his  duel  with  D'Esterre  supplied  it. 

D'Esterre  was  a  retired  Lieutenant  in  the  English  navy,  who, 
by  a  most  audacious  bit  of  bravery,  had  escaped  hanging  at  the 
hands  of  the  sailors  in  the  Mutiny  of  the  Nore.  He  was  now  a 
wealthy  pork  merchant  in  Dublin,  and  a  member  of  the  Orange 
Dublin  Corporation.  O'Connell,  having  in  one  of  his  speeches 
at  the  Catholic  Association  abused  the  "beggarly  Corporation," 
D'Esterre,  then  running  for  High  Sheriff,  and  so  coveting  popular 
favour,  leapt  forward  as  its  defender.  He  wrote  O'Comiell  a 
tart  letter,  demanding  to  know  whether  it  was  true,  as  reported 
in  the  press,  that  he  had  applied  the  opprobrious  term  to  the  Cor- 
poration. O'Connell  made  a  characteristic  reply,  wherein  refus- 
ing to  answer  yes  or  no  to  a  demand  impertinently  made,  he  at 
the  same  time  assured  D'Esterre  that  "no  terms  attributed  to  me, 
however  reproachful,  can  exceed  the  contemptuous  feeling  I  en- 
tertain for  that  body." 

O'Connell's  reply,  evoking  from  all  Dublin  another  hearty 
laugh  at  the  ridiculed  Corporation,  brought  from  D'Esterre  the 
announcement  that  he  was  going  to  chastise  the  man  publicly.  He 
went  about  the  proceedings  elaborately.  With  horsewhip  in  hand 
he  set  out  at  an  advertised  hour  from  the  Mansion  House,  accom- 
panied by  the  Lord  Mayor  and  other  prominent  members  and 
friends  of  the  Corporation,  and  followed  by  a  crowd  that  swelled 
as  it  went,  till  the  Four  Courts  was  reached. 

When  O'Connell,  who  was  pleading  a  case  In  the  courts,  heard 
of  the  treat  that  awaited  him,  he  doffed  his  gown  and  went  out 
into  the  hall.  But  D'Esterre  and  his  friends  now  considered  that 
the  fashionable  thoroughfare  of  Grafton  Street,  through  which 
the  miscreant  libeller  always  passed  on  his  way  home,  would  be  a 
more  fitting  place  to  make  a  public  example  and  point  a  moral. 
So  they  set  off  again,  and  took  position  on  the  steps  of  a  drapery 
establishment  in  the  popular  street.  All  Dublin  was  now  agog. 
Great  was  the  crowd  that  jammed  the  thoroughfare.  Beauty  and 
Rank  at  all  the  windows  took  advantageous  and  comfortable  posi- 
tions. And  to  get  satisfactory  view  of  the  humiliation  of  the 
meddlesome  demagogue  whose  audacity  had  been  getting  on  their 
nerves,  the  noblest  and  most  prominent  members  of  the  Adminis- 
tration got  the  choicest  windows  and  balconies,  right  above  the 
spot  where  the  victim  was  to  dance  to  the  music  of  the  horsewhip. 

When  O'Connell  heard  where  he  was  now  expected  to  present 
himself  for  punishment,  he  took  in  his  fist  his  good  blackthorn, 
clapped  his  hat  on  his  head  with  the  slightly  rakish  tilt  that  was 


O'CONNELL  THE  IDOL  549 

his  wont,  and  with  a  trusty  friend  on  either  side  jauntily  set  out 
to  overtake  his  Nemesis.  The  sublime  seriousness  with  which 
the  gentleman  in  Grafton  Street  apprehended  the  situation  did  not 
properly  sink  into  O'Connell's  soul;  for,  as  the  giant  strode  along, 
he  lightly  twirled  his  staff,  winked  at  friends  who  here  and  there 
studded  the  crowds  that  lined  the  way,  and  with  his  jokes  kept 
his  companions  in  hearty  laughter  en  route. 

The  crowd  that  had  followed  D'Esterre  was  but  a  drop  in 
the  ocean  to  the  huzzaing  multitude  that  followed  "the  Coun- 
sellor" (as  he  was  affectionately  known  to  the  populace).  And 
when  the  cheers  were  heard,  and  the  Counsellor  himself  and  the 
head  of  his  following  were  seen,  at  the  foot  of  Grafton  Street, 
D'Esterre  rolled  up  his  horsewhip  and  retired  to  a  back  parlour 
for  meditation.  Tory  window-holders  who  had  come  to  feast  upon 
the  final  humiliation  of  the  bad  man  of  Ireland,  had,  instead,  to 
endure  the  deep  mortification  of  seeing  him  on  triumphal  march 
through  Grafton  Street,  elevated  into  a  favour  before  undreamt 
of. 

But  of  course  it  did  not  end  there.  Whatever  might  or  might 
not  be  D'Esterre's  qualifications  with  the  horsewhip,  his  skill  with 
the  pistol  v/as  famous.  After  first  demanding  an  apology  from 
O'Connell,  and  getting  instead  a  hearty  laugh,  he  challenged  his 
man  to  a  pistol  duel — which  Major  MacNamara,  O'Connell's 
friend,  arranged  to  take  place  at  four  o'clock  on  the  afternoon  of 
the  day  of  the  challenge,  over  the  border  in  Kildare.  Though 
both  sides,  with  a  few  friends  and  surgeons,  stole  off  quietly  enough 
to  the  place  of  combat,  the  news  overswept  Dublin  like  wildfire, 
and  horses,  coaches,  traps,  gigs,  and  carts,  every  vehicle  and  every 
animal  of  burden  that  could  be  secured,  flew  over  the  road  in  O'Con- 
nell's  wake.  And  when  D'Esterre  arrived  on  the  field,  half  an 
hour  late,  he  was  surprised  to  find  there  a  goodly  gathering  indeed 
of  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  Dublin  people,  in  addition  to  crowds 
of  Kildare  country  folk  and  a  throng  of  citizens  from  the  town 
of  Naas,  a  few  miles  distant. 

Major  MacNamara  won  the  toss  for  choice  of  ground.  The 
men  were  placed,  the  signal  was  given — the  dropping  of  a  hand- 
kerchief— the  two  fighters,  with  pistol  points  lowered,  steadily 
watched  each  other  for  half  a  minute.  Then  D'Esterre  stepped 
to  one  side,  to  confuse  his  opponent,  both  pistols  came  up  simul- 
taneously, O'Connell's  shot  rang  out  first — and  laid  D'Esterre 
upon  the  ground  mortally  wounded. 

The  Dublin  Corporation  and  Tory  ascendancy  had,  in  the  eyes 
of  the  tense  crowd,   gone   down   in   the  person   of  the   seriously 


550  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

wounded  D'Esterre — and  from  the  top  of  the  field  where  the 
country  people  were  assembled  went  up  a  cheer  of  triumph  that, 
it  may  be  said,  ceased  not,  till,  twenty-four  hours  later,  it  had 
reached  the  four  ends  of  Ireland. 

The  man  who  had  thrown  the  Old  Man  of  the  Sea,  the  aris- 
tocratic incubus,  off  the  shoulders  of  the  Catholic  Association,  who 
had  then  made  the  creatures  of  the  administration  yelp  under  his 
lash,  and  made  the  creatures'  masters  tremble,  had  compelled  the 
hierarchy  to  the  side  of  their  people  and  broken  the  intrigues  of 
Rome,  and  had  finally  overthrown  hated  privilege  in  the  person 
of  the  champion  of  the  most  bitterly  anti-Irish  Orange  body  that 
Ireland  knew,  was  now  truly  the  people's  Dan  I 


CHAPTER  LXIV 

CATHOLIC  EMANCIPATION 

O'CoNNELL  now  had  complete  control  of  the  national  mind.  And 
his  voice  was  the  voice  of  Ireland.  The  unquestioning  faith  of  his 
multitudinous  following  put  in  his  hands  a  power  which  he  un- 
sparingly wielded  to  work  out  the  people's  emancipation. 

And  to  that  end  he  spared  himself  not — either  physically  or 
morally,  it  might  be  specified.  For  when  George  IV  of  Britain 
came  to  visit  Ireland  in  1821,  the  popular  leader,  in  anxiety  to 
attain  his  great  end,  abased  himself  and  through  himself  the  na- 
tion. The  abasement  was  not  the  less  humiliating  to  Ireland  even 
when  we  admit  that  the  servile  homage  which  he  did  George  was 
as  much  the  genuine  homage  of  one  who  had  an  almost  supersti- 
tious reverence  for  royalty,  as  it  was  the  blarney  of  the  Prince  of 
Blarney. 

The  man's  ever-amazing  veneration  and  love  for  the  royal  rep- 
resentative of  that  Empire  which  trod  upon  his  nation's  neck,  and 
kept  himself  and  his  fellows  in  servitude,  will  be  treated  of  later 
on.  Sufficient  to  say  nov/  that  to  the  generations  since  this  has 
seemed  almost  an  enigma  in  O'Connell's  nature.  But  the  blarney 
Dan  always  considered  a  worthy  and  legitimate  instrument,  as  it 
was  an  effective  one,  for  attaining  a  good  end. 

The  debauch  of  debasement  in  which  O'Connell  revelled  be- 
fore George  was  all  the  more  remarkable  because  nine  years  be- 
fore he  had  held  him  up  to  ridicule  and  opprobrium  when,  as  Prince 
of  Wales,  the  royal  youth  had  worked  maliciously  and  effectively 
against  Catholic  relief.  The  Catholic  Board,  under  O'Connell's 
direction  of  course,  passed  the  celebrated  "witchery"  resolution, 
which  (between  the  lines)  gave  to  the  scandal-mongering  multi- 
tude the  tid-bit  that  it  was  a  bigoted  anti-Catholic  mistress  who 
had  compelled  the  Prince's  anti-Irish  attitude.  The  resolution, 
and  O'Connell's  flippant  treatment  of  his  quasi-secret  heart  en- 
tanglement, had  envenomed  George  against  the  Irish  leader.  This 
well-known  fact  made  all  the  more  strange  the  leader's  effusively 
enthusiastic  humility  now.  To  cap  the  absurdity,  O'Connell  was 
not  more  delighted  at  lavishing  servile  homage  upon  his  royal 
master  than  the  royal  master  himself  was  childishly  delighted  to 
receive  it. 

551 


552  THF  STORY  OF  THE  fRlSH  FACF 

O'Connell,  in  organising  the  reception,  so  workeci  upon  his 
faithful  people  with  his  lavish  eloquence  that,  arising  out  to  wel 
come  George  with  wild  delight,  thev  seethed  with  enthusiasm  dur- 
ing every  day  of  his  stay.  All  dissensions  of  Orange  and  Green 
were  drowned  in  the  great  draught  of  loyalty  that  both  parties 
now  quaffed.  Royal  blue,  the  blend  of  the  two  parties'  colours, 
was  by  O'Connell's  direction,  sported  by  all.  The  climax  was 
reached  when  at  Dunleary  (whose  ancient  name  wa«  that  day 
dropped  in  favour  of  the  glorious  new  one  of  Kingstown)  O'Con- 
nell, on  bended  knee,  presented  George  with  a  laurel  crown,  and 
the  pledge  of  the  nation's  eternal  gratitude  and  loyalty.  George 
shook  the  hand  of  the  Great  Dan  right  cordially,  and,  in  the  lan- 
guage of  The  London  Times  correspondent,  "noticed  Mr.  O'Con- 
nell in  the  most  marked  and  condescending  manner!"  To  the 
cheering  crowds  the  king  said  in  a  voice  almost  broken  with  emo- 
tion, "May  God  Almighty  bless  you  all  until  we  meet  again." 
And  on  the  deck  of  his  ship,  when  it  started,  he  waved  his  white 
hand  to  the  adoring  ones,  crying:  "Farewell,  my  beloved  Irish 
subjects !" 

O'Connell,  in  his  joy  at  discovering  the  extraordinary  devotion 
which  flowed  between  British  royalty  and  Irish  subjects,  proposed 
the  erection  of  an  Irish  royal  residence,  offering  a  subscription  of 
twenty  guineas  a  year  from  himself.  And  to  commemorate  the 
occasion  of  the  discovery,  and  the  man,  he  asked  the  select  of 
Dublin,  both  Green  and  Orange,  to  form  a  Royal  Georgian  Club, 
the  members  of  which,  sporting  rosettes  of  blue,  should  dine  six 
times  a  year,  and  at  the  festive  board  help  one  another  to  recall 
the  happy  memories  of  their  beloved  king's  visit. 

So  touched  was  George  with  his  reception  by  his  "beloved  Irish 
subjects,"  that  he  bestowed  on  Lord  Fingall,  the  ranking  Catholic 
layman,  the  Order  of  St.  Patrick.  And  Immediately  after  his  re- 
turn to  England  he  sent  to  the  Lord  Lieutenant  of  Ireland  a 
message  of  gratitude,  and  hope  for  the  bright  future  of  his  Irish 
people — which  assured  O'Connell  and  his  followers.  If  assurance 
were  needed,  that  their  fondest  hopes  for  religious  freedom  would 
now  at  length  be  satisfied. 

But  they  had  still  a  weary  way  to  go  to  their  religious  free- 
dom, many  an  arduous  hill  to  climb,  and  many  a  furious  battle  to 
fight,  before  the  goal  was  won.  And  It  was  destined  that  In  the 
agony  of  the  fight  the  rueful  Dan  should  groan:  "I  am  sorry 
to  say  that  the  greatest  enemy  of  the  people  of  Ireland  Is  his  most 
sacred  majesty  I" 

It  Is  true  that  in  '21  the  English  House  of  Commons  passed 


CATHOLIC  EMANCIPATION  553 

tlic  Catholic  Relief  Bill  which,  while  proposing  to  make  Catholics 
eligible  for  Parliament  and  for  offices  under  the  Crown  was  again 
saddled  with  the  impossible  veto,  and  with  another  equally  un- 
acceptable condition,  namely,  that  tlie  Roman  Catholic  clergy  should 
take  oath  to  elect  only  bishops  who  were  loyal  to  the  British  Crown. 
O'Connell,  who  cursed  it  as  worse  than  all  the  penal  statutes,  fought 
this  Bill  with  all  his  power — and  the  priests  in  a  solid  body  backed 
him.  But,  anyhow,  the  Lords  who  could  not  stomach  such  con- 
cession to  the  Irish,  threw  it  out — and  saved  Ireland  the  trouble 
of  rebelling  against  it. 

O'Connell  entering  into  negotiation  with  Lord  Lieutenant  Wel- 
lesley — specially  sent  over  to  soothe  Catholic  feeling — agreed  to 
a  compromise  form  of  veto,  whereby  the  questioned  loyalty  of  any 
man  chosen  for  a  bishopric  should  be  investigated  and  decided 
upon  by  two  bishops.  But  as  the  Government  absolutely  refused 
to  entertain  this  proposition,  O'Connell  had  to  start  from  the  be- 
ginning again. 

Lie  found  it  a  particularly  good  time  for  agitation  because  it 
was  a  particularly  bad  time  for  the  country.  The  year  '22  and 
again  '23  brought  with  them  much  want  and  hardship  to  the  na- 
tion. There  was  a  famine;  the  French  Wars  had  ended,  and  a 
period  of  greatly  inflated  prices  intensely  aggravated  the  other 
woes  under  which  the  people  laboured.  The  secret  society  of  the 
Ribbonmen,  which  terrorised  profiteers,  bad  landlords,  Govern- 
ment officials,  and  all  enemies  of  the  people,  helped  to  develop 
and  swell  the  unrest  throughout  the  island.  And  the  Government 
was  embarrassingly  trying  to  cope  with  a  difficult  situation.  It 
was  the  right  moment  for  organising  the  mass  of  the  people  and 
giving  them  a  lead.  Richard  Lalor  Shiel,  orator  and  Catholic 
leader,  who  had  differed  with  and  separated  from  O'Connell,  now 
consented  to  join  forces  with  him.  So  O'Connell  founded  a  new 
Catholic  Association  and  resolving  to  bring  into  politics  a  new 
great  power  that  had  never  before  been  systematically  enlisted, 
namely,  the  priests,  organised  the  Association  by  parishes  wnth 
the  priest  in  each  case  as  natural  leader.  To  provide  the  sinews 
for  the  fight  a  Catholic  rent  was  established,  one  penny  per  month 
per  man — to  be  lifted  at  the  chapel  gate  on  the  first  Sunday  of 
each  month — which  small  subscription  from  a  vast  number  of 
people  soon  supplied  the  Catholic  Association  with  a  steady  In- 
come of  more  than  a  thousand  pounds  a  week.  So,  In  a  short  time 
the  country  was  more  thoroughly  organised  than  It  had  ever  been 
before.  The  Association,  too,  was  more  virile  and  determined 
in  Its  demands.     Strange  to  say  the  triumphs  of  the  South  Amer- 


554  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

ican  Revolutionaries  under  Bolivar — to  whom  Ireland  had  con- 
tributed an  Irish  brigade,  O'Connell's  son  Morgan  one  of  its  of- 
ficers— and  even  also  the  triumphs  of  the  Greeks  over  their  Turk- 
ish enslavers,  enthused  and  emboldened  the  people.  And  O'Con- 
nell,  most  loyal  of  men,  grew  belligerent — in  his  speeches  at  least. 
"If  the  Irish  be  driven  to  desperation,"  he  rang  out,  "they  may 
wish  for  a  new  Bolivar  to  arise  who  will  call  forth  the  spirit  of 
the  South  Americans,  the  spirit,  too,  of  the  Greeks,  to  animate 
the  people  of  Ireland."  And  the  threat  was  applauded  from  sea 
to  sea.  So  dangerous  became  the  people's  attitude  that  the  Eng- 
lish Government  was  forced  to  take  a  decisive  step.  The  Catholic 
Association  was  suppressed,  and  an  Emancipation  Bill  brought  in. 

The  speech  of  one  of  the  very  liberal-minded  Parliamentarians, 
Plunkett,  on  the  suppression  of  the  Association,  illuminates  to  us 
the  hberality  of  the  British  Constitution  as  interpreted  for  Ire- 
land. "An  Association  assuming  to  represent  the  people,"  said 
Plunkett,  "and  in  that  capacity  to  bring  about  a  reform  of  church 
and  state  is  directly  opposed  to  the  British  Constitution.  .  .  .  We 
deny  that  any  portion  of  the  subjects  of  this  realm  have  the  right 
to  give  up  their  suffrages  to  others — the  right  to  select  persons  to 
speak  their  sentiments,  debate  their  grievances  and  devise  methods 
for  their  removal,  those  persons  (the  committee  of  the  Catholic 
Association)  not  being  recognised  by  law.  That  is  the  privilege 
alone  of  the  Commons  of  the  United  Kingdom."  And  the  re- 
former, Channing,  endorsed  these  sentiments! 

This  Emancipation  Bill,  of  1825,  omitted  the  veto;  but  in- 
stead there  were  attached  to  it  two  conditions,  named  the  "wings" 
— that  were  to  carry  it  through.  They  were — payment  of  priests, 
and  the  disfranchisement  of  the  forty  shilling  free-holders.  Arch- 
bishops were  to  be  paid  fifteen  hundred  pounds  per  year,  bishops 
a  thousand  pounds,  parish  priests  two  hundred  pounds,  and  curates 
sixty  pounds.  This  of  course  was  the  bribe  that  would  secure 
their  loyalty  to  the  British  connection  for  all  time.  O'Connell 
found  himself  willing  to  compromise  and  accept  these  conditions, 
but  priests  and  people  rebelled — and  Mahomet  had  to  come  to 
the  mountain. 

The  Bill  passed  the  House  of  Commons — and  in  all  prob- 
ability the  House  of  Lords  would  have  felt  compelled  to  accept  it, 
but  that  the  Duke  of  York,  brother  to  George  IV,  came  before 
them,  threatened,  stormed,  implored,  entreated,  and  even  wept 
at  the  prospect  of  their  becoming  traitors  to  the  Established  reli- 
gion, to  the  crown,  and  to  God,  truckling  with,  bribing,  and  sub- 
sidising iniquity.     The  Lords,  deeply  moved,  and  emboldened  by 


CATHOLIC  EMANCIPATION  555 

the  fierce  harangue,  threw  out  the  Bill.  An  anti-Catholic  wave 
again  o\'erswept  Britain,  on  the  crest  of  which  rode  the  hero  of 
York,  the  saviour  of  his  nation  and  religion.  The  Parliament 
dissolved  in  a  tumult.  A  general  election  followed,  in  which,  once 
more,  no-popery  carried  the  day.  And  a  bitterly  anti-Papist  Gov- 
ernment took  up  the  reins  in  England. 

O'Connell,  nothing  daunted,  started  to  build  anew.  When 
the  Catholic  Association  was  suppressed,  he  penned  a  valedictory, 
wherein,  still  strong  with  irrepressible  loyalty,  he  urged  upon  the 
people  "attachment  to  the  British  Constitutioa,  and  unqualified 
loyalty  to  the  king  I"  But  as  he  always  loved  to  show  defiance  to 
illegal  laws — in  a  legal  manner,  however — he,  to  replace  the  sup- 
pressed Catholic  Association  now  founded  the  New  Catholic  As- 
sociation, "for  the  purpose  of  public  and  private  charity  and  such 
other  purposes  as  are  not  forbidden  by  the  statute  of  George  IV, 
cap.  4."  And  by  the  simple  device  of  the  slightest  change  of  name, 
and  the  definite  statement  of  purposes  not  forbidden  by  the  recent 
Suppression  Act,  he  quickly  had  his  agitation  going  in  as  full  blast 
as  if  the  British  Imperial  Parliament  had  only  winked  at  it.  And 
the  intensity  of  the  anti-popery  agitation  in  England,  and  the  suc- 
cess of  the  anti-popery  party  there,  instead  of  dampening  the  ar- 
dour of  the  people,  gave  fresh  vigour  to  the  fight. 

Though  the  general  election  in  England  went  very  happily 
for  the  no-popery  party,  the  new  no-popery  Government  was 
frightened  to  discover  that  the  election  in  Ireland  had  gone  en- 
tirely the  other  way.  The  mighty  power  of  combined  priests  and 
people  was  taking  form,  and  the  Irish  nation  now  realised  the 
solidity  of  their  power  more  surely  and  more  boldly  than  ever 
before. 

Lecky  says  that  this  election  of  '26  won  Emancipation.  It 
certainly  gave  the  Government  pause,  and  prepared  them  for  a 
salutary  change  of  mind. 

But  with  far  more  force,  it  can  be  said  that  Emancipation  was 
won  by  the  epoch-making  Clare  election.  That  was  the  first  truly 
golden  milestone  met  by  the  Irish  people  upon  their  weary  march 
from  the  century's  beginning.  The  Clare  election  was  to  Ireland 
a  joyful  surprise,  and  a  fearful  one  to  England. 

It  will  be  recalled  that  Catholics  were  debarred  from  sitting 
In  Parliament.  Every  member  taking  the  oath  had  to  swear  to 
his  conviction  that  "the  Sacrifice  of  the  Mass  and  the  invocation 
of  the  Virgin  Mary  and  other  saints,  as  now  practised  in  the 
Church  of  Rome,  are  infamous  and  idolatrous."  Now,  In  1828  a 
Parliamentary  vacancy  was  created  In  County   Clare,  by  reason 


556  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

of  the  member,  Fitzgerald  (a  supporter  of  Emancipation),  tak- 
ing office  under  the  Government.  Fitzgerald  had  no  doubt  what- 
soever of  his  re-election  for  Clare.  It  was,  like  many  another,  a 
family  seat.  It  had  been  his  father's  before  him,  and  was  now 
his.  But  since  he  took  office  under  Government  it  was  decided  by 
the  Association  that  Fitzgerald  should  be  opposed. 

O'Connell  was  trying  to  pick  out  a  strong,  desirable  and  re- 
liable candidate,  when  there  was  made  to  him  the  startling  sug- 
gestion, "Why  not  stand  for  Clare,  yourself?"  The  audacity  of 
the  idea  first  took  him  aback.  Then  he  smiled  at  it,  and  finally, 
seized  by  bold  resolve,  electrified  his  friends  by  declaring:  "I'll 
do  it."  The  news  electrified  Dublin  within  an  hour,  and  Clare 
and  all  Ireland,  within  twenty-four  hours.  It  was  the  most  auda- 
cious resolve  of  the  generation. 

It  was  then  the  middle  of  the  week.  O'Connell  was  pleading 
in  the  Dublin  Four  Courts  most  important  cases  vv-ith  which  he 
could  not  get  through  before  the  week's  end.  The  nomination  was 
to  take  place  in  Ennis,  the  capital  of  Clare,  on  the  following  Mon- 
day, and  the  election  began  on  Tuesday.  A  party  of  O'Connell's 
ablest  and  most  eloquent  friends,  including  Tom  Steele  (his  Head 
Pacificator),  Major  MacNamara  (his  second  at  the  D'Esterre 
duel),  and  Father  Tom  MacGuire,  the  famous  controversialist 
from  County  Leitrim,  were  at  once  rushed  off  to  the  seat  of  war. 
O'Connell  was  to  follow  when  he  could. 

It  was  the  afternoon  of  Saturday  when  O'Connell  got  through 
with  his  cases.  He  slammed  his  papers  into  his  bag,  threw  aside 
his  wig  and  gown,  rushed  out  of  the  Four  Courts,  and  sprang  into 
a  waiting  coach,  at  which  four  impatient  horses  were  straining — 
and  amid  the  huzzas  of  a  throng  that  had  gathered  to  shower 
blessings  on  him,  was  tearing  along  the  way  to  Ennis. 

Speeding  across  Ireland  during  all  of  that  night  and  of  the 
next  day,  the  champion  was  cheered  by  the  splendid  reception  ac- 
corded him  at  every  important  point;  in  every  town  and  village 
masses  of  men  and  women  waited  up  to  hail  the  bold  chieftain, 
and  to  speed  him  forward  with  shouts  of  encouragement.  Crowds 
were  gathered  at  cross-roads,  and  knots  at  little  cabins,  all  of 
whom  took  up  and  passed  along  the  tremendous  cheer  which  be- 
fore his  flying  carriage  and  behind  it,  rolled  all  the  long  way  in 
accompaniment.  Ahead  of  him,  behind,  and  alongside,  ran  swift- 
footed  men  and  boys  with  blazing  torches,  lighting  the  way  for 
him  and  for  Ireland's  triumph.  In  some  places  bodies  of  men  on 
horseback,  spur  at  heel,  and  crouched  in  their  saddles,  lined  the 
way,  awaiting  to  dash  out  with  the  flying  coach  of  the  champion, 


CATHOLIC  EMANCIPATION  557 

as  guards  of  honour;  and  ere  their  horses  tired  down,  other  wait- 
ing ones  on  horses  fresh  sprang  out  to  do  their  part. 

It  was  two  o'clock  on  Monday  morning  when  O'Connell's 
coach  dashed  into  Ennis,  which,  blazing  with  lights,  had  its  streets 
even  at  that  hour  jammed  with  the  wildly  joyous,  and  frantically 
cheering,  multitude. 

O'Connell  and  Fitzgerald  were  that  day  nominated.  And,  on 
Tuesday  morning  began  the  tug  of  war.  The  crux  of  the  situa- 
tion lay  in  the  voting  of  the  forty  shilling  freeholders.  These 
men  had  been  technically  given  votes  which  were  really  meant  as 
endowment  to  their  landlords.  No  sane  politician  ever  thought 
that  they  would  dare  exercise  choice  as  to  the  candidate  for  whom 
their  vote  would  be  cast.  They  had  always  voted  in  platoons  un- 
der the  landlord's  orders.  Only,  in  the  recent  general  election, 
for  the  first  time  in  their  existence,  the  Forties  as  they  were  called, 
had  showed  unmistakable  signs  of  revolt  in  places  where  their 
landlords  were  supporters  of  the  unpopular  candidate. 

But  in  this  great  Clare  election,  in  which  every  landlord  stood 
behind  Fitzgerald,  the  Forties  finally  and  com.pletely  broke  the 
shackles  of  tradition  and  landlord  control,  and  went  cheering  to 
the  polls  for  O'Connell.  Exciting  was  the  scene  when  they  came 
into  Ennis  in  bodies,  sometimes  openly  proclaiming  their  new  free- 
dom, sometimes  seemingly  submissive  and  demure  under  leader- 
ship of  their  landlord,  and  herded  by  his  bailiffs  and  understrap- 
pers. But  when  the  suitable  moment  arrived  these  demure  ones, 
breaking  away,  rent  the  skies  with  shouts  for  O'Connell,  and 
rushed  to  the  poll,  for  the  first  time  in  their  lives  to  vote  as  their 
hearts  prompted.  The  priests  of  Clare  played  a  prominent  part. 
Their  sermons  on  Sunday  had  been  impassioned  appeals  and  heart- 
reaching  exhortations  to  their  congregations  to  quit  their  landlords 
for  their  God,  and  vote  for  O'Connell  and  Catholic  Emancipa- 
tion. Where  they  succeeded  in  driving  out  of  the  hearts  of  their 
flock  the  terror  of  the  landlord,  they  headed  their  flocks  to  Ennis. 
In  cases  where  the  landlord,  still  retaining  his  hold,  led  in  his  pla- 
toon of  voters,  they  were  met  at  the  town's  entrance  by  priests  in- 
spired with  holy  zeal,  who,  with  crucifix  held  aloft,  barred  the 
way  and  in  torrential  eloquence  urged  the  people  by  the  suffer- 
ings of  Him  who  died  for  man  not  to  play  traitor  to  their  faith  in 
this  supreme  hour.  And  the  embittered,  deserted,  landlord  often 
had  to  stand  aside  and  curse,  as  he  beheld  his  tenants  burst  their 
bonds,  and  with  great  shout  follow  their  priest  to  the  polling  booth. 
The  tens  of  thousands  who  thronged  there  that  week  not  only 
filled  the  streets  and  the  houses  but  encamped  in  the  meadows, 


558  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

and  along  the  roadside,  for  miles  around.  There  was  no  drink- 
ing, there  was  no  fighting;  there  was  no  disorder.  The  people 
had  been  put  on  a  vow  most  sacred  to  bring  no  disgrace  on  the 
cause,  but  conduct  themselves  with  the  decorum  that  they  would 
at  church.  And  in  the  face  of  opportunity  and  provocation  before 
unequalled,  they  amazed  friend  and  enemy  by  exercising  a  restraint 
that  was  marvellous.  The  anecdote  is  told  of  Sheedy  MacNamara, 
a  man  who  would  welcome  a  fight  more  warmly  than  a  fortune, 
being  openly  and  most  provoklngly  insulted  in  the  streets  by  one 
of  the  enemy,  and,  instead  of  knocking  the  fellow  down,  taking 
him  gently  aside  and  saying  to  him  in  the  sweetest  way:  "I  have 
just  one  little  pig  at  home,  and  I'll  promise  you  the  price  of  it  if 
you'll  repeat  them  same  words  to  me  the  day  after  the  election." 

At  the  end  of  the  first  day  of  the  polling  O'Connell  was  a 
little  ahead  of  Fitzgerald.  On  Wednesday  night  his  lead  was 
larger,  and  his  majority  went  on  progressing,  during  Thursday 
and  Friday.  Till  on  Saturday  night,  when  the  poll  closed,  he 
was,  by  two  to  one,  elected  member  of  Parliament  for  Clare. 

A  few  months  before  the  Clare  election  the  English  Prime 
Minister,  Sir  Robert  Peel,  had  emphatically  declared  in  the  House 
of  Commons:  *'I  can  not  consent  to  widen  the  door  of  political 
power  to  Roman  Catholics.  I  can  not  consent  to  give  them  the 
same  civil  rights  and  privileges  as  those  possessed  by  their  Prot- 
estant fellow-countrymen."  But,  a  few  months  after  the  Clare 
election  he  prepared  to  pipe  to  another  tune :  "In  the  course  of 
the  last  six  months  England,  at  peace  with  the  world,  has  had  five- 
sixths  of  her  infantry  force  occupied  in  maintaining  peace  in  Ire- 
land. I  consider  such  a  state  of  things  much  worse  than  rebel- 
lion." And  the  king's  speech  in  Parliament  in  the  February  fol- 
lowing asked  his  faithful  Commons  to  consider  the  unrest  in  Ire- 
land and  review  the  laws  causing  it.  County  Clare  had  conquered 
England. 

Says  Lecky:  "The  population  was  in  ferment,  the  army  itself 
was  affected.  The  influerrce  of  the  landed  aristocracy  gave  way. 
Ministers,  feeling  further  resistance  hopeless,  brought  in  the  Eman- 
cipation Bill  confessedly  because  to  withhold  it  might  kindle  a 
rebellion  extending  over  the  length  and  the  breadth  of  the  land." 

Lord  Wellington,  in  the  Lords,  excused  his  promoting  the 
Bill  on  the  ground  that  it  might  be  less  evil  than  civil  war,  which, 
if  the  bill  were  refused,  would  surely  be  precipitated  in  Ireland. 
Fear  of  the  consequences,  not  the  injustice,  was  the  only  reason 
offered  by  any  of  its  English  promoters,  for  pressing  the  measure. 

The  Emancipation  Bill  was  brought  in — and  passed — but  not 


CATHOLIC  liMANXIPATION  55'y 

witliout  fierce  oppositiun.  The  Lords  also  lelt  constrained  to  allow 
it — though  one  can  easily  imagine  the  bitter  aversion  with  which 
they  did  so.  The  Duke  of  Brunswick  (brother  to  King  George) 
and  Lord  Lldon,  the  most  violent  opponents  of  the  measure,  then 
went  to  the  king,  to  entreat,  threaten,  and  coerce  him  into  refusing 
his  signature.  And  they  succeeded  in  breaking  him  down  so  that 
when  the  Government  leaders,  Peel  of  the  Commons,  and  Welling- 
ton of  the  Lords,  brought  him  the  Bill,  he  would  not  sign  it.  They 
argued  with  him  for  five  hours,  but  with  no  avail.  He  alternately 
stormed  and  wept.  They  handed  him  their  resignations.  He 
called  them  back,  kissed  them,  and  cried  again.  When  he  found 
himself  unable  to  form  a  new  ministry,  he  sent  again  for  Welling- 
ton and  Peel,  signed  the  bill,  and  in  a  fit  of  rage  smashed  on  the 
floor  the  pen  with  which  he  had,  as  he  believed,  betrayed  his  trust 
to  God  and  the  English  people.^ 

In  the  House  of  Lords  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  moved 
to  reject  the  bill,  and  was  seconded  by  the  Protestant  Primate  of 
Ireland,  Beresford.  Every  bishop  except  one,  Dr.  Lloyd  of  Ox- 
ford, voted  against  Catholics  getting  citizen  rights  in  their  own 
country. 

l^he  Emancipation  Bill  was  passed,  the  commonest  citizen 
rights  from  which  Irish  people  had  hitherto  been  debarred,  be- 
cause they  were  heretics  and  idolat&rs,  were  now  permitted  by 
law.  And  civil  offices  from  which  they  had  been,  for  their  crime, 
shut  out,  were  supposedly  thrown  open  to  them.  Technically 
these  reforms  were  instituted  by  the  passing  of  the  Act — "The 
manacles,"  said  O'Connell,  "are  riven  from  our  limbs  after  we 
had  gone  near  to  breaking  them  on  the  heads  of  our  enemies." 
But  practically  speaking  Irish  Catholics  continued,  for  many  de- 
cades after,  to  labour  under  their  former  disability.  And  in  many 
parts  of  Ireland,  even  down  to  a  short  generation  ago,  they  were 
in  practice  still  shut  out  from  all  offices  except  the  most  menial. 

^  Three  months  after,  when  Kinp  George  at  one  of  his  levees  caught  sight  ef 
O'Connell,  he  muttered,  "There  is  O'Connell,  G d the  scoundrel!" 

O'Connell  did  not  present  himself  in  the  House  of  Commons  until  the  Bill  had 
been  passed — though  not  yet  gone  into  effect.  Every  member  was  in  his  place  on 
the  day  and  at  the  hour  that  O'Connell  was  expected.  In  the  Strangers'  Gallery 
were  crowded  the  nobility  of  England  and  the  diplomats  of  many  foreign  countries. 
When  the  objectionable  oath  was  presented  to  O'Connell  he  of  course  refused  to 
take  it  He  was  told  by  the  speakers  that  under  the  circumstances  he  could  not 
take  his  seat,  and  he  marched  out  of  the  House  of  Commons  again — and  went  back 
to  Oare  where  he  was  re-eJected  without  opposition. 

When  tlie  Emancipation  Act  went  into  effect,  it  of  course  eliminated  the  objec- 
tionable oath ;  and  the  several  Catholics  who  were  returned  from  various  parts  of 
Ireland  at  the  next  general  election,  were  permitted  to  seat  themselves  in  the  House. 


CHAPTER  LXV 

o'connell's  power  and  popularity 

Though  it  was  In  his  character  as  political  leader  that  he  was 
greatest  to  his  people,  it  was  undeniably  In  his  capacity  as  lawyer 
that  Daniel  O'Connell — "Dan"  as  they  affectionately  called  him 
— got  nearest  to  their  hearts.  They  who  had  always  been  con- 
demned before  they  were  heard,  were  accorded  human  rights  In 
the  courts  of  law  after  O'Connell  had  successfully  stormed  those 
citadels  of  injustice.  To  the  regular  Crown  prosecutors  he  made 
his  name  a  name  of  fear.  And  Indeed  It  was  not  much  less  a  ter- 
ror to  those  Irregular  Crown  prosecutors  who,  on  the  Bench,  mas- 
queraded as  judges. 

He  was  one  of  the  most  powerful  pleaders  that  the  Bar  ever 
knew.  His  enemy,  Peel,  once  said  that  If  he  wanted  an  efficient 
and  eloquent  advocate,  he  would  readily  barter  all  the  best  of  the 
English  Bar  for  the  Irish  O'Connell.  In  conducting  an  important 
case  he  called  into  play  all  of  his  wonderful  faculties.  He  went 
from  grave  to  gay,  from  the  sublime  to  the  ludicrous.  He  played 
with  ease  upon  every  human  feeling.  He  carried  away  the  judge, 
the  jury,  the  witness  that  he  was  handling,  and  the  very  prisoner 
himself  in  the  dock.  He  could  In  a  few  minutes'  cross-examination 
tear  the  ablest  witness  to  shreds,  and  show  the  pitying  court  the 
paltry  stuff  he  was  made  of.  He  might  at  first  play  his  man,  go 
with  him,  blarney  him,  flatter  him,  convince  him  that  Dan  O'Con- 
nell had  become  his  most  enthusiastic  admirer  and  dearest  friend. 
And  when  he  had  thus  taken  him  off  his  guard,  led  him  by  hand 
into  a  trap,  the  Counsellor  (another  of  the  people's  titles  for 
O'Connell)  would  come  down  upon  his  man  with  a  crash  that 
stunned  and  shattered  him  and  left  him  a  piteous  victim  at  the 
great  cross-examiner's  feet.  And  to  judge  and  jury  and  the  whole 
court  It  was  now  the  witness,  not  the  prisoner  in  the  dock,  who 
was  on  trial  for  his  life. 

He  had  a  most  disconcerting  way  of  passing  pungent  viva  voce 
remarks,  when  the  prosecuting  lawyer  was  making  his  speech  or 
examining  his  witness,  which  provoked  the  prosecutor  to  wrath, 

560 


OXONNELL'S  POWER  AND  POPULARITY       561 

lost  him  his  train  of  thought,  and  often  spoiled  hiin  his  case.  If 
the  judges'  protection  was  invoked  by  the  enraged  prosecutor,  the 
wise  potentate  on  the  Bench  usually  considered  discretion  the  bet- 
ter part  of  valour.  Baron  McClellan  trying  a  case  in  a  Kerry 
court  was  annoyed  to  find  O'Connell  interjecting  remarks  in  a  case 
in  which  he  felt  his  interest  enlisted.  "Mr.  O'Connell,"  asked  Mc- 
Clellan, cuttingly,  "are  you  engaged  in  this  case?"  "I  am  not,  my 
lord,  but  I  shall  be."  "When  I  was  at  the  Bar,"  said  the  judge, 
in  bis  most  crushing  manner,  "it  was  not  my  habit  to  anticipate 
briefs."  "When  your  lordship  was  at  the  Bar,"  answered  O'Con- 
nell, "I  never  chose  you  for  a  model.  And  now  that  you  are  on 
the  Bench  I  shall  not  submit  to  your  dictation." 

Once  when  O'Connell  found  himself  in  possession  of  abso- 
lutely no  case,  in  defending  a  prisoner  who  was  on  trial  for  his 
life  before  a  newly-appointed,  timid,  and  scrupulous  judge,  O'Con- 
nell deliberately  proceeded  with  a  line  of  argument  which — as  he 
intended — compelled  reprimands  from  the  judge  again  and  again; 
then  giving  way  to  an  outburst  of  apparently  terrible  indignation, 
he  said:  "Since  your  lordship  will  not  permit  me  to  defend  this 
man  whose  life  is  in  the  balance,  I  withdraw  from  the  case,  and 
throw  the  prisoner  upon  the  tender  mercies  of  an  evidently  hostile 
court.  If  he  is  condemned,  on  your  head,  my  lord,  be  his  blood." 
Then  he  slammed  down  his  brief  and  left  the  court.  The  fright- 
ened judge,  finding  himself  compelled  to  act  the  part  of  Counsel 
for  the  defence,  cross-examined  for  the  prisoner,  charged  for  him 
— and  sent  him  out  of  the  court  a  free  man. 

The  Doneraile  conspiracy  case,  in  October,  1829,  memorably 
exemplified  O'Connell's  power.  The  Government,  making  a  grand 
sweep  at  Doneraile,  gathered  in  many  men  charged  with  conspiracy 
to  murder  savage  landlords  and  unjust  magistrates.  The  greatest 
importance  was  attached  to  the  case.  A  Special  Commission  was 
sent  down  to  Cork  to  try  the  conspirators.  "Long  John"  Do- 
herty,  the  Solicitor-General,  a  bitterly  anti-popular  official,  went 
down  himself  to  prosecute.  They  were  to  be  tried  in  batches. 
The  first  four  were  put  forward,  found  guilty,  and  sentenced  to 
be  hanged.  At  this  result  the  remaining  prisoners  and  their  as- 
sembled friends  were  thrown  into  panic.  It  was  then  Saturday 
afternoon.  The  next  batch  would  be  put  on  trial  on  Monday  morn- 
ing. A  cry  went  up  for  Dan  O'Connell.  Dan  was  then  resting 
at  Derrynane — ninety  Irish  miles  away.  That  he  could  be  got  to 
the  trial  in  time,  even  if  he  consented  to  come,  was  hardly  possible. 
But  in  desperation  the  forlorn  hope  must  be  chanced.  A  messen- 
ger, William  Burke,  set  out  from  Cork  on  a  fast  horse,  on  Satur- 


562  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

day  evening,  and,  after  a  marvellous  night  ride,  on  Sunday  fore- 
noon clattered  into  Derrynane  and  threw  himself  from  his  horse 
at  O'Connell's  door.  The  Counsellor,  when  he  learnt  the  circum- 
stances, said:     'Til  go." 

He  rushed  Burke  off  ahead  to  have  fresh  horses  awaiting  him 
at  certain  points,  and  to  carry  to  the  distracted  ones  the  news  of 
his  coming.  O'Connell  started  in  the  afternoon,  and  all  that  eve- 
ning and  all  that  night  was  galloping  over  the  rough,  steep,  and 
broken  mountain-roads  of  Kerry,  and  then  over  the  plains  and 
hills  of  Cork,  without  pausing  to  eat,  drink,  or  sleep.  At  ten 
o'clock  on  Monday  morning,  one  hour  after  the  court-sitting  be- 
gan, the  waiting  throngs  on  the  streets  of  Cork  were  electrified 
by  the  cry,  "The  Counsellor's  coming  1"  The  wild  exultation  which 
found  voice  from  the  waiting  ones  away  beyond  the  suburbs  rolled 
onward  to  the  city's  heart  gathering  volume  as  it  went,  till  it 
rocked  the  court-house,  bringing  dismay  to  the  prosecutors  there, 
and  genuine  displeasure  to  the  judges — all  of  whom  too  well  knew 
what  that  terrific  cheer  meant.  Through  the  frantically  huzzaing 
lines  of  people  O'Connell  tore  onward,  to  the  courthouse,  where, 
as  he  jumped  to  the  ground  his  horse  fell  dead ! 

Attired  as  he  was,  and  mud-spattered,  he  tore  into  the  hall 
where  the  State  trial  was  staged,  and,  to  the  scowling  prosecutors 
and  the  frowning  judges,  announcing,  "I  appear  for  the  prisoners 
in  the  dock,"  sat  down  at  the  Counsel's  table  to  a  repast  of  bread 
and  milk,  that  had  been  rushed  in  after  him.  While  he  hastily 
bolted  his  single  meal  lawyers  for  the  defence  were  pouring  into 
his  ear  the  points  of  the  case.  He  gave  one  ear  to  them  and  one  to 
Prosecutor  "Long  John"  who  was  then  on  his  feet  addressing  the 
court.  Now  and  then,  between  mouthfuls,  he  would  emit  a  short 
sharp  comment,  objection,  or  rebuke  to  the  sorely-provoked  Do- 
herty — spoiling  half-a-dozen  of  the  fellow's  finest  points,  by  rap- 
ping out  on  the  heels  of  them,  "That's  not  law!"  And  every 
time,  the  judges  had  to  uphold  O'Connell's  objection. 

"The  allegation  is  made  upon  false  facts,"  said  Doherty,  en- 
lightening the  Judges  upon  a  particular  point.  "Never  was  such 
a  thing  as  a  false  fact,"  snapped  O'Connell.  "There  are  false 
facts  and  false  men  too,"  sneered  the  enraged  Doherty.  "Yes, 
your  case  and  yourself,"  retorted  O'Connell. 

When  Doherty,  with  his  temper  and  his  arguments  shattered, 
sat  doTt^n,  O'Connell,  now  both  refreshed  and  informed,  got  to 
his  feet  and  began  his  case.  The  prosecution  pursued  in  this  case 
the  selfsame  line  of  action,  produced  the  selfsame  witnesses,  and 
got  the  selfsame  "proofs"  against  this  second  batch  of  prisoners 


O'CONNKLL'S  POWER  AND  POPULARITY       563 

as  against  the  first — but  O'Connell's  defence  made  such  breaches 
in  the  prosecution's  structure  that  the  jury  disagreed.  And  when 
the  third  batch  was  tried  he  had  so  far  progressed  as  to  procure 
a  quick  verdict  of  "Not  Guilty."  I'he  proseaition  was  broken. 
They  would  go  no  further  with  the  trial;  all  remaining  prisoners 
were  released;  the  condemned  ones  were  reprieved — and  a  host 
of  men  who  had  looked  into  the  noose  that  awaited  their  necks, 
walked  home  amid  cheering  crowds,  free  men. 

O'Conncll  had  some  good  stories  to  tell  of  some  of  the  char- 
acters whom  his  genius  had  freed.  There  was  a  robber  whom  he 
defended  on  three  different  occasions — and  for  whom  he  won  out 
every  time.  On  the  occasion  of  the  third  victory,  the  fellow  grate- 
fully grasped  his  hand,  exclaiming:  "May  the  Lord  long  spare 
you  to  me.  Counsellor  O'Connell."  And  a  cow-stealer  whom  he 
had  defended  repaid  him  with  a  tip  on  how  to  extract  the  maxi- 
mum of  profit  from  a  cow  raid.  "When  your  Honouf  goes  to 
stale  cows,"  the  expert  confided  to  him,  "always  choose  the  worst 
night  that  falls  from  the  heavens,  because  then  there'll  be  no  one 
about  to  see  you.  And,  on  such  a  night,  too,  when  you  reach  the 
field,  you'll  aisily  know  the  fat  ones.  Don't  take  any  of  the 
scrawny  bunch,  your  honour,  that  shoulder  one  another  in  the 
shelter  of  the  wall.  They  are  the  craitures  that  have  nothing  on 
their  bones  but  a  hide.  Take  them  that  stands  out  in  the  open, 
disregardless  of  the  storm,  for  they're  the  fat  on<^s  that  has  noth- 
ing to  fear  from  wind,  rain,  or  hail." 

For  fifteen  years  before  Emancipation,  O'Connell  was,  it 
seemed,  the  greatest  man  in  Ireland.  When  he  achieved  Eman- 
cipation he  became  one  of  the  greatest  men  in  Europe — in  the 
world.  Such  was  his  universal  fame  then  that  there  was  nothing 
surprising  about  his  getting  a  letter  from  America  beginning 
"Awful  Sir" — or  in  the  German  students'  answering  the  exam- 
ination question:  "Who  is  Daniel  O'Connell?"  with  the  reply: 
"He  is  the  man  who  discovered  Ireland."  In  the  election  of  a 
king  for  the  newly-formed  Belgian  nation  three  votes  were  given 
for  "le  Grand  O'Connell."  And  ten  years  afterward,  in  the  fer- 
vour of  the  Repeal  movement,  Dan  himself  said  to  his  friend, 
O'Neill  Daunt,  "If  the  Belgian  election  had  waited  till  now,  I 
don't  doubt  but  I  v/ould  have  run  old  Leopold  close."  In  '35  he 
was  flattered  to  find  himself  invited  to  France  to  defend  the  Lyons 
Conspirators — which  signal  honour  he  had  to  refuse  for  want  of 
fluency  in  French.  His  friend  Daunt  records  the  pronouncement 
of  a  London  stockbroker  who  was  no  way  partial  to  O'Connell 
or  his  principles:     "Your  Daniel  O'Connell  is  one  of  the  Great 


564  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

Powers  of  Europe.     His  movements  have  a  sensible  effect  on  the 
Funds." 

All  over  the  Continent  he  was  now  revered  as  the  greatest 
leader  of  Catholic  democracy  that  the  world  ever  knew.  His  won- 
derful Continental  popularity  was  well  pictured  by  Lord  Macaulay 
speaking  (some  years  later)  in  the  English  House  of  Commons: 
"The  position  which  Mr,  O'Connell  holds  in  the  eyes  of  his  fel- 
low-countrymen is  a  position  such  as  no  popular  leader  in  the 
whole  history  of  mankind  ever  attained.  You  are  mistaken  if  you 
imagine  that  the  interest  with  which  he  is  regarded  is  confined  only 
to  these  islands.  Go  where  you  will  on  the  Continent,  visit  any 
coffee-house,  dine  at  any  public  table,  embark  upon  any  steam-boat, 
enter  any  conveyance — from  the  moment  your  accent  shows  you 
to  be  an  Englishman,  the  very  first  question  asked  by  your  com- 
panions, be  they  what  they  may — physicians,  advocates,  merchants, 
manufacturers,  or  peasants  of  the  class  who  are  like  your  yeoman 
in  this  country — is  'What  will  be  done  with  O'Connell?'  "  And 
his  greatness  thus  inspired  Bulwer  Lytton's  muse : 

"Once  to  my  sight  the  giant  thus  was  given, 
Walled  by  wide  air  and  roofed  by  boundless  heaven ; 
Beneath  his  feet  the  human  ocean  lay, 
And  wave  on  wave  flowed  into  space  away. 
Methought  no  clarion  could  have  sent  this  sound 
E'en  to  the  centre  of  the  hosts  around. 
And,  as  I  thought,  rose  a  sonorous  swell. 
As  from  some  church  tower  swings  the  silvery  bell ; 
Aloft  and  clear  from  airy  tide  to  tide, 
It  glided  easy  as  a  bird  may  glide. 
To  the  last  verge  of  that  vast  audience  sent, 
It  played  with  each  wild  passion  as  it  went: 
Now  stirred  the  uproar,  now  the  murmurs  stilled, 
And  sobs  or  laughter  answered  as  it  willed. 
Then  did  I  know  what  spell  of  infinite  .choice 
To  rouse  or  lull  has  the  sweet  human  voice. 
Then  did  I  learn  to  seize  the  sudden  clue 
To  the  grand  troublous  life  antique — to  view, 
Under  the  rockstand  of  Demosthenes, 
Unstable  Athens  heave  her  noisy  seas." 

After  having  first  viewed  the  champion  at  close  range — for 
he  helped  to  fight  him — Gladstone,  later  looking  back  at  him  in 
far  perspective,  pronounced  O'Connell  one  of  the  greatest  popu- 
lar leaders  the  world  had  ever  known. 

But  it  was  in  the  hearts  of  the  Irish  people  that  Dan's  great- 


O'CONNELL'S  POWER  AND  POPULARITY       s^5 

ness  was  most  truly  appreciated,  and  admiration  of  him  grew 
akin  to  worship. 

In  the  years  when  he  was  in  his  climax  his  word  was  to  the 
Irish  people  electric,  and  his  power  was  invincible.  With  joyous 
thrill  these  long-suffering  ones  felt  that  when  Dan  spoke  there 
was  fearful  trembling  in  the  seats  of  the  mighty.  In  him  the  na- 
tion that  was  dumb  had  found  a  voice.  The  despised  had  found 
a  champion  and  the  cruelly  wronged  an  avenger.  He  was  to  them 
in  the  ranks  of  the  gods. 

And  what  less  exalted  position  should  an  oppressed  people 
give  to  him  who  for  the  first  time  in  man's  memory,  stood  up  in 
the  court  of  law,  the 'court  of  Injustice,  and  made  the  most  awful 
of  the  judges,  who  dispensed  injustice  there,  cower — faced  those 
judges'  Masters  too  in  their  own.  Parliament  and  made  them 
writhe ! 

It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at,  then,  that  O'Connell  should,  more 
than  once,  in  his  speech  in  defence  of  a  prisoner,  get  the  jury  in 
the  box  cheering.  An  Englishman  in  a  party  accompanying  O'Con- 
nell  over  a  mountain-road  was  shocked  to  behold  the  mourners 
at  a  funeral  which  they  met,  burst  out  cheering  for  their  uncrowned 
king.  "Arrah,  man,  dear,"  O'Connell  reassured  him,  "sure  the 
corpse  in  the  coffin  would  have  joined  in  the  cheer  himself,  if  he 
could  only  have  found  his  voice."  An  old  crippled  beggar  woman 
when  her  hand  was  shaken  by  the  great  Dan,  threw  her  crutch 
in  the  air  and  gave  a  bound  and  a  whoop  that  would  do  credit  to 
a  mountain  goat.  O'Neill  Daunt  tells  how,  at  a  reception  to 
O'Connell  in  Limerick,  where  a  hundred  thousand  jubilant  men 
were  throwing  their  hats  in  the  air,  an  enthusiastic  poor  woman 
tossed  up  her  child. 

So  affected  even  were  the  English  by  Dan's  greatness  that  (as 
told  by  himself)  two  maiden  ladies  who  were  at  one  time  his 
hostesses  in  England  insisted  every  night  before  retiring,  on  stand- 
ing up  to  sing  a  hymn  in  his  praise  to  the  air  of  "God  Save  the 
King." 

After  Emancipation  was  won  O'Connell  abandoned  his  law 
practice  to  devote  himself  entirely  to  the  people's  cause.  To  com- 
pensate him,  the  famous  Tribute  was  then  started — a  popular 
nation-wide  subscription  which  gave  him  an  average  income  of 
thirteen  thousand  pounds  a  year.  Though  in  its  first  year,  in  spe- 
cial gratitude  to  the  man  who  had  wrung  the  Emancipation  Act 
from  England,  fifty  thousand  pounds  were  subscribed. 

His  law  practice  had  been  netting  him  about  eight  thousand 
pounds  per  year.     If,  foregoing  Ireland's  cause,  he  had  given  all 


S66  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

his  time  to  the  laAv  he  might  have  doubled  that  sum.  It  was  the 
taking  of  the  Tribute,  every  penny  of  which  was  richly  earned, 
and  every  penny  of  vrhich  in  truth  he  we/I  spent,  that  won  for  him 
from  his  unloving  English  friends  the  title  of  the  Big  Beggarman. 
It  was  sometimes  amusing  to  him  to  hear  the  scornful  phrase  used 
by  some  English  politician  who,  if  he  had  had  half  O'Connell's 
talent,  would  not  have  lent  it  to  any  cause,  good  or  bad,  for  double 
the  sum.  A  few  of  their  broader-minded  ones,  however,  frankly 
admitted  that  it  was  a  noble  honorarium,  nobly  earned,  nobly 
given,  and  nobly  accepted.  So  large  was  the  scale  on  which  O'Con- 
nell  had  to  live,  and  so  great  his  expenses,  that  the  Tribute  to- 
gether with  the  income  of  his  estate  was  seldom  sufficient  to  keep 
him  out  of  debt. 


CHAPTER  LXVI 

THROUGH    THE    'THIRTIES 

When  Emancipation  was  won,  Repeal  of  the  false  and  corruptly- 
purchased  *'Union"  of  Ireland  with  England  was  the  great  issue 
that  the  Leader  started.  It  had  always  been  mulling  in  his  mind. 
Indeed  there  were  times  when  he  would  have  preferred  to  accept 
repeal  of  the  Union  in  preference  to  repeal  of  the  Penal  Laws. 
He  stated  that  at  the  time  of  the  Union,  and  the  wish  haunted  his 
heart  every  year  after. 

In  1 8 10  the  grand  jurors  of  Dublin,  all  of  them  of  course 
Tories  and  British-Irish,  tried  to  start  the  Repeal  movement.  But 
the  promises  of  British  politicians  who  dangled  before  their  eyes 
the  bait  of  Emancipation,  kept  the  Catholic  party  from  joining 
their  Protestant  fellow-countrymen  on  this  occasion.  Now  that 
Dan  was  free  to  throw  himself  into  the  repeal  movement,  and  the 
Catholics  almost  to  a  man  were  behind  him,  no  support  could  be 
got  from  their  Protestant  fellow-countrymen.  There  were  two 
reasons  for  this — the  fierceness  of  the  fight  for  Emancipation  had 
embittered  the  Protestants  against  their  Catholic  fellows;  and  be- 
sides all  the  offices  and  patronage  of  the  country  which  had  been 
securely  theirs  in  pre-Emancipation  days  were  getting  shaky  in 
their  grasp  now  that  Catholic  disabilities  were  by  law  removed. 
Repeal  of  the  Union  would  now  finally  break  their  monopoly; 
so  the  overwhelming  body  of  the  Protestant  population  was  hence- 
forth as  bitterly  anti-Repeal  as  they  had  formerly  been  anti-Union 
— and  more  bitterly  than  they  had  been  anti-Emancipation. 

Strange  to  say,  the  famous  Bishop  Doyle  of  Limerick,  dearly 
loving  the  people  whose  fearless  champion  he  was,  but  curiously 
lacking  the  Nationalist  instinct,  withstood  O'Connell  on  Repeal. 
Richard  Lalor  Shiel  was  against  him,  too — though  this  will  not 
seem  strange  to  any  one  who  studies  the  many  shallows  of  Shlel's 
nature.  And  it  will  surprise  some  who  thought  that  Tom  Moore 
was  not  a  mere  drawing-room  patriot  to  learn  that  he  too  bitterly 
resented  O'Connell's  new  national  move,  saymg  that  it  would 
divide  the  upper,   and  madden  the  lower,   classes.     And  his  in- 

567 


568  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

dignatlon  Inspired  him  to  write  his  song:     "The  dream  of  those 
days  when  I  first  saw  thee,  is  o'er." 

The  Government,  not  desiring  to  see  the  'Thirties  repeat  the 
debacle  of  the  'Twenties,  took  an  emphatic  grip  on  Time's  fore- 
lock, and  determinedly  set  themselves  to  stamp  out  his  repeal 
agitation  at  its  inception.  When  in  1830  he  started  his  anti-Union 
Association  they  proclaimed  it  at  once;  and  from  that  time  for- 
ward It  was  an  exciting  race  between  O'Connell  and  the  Govern- 
ment— he  restarting  his  repeal  movement  under  a  nev/  name  each 
week,  and  they,  close  following,  proclaiming  it. 

He  started  a  weekly  Repeal  Breakfast,  and  promised  that  if 
it  was  suppressed,  he  would  have  Repeal  Lunches,  Repeal  Din- 
ners, Repeal  Suppers  in  succession.  Its  next  form  was  a  General 
Association  for  Ireland.  When  that  was  proclaimed,  he  started 
A  Body  of  Persons,  in  the  Habit  of  Meeting  Weekly  for  Break- 
fast, at  a  place  called  Holmes'  Hotel.  When  this  was  proclaimed 
he  had  A  Party  Meeting  for  Dinner  at  Gray's  Tavern.  When  it 
was  proclaimed  he  proposed  to  make  himself  the  Repeal  Associa- 
tion, with  an  assisting  council  of  thirty-one  people.  He  said  they 
couldn't  disperse  an  Individual  by  proclamation. 

But  it  was  never  a  question  of  what  the  Irish  Government 
could  do.  Whether  they  could  or  could  not  do  a  thing  they  would 
do  it — and  did  it.  He  started  his  Association  under  the  title  of 
the  Irish  Society  for  Legal  and  Legislative  Relief;  after  that,  again 
the  Anti-Union  Association;  then  an  Association  of  Irish  Volun- 
teers for  Repeal  of  the  Union;  and,  succeeding  that,  an  Associa- 
tion of  Subscribers  to  the  Parliamentary  Intelligence  Office. 

It  was  an  exciting  game  of  hide-and-seek  in  which  he  so  pro- 
voked and  tired  the  Government  that  at  length  they  arrested  him. 
Even  then  he  outwitted  them — for  he  compromised  on  a  plea  of 
guilty  for  technical  offence  against  a  temporary  Act  (the  Act  for 
Suppression  of  Illegal  Societies)  and  contrived  to  have  sentence 
postponed  until,  at  the  expiration  of  Parliament,  the  Act  expired, 
too. 

To  help  the  English  Whigs  In  their  great  fight  for  Parlia- 
mentary Reform,  O'Connell,  much  against  the  wish  of  many  wise 
ones,  slackened  the  Repeal  fight,  while  he  let  the  popular  fight 
against  tithes  forge  to  the  front.  And  he  cast  all  his  weight  to 
the  English  Whigs  In  their  Reform  struggle. 

The  Established  (Protestant)  Church  was  supported  in  Ire- 
land by  the  farmers  of  all  religions  paying  to  it  tithes,  a  tenth  of 
their  products.     In  this  way  the  poorer  five-sixths  of  the  Irish 


THROUGH  THE  'THIRTIES  569 

population  was  mulcted  to  support  the  very  rich  church  of  the  re- 
maining one-sixth.  In  the  more  Catholic  parts  of  Ireland  there 
were  thousands  of  parishes  from  which  the  Established  clerg^-^man 
drew  an  enormous  salary  for  ministering  to  his  own  family  and 
the  family  of  his  sexton  only.  Whether  his  congregation  was  few 
or  entirely  non-existent,  both  he  and  his  church  had  to  be  kept 
prosperous — by  a  people  of  another  faith,  who  oftentimes  had 
not  meal  for  the  mouths  of  their  own  children.  In  the  year  im- 
mediately succeeding  Emancipation,  the  smouldering  anger  against 
this  Injustice  leaped  up  in  flame  tongues,  here  and  there.  Little 
more  than  a  year  after  the  passing  of  Emancipation  the  yeomanry 
killed  seventeen  people  who  tried  to  rescue  their  seized  cattle 
from  the  tithe-proctor  at  Bunclody  in  Wexford.  The  Govern- 
ment, after  inquiry  into  the  affair,  concluded  that  the  arms  of  the 
yeomanry  were  not  effective  enough  for  teaching  a  needed  lesson 
to  conscienceless  people  who  could  be  guilty  of  hindering  a  tithe- 
proctor's  purposes.  So  they  granted  them  new  and  better  equip- 
ment. 

At  Carrickshock  In  Kilkenny,  in  November  of  the  same  year, 
the  people  fell  upon  an  armed  force  who  guarded  tv/o  tithe  proc- 
ess-servers— and  killed  eighteen  or  twenty  of  them.  The  tithe 
war  was  almost  getting  out  of  hand.  The  Government,  goaded 
by  the  suffering  church,  must  make  desperate  efforts  to  suppress  it. 
Twenty-five  Carrickshock  men  were  put  on  trial  for  murder  at  the 
Kilkenny  assizes  before  a  Special  Commission  sent  down  by  Gov- 
ernment. O'Connell  went  down  to  defend  them,  and  here  gave 
another  fine  example  of  his  quality,  most  deftly  shattering  the 
Government's  case,  by  breaking,  at  the  first  going  off,  the  chief 
prop  on  which  It  rested.  At  the  very  outset  of  the  trial  they  put 
forward  their  leading  witness,  a  policeman,  who  gave  direct,  clean- 
cut,  and  definite  testimony,  proving  home  murder  against  some 
of  the  prisoners.  His  evidence  was  so  definite  in  the  most  minute 
details  as  to  be  eminently  convincing  to  an  average  jury.  On 
cross-examination,  he  proved  to  be  a  rock  that  O'Connell  could 
not  shake.  Things  looked  dark,  almost  desperate  for  the  defence, 
when  there  was  a  little  note  passed  from  the  body  of  the  court  to 
Counsellor  O'Connell.  He  glanced  at  the  note  In  the  most  casual 
manner,  and  learnt  from  It  that  the  witness'  father  was  a  notorious 
and  convicted  sheep  stealer.  Apparently  paying  little  attention 
to  the  note,  he  went  on  mechanically  asking  further  questions  In 
such  an  Indifferent  way  as  Indicated  that  the  witness'  evidence  was 
unshakable.     Before  dismissing  him  he  paid  the  witness  a  couple 


570  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

of  compliments  on  his  evidence — which  put  the  fellow  in  mighty 
good  humour  with  himself  and  the  world.  Then  as  the  witness 
was  stepping  out  of  the  box,  triumphant  and  elated,  O'Connell 
said:  "Just  one  minute,  my  friend" — and  in  a  casual  way  said 
to  him,  "I  suppose  you're  fond  of  mutton."  "Why,  yes.  Coun- 
sellor O'Connell.  I  wouldn't  make  strange  with  a  good  piece  of 
mutton."  "You  don't  happen  to  know  any  really  clever  sheep- 
stealers,  now?"  "No,  I  can't  say  that  I  do."  "Did  you  ever 
know  any  sheep-stealers?"  "I  never  had  that  pleasure."  "You, 
of  course,  never  have  had  any  connection  with  any  such  person?" 
O'Connell  spoke  in  an  apologetic  way  as  if  he  was,  under  com- 
pulsion, asking  questions  that  he  was  ashamed  to  ask  of  a  decent 
man.  He  led  the  witness  on  to  swear  over  and  over  again,  in  the 
most  solemn  and  most  definite  manner,  that  he  had  never  known 
of,  associated  with,  or  been  related  to,  any  such  disreputable  per- 
son. "Then  it  was,"  says  Pagan,  in  his  Life  of  O'Connell,  "that 
O'Connell  pounced  upon  him.  The  court  rang  and  echoed  again 
•with  the  thunders  of  his  voice.  The  silent-stricken  audience  looked 
on  with  amaze  at  the  portentous  change  of  voice  and  manner  which 
had  taken  place  in  the  advocate,  as  well  as  in  the  witness;  and, 
amid  the  hush  of  the  multitude,  the  deep  breathings  of  the  pris- 
oners, and  the  silent,  heartfelt  expectations  of  all  present,  the  man 
was  obliged  to  confess  that  his  father  had  been  the  expert  sheep- 
stealer,  which,  on  his  oath,  he  had  so  solemnly  denied  knowing 
but  a  few  minutes  before."  And  that  man's  evidence  went  at 
once  to  the  scrap-heap. 

The  tithe  war  spread  like  wildfire.  The  people  refused  to 
pay  the  iniquitous  imposition.  They  fought  against  the  seizing 
of  their  cattle.  All  cows  liable  to  be  seized  were  branded  "T" 
so  that  nowhere  a  purchaser  could  be  found  for  them.  Any  one 
who  paid  was  ostracised.  Thousands  of  troops  were  poured  into 
the  country  to  protect  the  tithe  proctors  and  process-servers.  The 
Protestant  clergy,  unable  to  collect  the  tithes,  were  now  in  such 
real  distress  that  the  Government  had  to  provide  a  Relief  Fund 
for  them.  Many  parts  of  Ireland  were  proclaimed;  martial  law 
was  instituted;  there  were  shootings,  hangings,  transportings.  All 
meetings  were  suppressed.  The  Government  assumed  the  tithe 
proctor's  business,  and  after  many  marchings,  countermarchings, 
and  bloody  conflicts,  collected  (out  of  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
pounds  due)  twelve  thousand  pounds  at  a  cost  of  fifteen  thousand! 

They  finally  rested  from  an  impossible  task  and  talked  com- 
promise. They  suggested  the  reduction  of  the  tithe  by  a  fourth, 
and  shifting  it  in  its  reduced  form  to  the  landlord's  shoulders — 


THROUGH  THE  'THIRTIES  571 

who  should  then  Increase  his  tenants'  rents  in  proportion.  O'Con- 
nell  wanted  the  tithe  reduced  two-fifths.  Neither  proposition  went 
into  effect,  just  then.  But  the  Vestry  Act  and  the  Church  Tem- 
poraHties  Act  of  '34  made  minor  reforms  and  economies  In  the 
Establishment — including  the  suppression  of  ten  ornamental  but 
highly  lucrative  bishoprics,  and  a  tax  upon  the  fatter  livings  to 
help  the  lean  ones.  The  tithe-war  dragged  on,  in  varying  inten- 
sity, till  In  '38  was  passed  the  Act  which  reduced  the  tithe  by  a 
fourth,  and  shifted  It  to  the  landlord.  As  almost  all  landlords 
raised  the  rent  to  recoup  themselves,  the  people  still  had  to  con- 
tinue bearing  the  burden  of  a   foreign  church. 

In  his  desire  to  help  the  English  Whigs  In  their  Reform  strug- 
gle, O'Connell  had  put  Parliamentary  Reform  temporarily  before 
Repeal,  worked  for  it  with  might  and  main,  and  with  his  Irish 
following  finally  gave  the  Whigs  the  margin  of  majority  that  car- 
ried the  Reform  Bill.  And  when  the  Whigs  came  into  power  in 
the  new  Reform  Parliament  of  '34,  their  first  measure  was  a 
Coercion  Bill  for  Ireland!  The  fiercest,  too,  of  the  many  such 
boons  to  Ireland  since  the  century's  begimiing! 

Thus  did  the  Irish  leader  find  himself  recompensed  for  shelv- 
ing Repeal  in  the  interests  of  the  Whigs.  "Six  hundred  scoun- 
drels" was  his  designation  of  the  Britishers  who  sat  in  the  Re- 
form Parliament.  And  the  king's  speech,  recommending  Coer- 
cion, he  called  "a  brutal  and  bloody  speech."  In  his  fiery  fight- 
ing trim,  with  the  forty  Repeal  members  (Including  eight  mem- 
bers of  his  own  family)  which  the  General  Election  gave  him 
from  Ireland,  he  went  to  Westminster  to  try  a  fall  Vv^Ith  the  "six 
hundred  scoundrels"  over  the  Coercion  Bill.  "The  atrocious  at- 
tempt to  extinguish  public  liberty  makes  me  young  again,"  he 
wrote  to  Edward  Dwyer,  from  London.  He  was  now  on  the 
eve  of  sixty.  "I  feel  the  vigour  of  youth  in  the  elastic  spring  of 
my  hatred  of  tyranny."  But  his  Reform  friends  overwhelmed  his 
opposition,  and  gave  a  fresh  turn  of  the  screw  to  his  suffering 
country. 

When  in  '31  he  had  been  warned  against  abandoning  Irish 
Repeal  for  British  Parliamentary  Reform,  he  said  to  the  people: 
"Let  no  one  deceive  you  and  say  that  I  have  abandoned  anti- 
Unionism.  It  Is  false.  But  I  am  decidedly  of  opinion  that  it  is 
only  in  a  reformed  Parliament  that  the  question  can  properly, 
truly,  and  dispassionately,  be  discussed." 

Yet,  at  the  very  time  he  said  this,  he  had  put  Repeal  aside  to 
save  his  English  friends.  In  a  letter  to  his  Whig  friend.  Lord 
Duncannon,  in  December,  '31,  he  says:     "On  my  arrival  (in  Dub- 


572  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

lin)  I  found  a  formidable  anti-Union  Association  completed,  called 
the  Trade  Union,  headed  by  a  man  of  popular  qualifications,  who 
was  capable  of  success.  I  took  his  people  out  of  his  hands,  and 
not  only  turned  them,  but  I  can  say  turned  the  rest  of  the  country, 
from  the  overpowering  question  of  Repeal  to  the  suitable  one  of 
Reform." 

Notwithstanding  the  Whigs'  betrayal  of  him  he  returned  them 
to  power  again  after  they  had  been  thrown  out,  and  kept  them  in 
power  by  the  dependable  bulk  of  his  following. 

Throughout  the  'Thirties  O'Connell  seemed  to  work  in  com- 
plete forgetfulness  of  the  one  big  fact  which  the  agitation  of  the 
'Twenties  should  have  stamped  indelibly  on  his  mind,  namely,  that 
an  Ireland  lulled  by  the  opiate  of  English  friendship  always  proved 
to  be  an  Ireland  fooled;  while  an  Ireland  rebellious  was  an  Ire- 
land successful. 

The  Whigs,  now  needing  his  support,  made  formal  alliance 
with  him,  flattered  him,  promised  him,  lured  him  on,  gave  minor 
offices  to  his  friends,  tried  to  tempt  himself  with  office — an  idea 
that  indeed  he  pleasantly  toyed  with,  but  finally  dismissed — and 
left  him  in  the  lurch. 

Acting  under  the  opiate,  he,  in  '34,  called  on  the  country  to 
try  a  six  year  "experiment" — to  let  Repeal  remain  in  abeyance  for 
that  time,  and  see  what  Ireland's  good  friend,  the  Whigs,  would 
do  for  her.  And  such  was  the  faith  and  the  confidence  of  the 
people  in  O'Connell,  that,  almost  without  a  murmur  they  spiked 
their  own  guns  on  the  battlefield,  just  to  prove  their  trust  in  a 
generous  enemy!  And  the  poor  fools  were,  of  course,  repaid  ac- 
cording to  their  folly. 

And  during  those  years,  the  "experiment"  years,  Ireland  got 
from  the  Whig  Government  the  Poor  Law  Act  (which  O'Con- 
nell considered  a  curse  instead  of  a  cure),  the  Tithes  Act  which 
added  three-quarters  of  that  impost  to  their  rent — and  on  the 
strength  of  which  complacent  Dan  called  upon  the  people  to  cease 
their  tithe  agitation — an  Act  forbidding  subletting,  and  an  Act  to 
make  ejectments  easy.  Bishop  Doyle  approved  of  the  latter  two 
Acts  on  the  ground  that  they  would  help  to  save  Ireland  from 
poverty,  and  he  was  sorry  they  were  not  enacted  thirty  years  be- 
fore! 

It  was  little  wonder  that  in  the  late  'Thirties  the  Whig-befooled 
Dan  found  his  popularity  waning,  got  down-hearted,  depressed, 
discouraged,  and  in  '39  made  retreat  in  Mt.  Melleray  to  regain 
his  calm.     "It  mortifies  but  does  not  surprise  me,"  he  wrote  to  a 


THROUGH  THE  'THIRTIES  573 

friend,  "to  find  that  I  have  exhausted  the  bounty  of  the  Irish  peo- 
ple. God  help  me!  What  shall  I  do?"  He  talked  of  retiring 
permanently  into  a  monastery. 

He  came  out  of  his  Mount  Melleray  retreat — with  a  mind 
much  calmed — able  collectedly  to  review  his  position  and  make  his 
plans.     But  only  a  miracle  could  rehabilitate  him. 


CHAPTER  LXVII 

THE  GREAT  REPEAL  FIGHT 

But  the  miracle  happened. 

And  the  blessed  word  that  evoked  the  miracle  was  Repeal! 

When,  by  a  fortunate  inspiration,  the  great  man  boldly  uttered 
again  the  watching  word  which,  for  six  years  forbidden,  had  been 
heard  not,  or  only  heard  in  whispers,  it  resounded  from  hill  to 
hill  to  the  island's  uttermost  corner.  It  seemed  whisked  on  the 
wings  of  life,  till  a  miUion  mouths  re-echoed  it.  A  land  that  had 
been  settling  into  the  silence  of  mild  despair,  suddenly  burst  into 
a  great  song  of  hope  again;  and  the  hero  who  was  falling  from 
his  pedestal,  was,  by  this  magic  word,  now  lifted  to  a  pinnacle 
that  he  had  never  reached  before. 

In  1840  O'Connell  founded  the  National  Association  of  Ire- 
land for  repeal.  The  statements  of  principle  which  he  wrote  were 
led  in  by  a  true  O'Connell  flourish  of  superlative  loyalty,  pledging 
"most  dutiful  and  ever  inviolate  loyalty  to  our  gracious  and  ever- 
beloved  sovereign  queen,  Victoria,  her  heirs  and  successors  for- 
ever"— and  by  another  characteristically  O'Connell  flourish  of 
law-worship,  spiced  with  piety:  "The  total  disclaiming  of,  and 
absence  from,  all  physical  force,  violence,  or  breach  of  the  law, 
or  in  short,  any  violation  of  the  laws  of  man  or  the  ordinances 
of  the  Eternal  God  whose  holy  name  be  ever  blessed."  The  hero 
was  getting  his  old  rhetorical  stride  again. 

And  in  the  intensity  of  his  loyalty  to  his  beloved  sovereign  the 
name  of  the  Association  was,  in  '41,  improved  into  the  Loyal  Na- 
tional Repeal  Association. 

The  Repeal  movement  was  undoubtedly  popularised — if  such 
were  possible — and  materially  stimulated  by  a  couple  of  big  hap- 
penings in  the  Dublin  Corporation  in  these  years.  In  '41  was 
elected,  for  the  first  tim.e  in  history,  a  Nationalist  corporation  in 
Dublin.  Under  the  Municipal  Reform  Act,  just  obtained,  the  old 
Dublin  Corporation,  citadel  of  ultra-Orangeism,  was  wiped  out 
and  replaced  by  one  that  was  five-sixths  Nationalist.  And  to  the 
frenzied  delight  of  Dublin,  and  all  Ireland,  Dan  O'Connell  was 
elected  the  first  Nationalist  Lord  Mayor. 

574 


THE  GREAT  REPEAL  FIGHT  575 

So  profound  was  the  respect  for  Dan's  sincerity  and  broad- 
mindedness  that  the  few  Orangemen  left  in  the  new  Corporation 
stood  up,  in  company  with  the  Nationalist  members,  to  do  him 
honour.  And  Dan,  in  accepting  the  office,  then  said:  "I  pledge 
myself  to  this,  that  in  my  capacity  as  Lord  Mayor  no  one  will  be 
able  to  discover  my  politics  from  my  conduct. — In  my  capacity  as 
a  man  though,"  he  added,  "I  am  a  Repealer  to  my  last  breath." 

When,  in  response  to  the  myriad  cries  of  the  multitude  of  citi- 
zens who  surged  outside  the  City  Hall,  Dan,  coming  to  a  window, 
showed  himself  in  his  robes  of  office,  the  dramatic  sight  of  a  real 
Irishman  filling  the  robes  of  the  Lord  Mayor  of  Dublin,  set  the 
multitude  frantic  with  joy.  In  that  rare  sight  they  saw  concrete 
token  that  their  fearfully  long  toil  was  bearing  fruit;  and  ages  of 
suffering  and  striving  being  crowned  by  heaven  with  reward.  The 
rags  were  surely  falling  from  the  Mother's  shoulders,  the  fetters 
from  her  limbs;  she  was  coming  into  her  own  again.  With  lighter 
heart  and  more  hopeful,  Ireland  bent  to  the  fight  for  Repeal. 

The  second  stimulus  was  the  great  Repeal  debate  in  the  Dub- 
lin Corporation,  where  the  new  Lord  Mayor  made  a  Repeal 
speech,  v/hich,  to  the  eager  people  who  in  every  corner  of  the  land 
devoured  the  report  of  it,  was  one  of  the  most  wonderful  of  his 
career.  By  overwhelming  majority  was  carried  a  resolution  to 
present  a  Repeal  petition  to  Parliament.  The  great  debate,  from 
its  first  word  to  its  last  reported  verbatim  in  all  the  papers,  and 
carried  to  the  farthest  remote  cabin  in  the  most  remote  valleys  of 
the  Island,  mightily  swelled  the  enthusiasm  with  which  the  nation 
simmered,  and  multiplied  the  people's  determination  this  time  to 
win  their  goal. 

From  the  day  of  his  election  to  the  Mayoralty  it  felt  fine  to 
the  people  to  address  Dan,  one  of  their  own,  as  "Your  Lordship" 
and  "My  Lord."  And  it  was  all  the  happier  for  that  the  rich 
expression,  far  from  having  to  be  said  in  a  frightened  or  cowering 
fashion,  could  be  trolled  out  in  a  hail-fellow-well-met  tone — to  a 
lordship,  who,  instead  of  freezing  one  with  an  Arctic  token  of  ac- 
knowledgment, answered  with  a  smile  that  would  melt  the  heart 
of  a  millstone.  The  mob  henceforward  delighted  to  run  ahead 
of  his  lordship,  on  the  street,  crying  to  the  waiting  crowd,  "Hats 
off,  for  his  lordship!"  And  woe  to  the  beaver  head-covering  of 
any  crusty  old  Tory  who  was  slow  to  uncover  at  the  cry! 

There  was  a  great  scene  when,  in  his  rich  robes  of  office.  Lord 
Mayor  O'Connell  rode  through  the  streets  attended  bv  the  Alder- 
men in  their  robes,  to  the  Romian  Catholic  Cathedral.  The  very 
hardihood  of  making  those  robes,  so  long  consecrated  to  Orange- 


576  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

ism,  ride  to  a  Roman  Catholic  Cathedral,  was  refreshing  to  the 
populace. 

But  the  great  man  never  forgot  method  in  his  madness.  As, 
with  truly  British  ingenuity,  the  Act  which  emancipated  Catholics 
decreed  a  fine  of  one  hundred  pounds  for  the  criminal  who  would 
attend  a  Papist  place  of  worship  in  robes  of  office,  Dan  got  from 
under  his  robes  outside  the  Cathedral  door— where  the  Orange 
vestments  surlily  waited  on  the  porch  till  his  lordship  returned 
from  his  idolatry. 

Now  the  Repeal  movement  was  in  full  swing.  And  O'Connell 
filled  the  land  with  the  agitation.  In  wonderful  speech  after 
speech  bristling  with  urge,  ringing  with  hope,  and  thundering  with 
defiance,  he  fostered  the  ferment  in  which  the  populace  found 
itself. 

"What  good  have  we  obtained  from  England  in  the  season 
of  her  prosperity?"  he  thundered  in  the  Association  Hall.  '*She 
has  made  us  weep  tears  of  blood.  But  she  may  want  us  yet.  Is 
there,  even  now,  no  hurricane  threatening  her  from  the  other  side 
of  the  Atlantic,  careering  against  the  sun,  advancing  with  the 
speed  of  heaven's  lightning?  Hear  we  not  the  rattling  of  the 
hail,  the  driving  of  the  tempest?  Is  there  no  danger  that  we  may 
be  needed  to  defend  the  western  possessions  of  Britain?  Look 
next  at  France — is  she  so  kind,  so  friendly,  as  she  has  been?  Does 
the  aspect  of  the  Continent  In  general  promise  to  England  a  con- 
tinuance of  Continental  friendship?  Then,  England's  eastern  ter- 
ritories— are  they  safe?  Let  Afghanistan  answer!  Saw  you  not 
the  gallant  regiment  that  passed  along  the  quay  a  few  moments 
ago?  Whither  go  they?  To  India  or  to  China?  What  signs 
are  there  of  peace?  From  east  to  west,  from  north  to  south,  a 
storm  is  lowering — through  the  darkening  atmosphere  we  can  hear 
the  boom  of  the  distant  thunder — we  discern  the  flashes  of  the 
coming  lightning."  But  then,  ever  mindful  of  his  loyalty,  season- 
ing the  defiance  with  the  spice  of  fealty,  he  continues:  "Yet  even 
In  the  midst  of  the  tempest  may  England  have  safety.  She  will 
need  the  aid  of  Irishmen.  She  shall  have  that  aid.  But" — his 
loyalty  having  testified,  the  politician  speaks,  "Irishmen  require 
a  iDribe.  Here  am  I  who  want  a  bribe.  I  will  take  a  bribe.  I  must 
get  a  bribe.     And  my  bribe  is  Repeal  of  the  Union!" 

"Grattan,"  he  told  them,  again,  "sat  by  the  cradle  of  his  coun- 
try, and  followed  its  hearse.  It  has  been  left  to  me  to  sound  the 
resurrection  trumpet,  and  show  that  our  country  was  not  dead, 
but  only  slept."     And  by  such  figures,  rung  out  in  the  magnificent 


THE  GREAT  REPEAL  FIGHT  577 

tones  of  one  of  the  most  rousing  orators  of  the  age,  did  he  drive 
the  nation  forward  in  the  joyous  fight.  The  leader  was  in  the 
finest  fettle  of  his  life.  He  had  already  forgotten  the  dark  days 
when  he  lost  his  grip;  his  loving  people  had  forgotten  them.  He 
rode  on  the  ridge  of  his  world  again — lifted  infinitely  higher  than 
ever  before. 

The  Repeal  organisation  grew  splendidly  systematised  and 
marvellously  complete  in  every  detail,  in  all  corners  of  Ireland. 
Commemorating  the  three  hundred  Volunteer  representatives  in 
1782,  and  the  three  hundred  members  of  Grattan's  Parliament, 
it  had  a  Central  Council  of  three  hundred.  As,  under  the  Conven- 
tion Act  of  1793,  the  people  could  not  elect  delegates  to  represent 
them,  the  members  of  the  Council  were  men  from  various  parts 
of  Ireland  chosen  to  carry  to  the  Repeal  Treasury  in  Dublin  a 
hundred  pounds  or  more  from  their  own  neighbours  and  fellow- 
workers.  Every  parish  had  its  branch  of  the  Repeal  Association. 
They  appointed  their  Repeal  wardens;  they  organised  Arbitra- 
tion courts  to  keep  peace  among  neighbours  who  must  march  shoul- 
der to  shoulder  in  the  great  fight.  They  had  their  cavalry  for 
marshalling  and  leading  them»  at  meetings.  They  had  their  Repeal 
Reading  rooms.  All  faction  and  all  crime  was  by  them  sternly 
put  down.  Their  Repeal  rent  was  regularly  lifted  from  ready 
subscribers — and  the  whole  country,  organised  and  marshalled,  was 
In  finer  fighting  trim  than  at  any  time  for  forty  years  gone.  They 
were  ready  for  anything — peace  or  war — just  as  the  fearless  leader 
should  direct. 

But  howsoever  much  he  might  Indulge  In  the  rhetorical  storm, 
peace  was  with  O'Connell  a  fetish. 

The  climax  of  the  great  Repeal  fight  came  In  '43.  That  was 
the  year  of  the  Monster  meetings,  the  year  of  the  sublime  hope 
and  the  undaunted  resolve,  of  the  mighty  welding  of  two  million 
men  Into  one  solid  bulwark  of  freedom.  And  yet,  alas.  It  was 
the  sad  year  of  real  defeat! 

To  a  nation  hanging  on  his  every  word  and  Implicitly  accept- 
ing every  dictum,  he  proclaimed  '43  "Repeal  year" — and  the  jubi- 
lant nation  pushed  onward,  with  redoubled  vigour,  to  the  blessed 
goal.  In  that  great  year  the  fearless  leader  rode  die  whirlwind. 
The  Repeal  rent,  flowing  from  the  pockets  of  the  ready  people, 
multiplied  with  every  succeeding  week.  His  personal  tribute  that 
year  mounted  to  the  handsome  figure  of  twenty  thousand  pounds. 
And  the  people  considered  It  not  half  enough — and  would  have 
repeated  It  again  and  again  if  they  only  got  the  hint. 


578  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

All  Ireland  was  full  of  fight  as  well  as  jubilation,  and  full  of 
a  new-found  confidence  in  its  own  power,  which  all  of  England's 
armies  could  not  down. 

The  people  were  full  of  fight  in  the  literal  as  well  as  the  fig- 
urative sense  of  the  word,  and  hundreds  of  thousands  of  them 
cherished  the  half-concealed  belief  that  if  Prime  Minister  Peel 
did  not  surrender  to  O'Connell  peacefully,  their  leader,  despite 
his  oft-shouted  warning  that  freedom  was  too  dearly  purchased  at 
the  price  of  a  single  drop  of  blood — would  whisper  a  word  which 
should  thrill  the  nation  to  its  uttermost  headland,  and  conjure  up 
a  countless,  indomitable,  army  in  a  single  night. 

The  fighting  spirit  which  stirred  the  hearts  of  the  people  that 
year  expressed  itself  at  those  wonderful  gatherings,  unique  in  the 
history  of  nations — the  Monster  meetings.  It  is  somewhat  diffi- 
cult for  Irishmen,  and  almost  impossible  for  outsiders,  to-day,  to 
realize  that  at  each  of  a  series  of  forty  meetings  held  all  over  the 
land,  in  that  memorable  year,  there  gathered  one  hundred  thou- 
sand people,  two  hundred  thousand,  four  hundred  thousand,  and 
upwards  to  numbers  uncountable.  Yet  such  was  the  fact.  A  quar- 
ter of  a  million  people  in  attendance  came  to  be  considered  mod- 
erate. The  London  Times  conceded  a  million  to  the  gathering 
on  the  hill  of  Tara. 

O'Connell,  feeling  that  the  hostile  English  Parliament  would 
not  consent  to  bow  to  the  will  of  the  Irish  people,  again  and  again 
in  his  speeches,  which  were  swaying  the  multitude,  appealed  over 
the  head  of  Parliament  to  Royalty.  He  pointed  out  that  the 
Queen  of  England  had  the  right,  of  her  own  accord,  to  summon  a 
Parliament  in  Dublin.  And,  influenced  by  his  worship  of  Victoria, 
he  seems  actually  to  have  worked  himself  into  the  belief  that  her 
love  for  the  Irish  people  was  such  that  she  might  resort  to  this 
extraordinary  step.^ 

The  mighty  development  of  the  movement  in  Ireland,  the  fer- 
ment, the  astonishing  spirit  of  the  people,  the  organisation,  the 
gatherings,  the  speeches,  deeply  alarmed  the  English  Government. 
Prime  Minister  Peel  felt  it  necessary,  publicly  and  authoritatively 
to  declare  that  his  Queen's  sentiments  on  the  question  of  Repeal 
were  the  very  opposite  of  what  O'Connell  had  attributed  to  her. 
Peel  also  declared  that  if  O'Connell  forced  the  issue  of  civil  war 


1  He  would  have  got  a  rude  awakening  had  he  lived  to  read  in  his  noble  hero- 
ine's private  correspondence,  when  it  came  to  be  published,  her  letter  written  to 
Leopold  of  Belgium,  after  the  subsidence  of  the  '48  movement — in  which  she  ex- 
pressed her  regret  that  the  general  uprising  had  not  taken  place  as  planned,  "so 
that  the  Irish  might  be  taught  a  lesson!"  The  little  testimony  to  royal  charity 
was   carefully  eliminated   from  the  second  and   succeeding  editions   of   the  book. 


THE  GREAT  REPEAL  FIGHT  579 

or  Repeal,  England  would  without  hesitation  choose  the  former. 

And,  for  all  his  ludicrous  loyalty  to  the  crown  of  England  and 
for  all  his  oft-sworn  antipathy  to  bloodshed,  O'Connell,  several 
times  during  this  exciting  summer,  seemed  to  have  caught  some- 
thing of  the  undaunted  spirit  which  he  had  aroused  in  the  breasts 
of  the  people.  They  had  eight  million  people  in  Ireland,  he  warned 
Peel,  and  another  million  Irish  in  the  United  States  of  America, 
and  practically  said  to  him:  Come  on  if  you  dare!  "We  shall 
make  no  rebellion,"  O'Connell  said.  "We  wish  no  civil  war.  We 
shall  keep  on  the  ground  of  the  Constitution,  as  long  as  we  are 
allov/ed;  but  if  Peel  forces  a  contest,  if  he  invades  the  constitu- 
tional rights  of  the  people — then  vae  victis  betv/een  the  contend- 
ing parties !  Where  is  the  coward  who  would  not  die  for  such  a 
land  as  Ireland!  Let  our  enemies  attack  us  if  they  dare.  They 
shall  never  trample  me  under  foot!" 

And  at  the  great  Mallow  meeting  in  June,  where  four  hun- 
dred thousand  people  attended  (just  a  few  days  after  the  Kilkenny 
meeting  with  its  three  hundred  thousand)  O'Connell  waxed  so 
militant  as  to  quote  with  intense  spirit  Moore's  words: 

"Oh,  where's  the  slave  so  lowly, 
Condemned  to  chains  unholy, 
Who  could  he  burst, 
His  bonds  accurst, 
Would  pine  beneath  them  slowly!" 

And  he  thrilled  his  audience  by  thundering  out,  "I'm  not  that 
slave!" 

Then  also  he  launched  the  famous  Mallow  defiance,  a  charac- 
teristic O'Connell  compound  of  independence  and  subserviency, 
sedition,  and  loyalty.  "You  may  soon  have  the  alternative  to  live 
as  slaves,"  he  shouted,  "or  die  as  freemen.  ...  If  they  assailed 
us  to-morrow,  and  we  should  conquer  them — as  conquer  them,  we 
will,  some  day — our  first  use  of  that  victory,  would  be  to  put  the 
sceptre  in  the  hands  of  Victoria.  .  .  .  They  may  trample  on  me, 
but  it  will  be  the  dead  body  of  me  they  will  trample,  not  the  liv- 
ing man!" 

"Ah,"  said  the  pleased  people,  "Dan  will  now  pass  the  word." 
And  though  the  waiting  host  had  not  in  sight  any  more  effective 
arms  than  pitchforks  and  the  like,  they  were  willing  with  them  to 
try  and  push  the  British  army  into  the  sea. 

But  when  the  Mallow  defiance  had  roused  the  fighting  spirit 
and  the  militant  hopes  of  a  million,  Dan  took  the  opportunity  of 
the  great  Skibbereen  meeting,  ten  days  or  so  later,  to  lay  the  mar- 


58o  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

tial  spirit  he  bad  evoked.  "It  is  better,"  be  counselled  in  Skib- 
bereen,  "to  live  for  Ireland  than  to  die  for  her."  If  O'Connell's 
inconsistencies  this  year  confused  the  enemy  as  much  as  they  did 
his  own  hosts,  there  might  be  something  to  be  said  in  their  favour. 

Anyway,  England  was  getting  profoundly  embarrassed,  as  well 
as  frightened.  Her  enemies  and  the  world  were  following  every 
step  of  the  Irish  struggle.  There  was  held  in  New  York  a  great 
conference  on  Ireland,  lasting  a  week — whereat  it  was  counselled 
that  if  England  plunged  Ireland  into  civil  war,  Canada  should  be 
seized.  President  Tyler  said  that  Ireland  should  have  Repeal. 
Some  of  the  French  even  came  forward  with  offers  of  money  and 
of  arms  and  men.  British  regiments  were  thrown  into  Ireland. 
The  British  navy  circled  it  with  a  chain  of  warships.  Feverish 
preparations  for  the  worst  were  made  by  the  Government, 

Meantime  the  Monster  meetings  had  gone  forward,  still  In- 
creasing in  numbers  and  in  enthusiasm.  One  of  the  most  won- 
derful things  and  one  of  the  most  pregnant,  too,  with  alarm  for 
England  was,  that  Ireland,  though  rocking  from  shore  to  shore 
with  excitement,  became  absolutely  crimeless.  This  ominous  fact 
frightened  Ireland's  governors  infinitely  more  than  if  crime  had 
raged  over  the  land.  The  Monster  meetings  were  signally  char- 
acterised by  an  utter  absence  of  both  drink  and  disorder.^  Father 
Mathew's  Total  Abstinence  movement  had  swept  the  land,  and 
secured  this.  The  preaching,  the  teaching,  and  the  drilling  of  the 
parish  branches  of  the  Repeal  Association,  had  completed  the 
good  work.  Thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  of  men  marched 
to  the  meetings  in  military  formation,  quick  to  the  word  of  com- 
mand. And  many,  be  it  noted,  marched  a  day  and  a  night  to  the 
gathering  place. 

But  the  greatest  and  most  memorable  of  all  the  great  meet- 
ings was  that  at  Tara — on  Lady  Day  in  August.  To  the  historic 
place,  crowds  had  been  travelling  for  days  and  nights.  Immense 
were  the  numbers  that  arrived  at  the  Hill  overnight.  On  the  hill- 
side were  set  up  six  altars,  around  which  knelt  multitudes  to  hear 
Mass  in  the  morning.  From  daybreak  the  unending  streams  of 
humanity  could  be  seen,  riding,  driving,  walking — streaming  to  it 
from  all  points  of  the  compass,  every  minute  augmenting  the  sea 
of  humanity  that  overspread  the  meeting  place.  An  army  of  ten 
thousand  Repeal  cavalry  rode  out  the  Dublin  road  to  meet  O'Con- 

2  Except  once,  when,  it  is  told,  an  ardent  English  enthusiast,  who  came  to  help 
the  work,  lost  his  hat — and  likewise  his  temper.  "Damn  you  people!"  he  shouted. 
"I  came  here  all  the  way  from  England  to  emancipate  you,  and  you  stole  my  hat." 
And  he  indignantly  returned  to  England  without  emancipating  them. 


THE  GREAT  REPEAL  FIGHT  581 

nell,  and  such  was  the  extent  and  the  crush  of  the  great  multitude 
that  when  they  reached  nigh  the  hill  with  him,  it  took  them  an 
hour  and  a  half  to  steer  him  a  mile  through  the  living  sea.  Headed 
by  bands  and  banners  and  marshalled  by  horsemen,  no  such  gath- 
ering as  that  at  Tara  was  ever  seen  before,  and  may  never  be 
seen  again.  While  The  London  Times  admitted  a  million  as  the 
number  at  the  gathering,  and  the  Repealers  claimed  twelve  hun- 
dred thousand,  if  we,  in  skeptical  mood,  suppose  that,  by  error, 
even  the  Times  overestimated  by  even  doubling  the  count,  the 
number  would  still  be  so  huge  as  to  strain  our  imagination.' 

When  his  eye  swept  over  that  human  sea  O'Connell  himself 
must  have  marvelled  at  the  spirit  that  animated  the  nation. 
"What,"  he  said,  "could  England  effect  against  such  a  people  so 
thoroughly  aroused,  if,  provoked  past  endurance,  they  rose  out  in 
rebellion."  The  leader  was  not  only  elated  by  the  wonderful 
things  he  saw  and  felt — but  possibly  alarmed.  For  he  added: 
"While  I  live  such  an  uprising  will  never  occur."* 

One  of  the  last  of  the  big  meetings  was  that  at  Mullaghmast, 
the  scene  of  the  famous  massacre  of  Irish  chieftains  in  the  time 
of  Elizabeth  of  England.  Four  hundred  thousand  was  the  num- 
ber said  to  have  assembled  there.  Mullaghmast  was  the  famous 
occasion  of  O'Connell's  accepting  a  crown  prepared  for  him,  and 
presented  to  him  by,  the  sculptor  Hogan,  the  artist  MacManus, 
and  John  Cornelius  O'Callaghan  the  historian — an  incident  that 
naturally  aroused  wild  enthusiasm,  not  only  in  the  huge  gathering 
that  watched,  but  all  over  Ireland. 

The  Monster  meetings  of  the  year  were  to  culminate  and  climax 
a  week  after  Mullaghmast,  on  the  battleplain  of  Clontarf,  out- 
side Dublin,  where  Brian  Boru  had  broken  the  foreign  invader 
and  cast  him  into  the  sea.  And  now  the  Government,  thoroughly 
aroused  to  its  imminent  danger,  took  desperate  resolve.  At  the 
eleventh  hour  It  forbade  the  Clontarf  meeting.  Sunday  was  to 
have  been  the  meeting  day.  At  three  o'clock  on  Saturday  after- 
noon— when  already,  from  a  hundred  distant  points,  masses  of 
marching  men  had  started  for  the  morrow's  rendezvous — it  pa- 
pered Dublin  with  the  proclamation.  Five  regiments  of  soldiers, 
with  cannon  'and  all  the  appliances  of  war,  were  stationed  at  van- 

3  Gavan  Duffy  would  lead  us  to  infer  that  all  estimates  of  all  the  Monster 
meetings  were  about  double  the  actual  figures. 

^  The  spirit  that  raised  up  such  a  gathering  will  be  all  the  more  appreciated 
when  it  is  remembered  that  on  the  same  day,  at  less  than  a  hundred  miles'  dis- 
tance, in  County  Monaghan,  was  another  gathering,  estimated  at  a  quarter  of  a 
million  men. 


582  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

tage  points  in  and  around  Clontarf.     The  gauntlet  was  thrown 
down  to  O'Connell. 

An  emergency  meeting  of  the  Repeal  executive  was  instantly 
summoned.  O'Connell,  telling  them  that  nothing  would  justify 
his  permitting  vast  masses  of  unarmed  men  to  be  mowed  down, 
pronounced  that  there  was  nothing  to  do  but  submit.  They  of 
course  agreed.  Mounted  messengers  were  instantly  sent  flying 
out  of  Dublin  along  every  road  that  led  to  the  Capital.  All  bodies 
of  marching  men  were  turned  back,  and  the  word  sent  everywhere 
far  and  wide  over  the  country  that  no  meeting  would  be  on  the 
morrow. 

The  Government  had  taken  a  dangerous  hazard  and  won. 

And  they  quickly  followed  up  their  advantage.  On  Sunday 
morning  they  arrested  O'Connell,  his  son  John,  Ray  the  Repeal 
Treasurer,  Tom  Steele,  two  priests,  and  the  editors  of  three  Na- 
tionalist papers.  Gray  of  The  Freeman's  Journal,  Barrett  of  The 
Pilot,  and  Duffy  of  The  Nation.  These  were  charged  with  con- 
spiring to  change  the  Constitution  by  illegal  methods,  and  to  ex- 
cite disaffection. 

The  country  stood  on  tip-toe  awaiting  "the  word"  from  O'Con- 
nell— whatever  that  word  might  be.  And  tens  of  thousands  of 
eager  ones  prayed  that  it  might  be  a  bold  one.  But,  Peace  was 
the  word  given  by  the  leader. 

The  people  implicitly  obeyed.  The  man  who  disobeyed  the 
order  would  be  a  traitor  to  the  cause  and  the  country.  Even  The 
Nation,  which  after  a  little  while  was  to  condemn  O'Connell  for 
lack  of  boldness,  and  lead  a  revolt  from  him,  sternly  commanded 
that  the  captain's  word  must  be  unquestioningly  obeyed. 

The  Traversers  were  tried  by  a  packed  jury  of  Tories  and 
Orangemen.  No  Catholic  was  permitted  on  it.  A  whole  file  of 
the  jury  list,  containing  names  of  men  who  could  not  be  welcomed 
to  the  jury  by  the  prosecution,  was,  before  the  trial,  "lost"  from 
the  sheriff's  complete  list.  The  spirit  that  sat  in  the  British  judg- 
ment seat  then,  as  in  most  Irish  political  trials,  was  well  and 
ludicrously  exemplified  by  the  presiding  Chief  Justice,  Penne- 
father,  when  in  giving  an  opinion  upon  a  disputed  point,  he  let 
slip :  "I  speak  under  the  correction  of  the  gentlemen  of  the  other 
side!" 

The  Traversers  were  of  course  found  guilty.  O'Connell  v/as 
sentenced  to  twelve  months'  Imprisonment,  to  pay  a  fine  of  two 
thousand  pounds,  and  give  bail  to  be  of  good  behaviour  for  seven 
years.  The  others  were  given  nine  months'  imprisonment,  fifty 
pounds'  fine,  and  bail.     Between  the  time  of  the  verdict  and  the 


llih  GRKAT  REPEAL  FiGIIT  583 

sentence,  O'Connell,  weakening,  re-formed  the  Repeal  Associa- 
tion so  as  to  eliminate  from  it  things  that  had  now  been  estab- 
lished as  unlawful — including  his  Arbitration  Courts.  And  he  set 
the  example  of  closing  every  meeting  by  calling  for  cheers  for 
England's  Queen!  It  was  upon  this  unwise  retreat  that  The  Xa- 
t'wn  and  Young  Ireland,  violently  opposing,  began  to  break  with 
him. 

Yet  he  held  the  unhesitating  loyalty  of  the  country  at  large. 
And  every  tyrannical  and  unjust  step  of  the  Government,  from  the 
eve  of  Clontarf  till  they  put  the  leader  in  prison,  seemed  to 
strengthen  the  people's  fight — and,  moreover,  brought  into  the 
ranks  many  of  the  gentry  who  had  hitherto  stood  outside — includ- 
ing Smith  O'Brien.  The  Repeal  rent  went  on  increasing.  When 
the  final  step  of  imprisoning  him  was  taken,  the  Repeal  rent 
bounded  up  with  a  great  bound.  In  the  quarter  of  a  year  after 
O'Connell  went  into  prison,  there  was  taken  four  times  as  much 
rent  as  in  the  quarter  of  a  year  preceding.  Though  the  move- 
ment had  undoubtedly  got  a  rude  check,  the  spirit  of  the  country, 
strange  to  say,  was  not  even  feazed. 

Y^et  time  proved  that  on  the  day  of  Clontarf  was  dug  the 
grave  of  O'ConnelFs  Repeal. 


CHAPTER  LXVIII 

THE  END  OF   O'CONNELL 

But  the  movement  and  the  man  had  an  Indian  summer. 

The  great  criminal  in  prison  was  as  a  mighty  prince  holding 
court.  Deputations  from  all  parts  of  Ireland,  led  by  mayors  of 
cities,  bishops,  and  other  dignitaries  daily  arrived  to  pay  him 
court.  Every  word  of  O'Connell's,  going  out  from  his  prison 
walls,  had  now  double  as  much  weight  as  had  formerly  the  weighti- 
est pronouncement  of  the  free  O'Connell,  thundered  from  a  plat- 
form. 

After  four  months  they  were  released  by  decision  of  the  Law 
Lords  of  the  House  of  Lords,  when  these  heard  the  case  on  appeal. 
Two  hundred  thousand  people  frantic  with  joy,  on  the  day  of  his 
release  jammed  the  streets  along  which  rode  the  Liberator  from 
the  prison  to  his  home,  throned  in  state  on  the  high  deck  of  a  spe- 
cially made  triumphal  car.  It  was  one  of  the  proudest  days  of  a 
life  that  had  been  enriched  with  a  plenitude  of  proud  ones. 

And  on  the  second  day  after,  great  crowds  crammed  Con- 
ciliation Hall,  and  the  streets  surrounding  it,  to  hear  the  message 
of  the  liberated  leader,  and  get,  as  they  thought,  fresh  inspiration 
for  the  still  further  speeding  of  the  struggle. 

But  Clontarf  and  its  sequel,  the  trial  and  imprisonment,  had 
marked  a  great  turning  point  in  Dan's  career;  and  he  now  disap- 
pointed the  nation.  While  the  speech  rang  as  boldly  as  ever  with 
denunciations  of  the  Government  that  had  perverted  the  laws  to 
imprison  him,  and  with  threats  of  what  he  would  do  to  them,  and 
to  all  their  minions,  including  Pennefather  and  the  other  mis- 
Judges  on  the  Bench — all  of  which  won  the  old  wild  plaudits  from 
his  hearers — he  did  not  suggest  a  plan  or  lay  a  line  for  carrying 
the  fight  to  fruition.  He  studiously  avoided  any  statement  of 
future  policy — only  emphasised,  with  an  emphasis  that  did  not 
decrease  the  people's  disappointment,  his  too-oft  reiterated  single- 
drop-of-blood  theory,  boasting  that  he  was  the  first  apostle  and 
founder  of  that  noble  political  creed  whose  cardinal  doctrine  was 
that  no  human  revolution  was  worth  the  effusion  of  one  red  drop. 

And  without  giving  the  country  a  lead  he  went  home  to  Dcrry- 
nane  to  rest  and  recuperate — to  forget  politics  for  a  period,  stroll 

564 


THE  END  OK  O'CONNELL  585 

by  the  white  strands  of  Kerry,  and  on  its  mountains  hunt  the  hare. 
Afterwards,  it  was  on  all  sides  conceded  that  the  softening  of  the 
brain  which  was  to  end  his  Hfe,  had  set  in  during  the  months  of 
his  imprisonment.  He  was  nevermore  the  old  Dan,  the  bold  Dan, 
whose  magnetic  power  had  gifted  him,  by  the  lilting  of  a  little 
finger,  to  lead  a  nation. 

In  the  course  of  a  few  months  he  courted  Federalism — which 
a  generation  later  came  to  be  called  Home  Rule — and  he  compelled 
the  Repeal  Association  to  admit  into  its  ranks  the  Federalists,  a 
party  of  Whig  country  gentlemen  for  the  most  part,  but  having 
in  their  ranks  a  few  progressive  intellectual  ones  like  William 
Smith  O'Brien  and  the  young  poet  Davis.  But  he  soon  found 
that  Federalism  fell  flat  on  the  country,  even  where,  as  amongst 
the  thinking  ones,  it  did  not  actually  call  up  antagonism.  And 
when  he  came  up  to  Dublin  in  May  for  the  great  anniversary  cele- 
bration of  his  imprisonment,  the  politician  Dan  confided  to  the 
people,  who  had  spurned  his  Federalism,  that  after  having  now 
given  the  fullest  consideration  to  Federalism,  he  considered — 
with  a  snap  of  the  fingers — it  wasn't  worth  that!  And  during  the 
minutes  of  the  multitude's  frantic  applause  the  astute  Dan  felt  good 
reason  for  pluming  himself  that  he  was  the  peerless  leader  still. 

And  indeed  in  the  hearts  and  thoughts  of  the  vast  body  of  the 
people  he  was.  The  homage  paid  him  at  that  anniversary  celebra- 
tion was  almost  equal  to  anything  he  had  before  experienced.  Let 
the  bitterly  antagonistic  Tory  Mnil  describe  it,  "While  we  write 
this,"  says  the  Mail,  "Mr.  O'Connell  is  sitting  in  autocratic  state 
in  the  throne  room  of  the  Rotunda,  surrounded  by  his  peers,  and 
receiving  the  addresses  of  the  authorities,  the  corporate  bodies, 
the  nobility,  clergy  and  gentry  of  his  peculiar  dominion.  The 
business  of  the  city  is  at  a  standstill.  Professional  duties  are  in 
suspense;  tradesmen  have  closed  their  shops;  the  handicrafts  have 
left  their  callings;  and,  save  the  great  thoroughfares  through  which 
the  ovation  of  the  Autocrat  is  to  pass,  the  streets  are  deserted, 
and  as  noiseless  as  a  wilderness.  In  the  latter,  shops  lie  open,  but 
without  a  customer;  in  the  former  the  barricaded  doors  and  win- 
dows scarce  suffice  to  resist  the  pressure  of  the  throng.  A  count- 
less multitude,  crowding  all  the  avenues  leading  to  the  autocrat's 
presence,  forms  dense  alleys  for  the  passage  of  the  public  bodies, 
which,  headed  by  their  appointed  leaders — some  in  military  cos- 
tume, some  in  their  civic  robes  of  office,  and  all  in  full  dress — 
proceed  to  the  music  of  the  bands,  with  regimental  uniformity, 
towards  the  chamber  where  their  self-elected  sovereign  has  ap- 
pointed to  receive  their  homage." 


586  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

But  alas,  it  was  only  in  the  warm  hearts  of  a  loving,  worship- 
ping people  that  their  sovereign's  greatness  now  lived.  His  old 
stamina  gone,  he  could  not  evolve  a  new  policy  or  face  a  fresh 
fight.  Forgetful  of  his  sad,  sad  lesson  of  the  'Thirties,  he  let  him- 
self again  lean  upon  the  Whigs — or,  maybe  it  could  be  said,  let 
the  Whigs  lean  upon  him.  In  '45  the  Whig  leader,  Lord  John 
Russell,  had  become  so  popular  with  the  Irish  leader  that  we  find 
Dan  threatening  to  transfer  to  his  brows  his  own  Mullaghmast 
crown.  And  a  few  months  later,  in  May  of  '46 — while  Ireland 
staggered  from  the  first  bad  blow  of  the  '45  potato  blight — we 
find  the  uncrowned  king.  Lord  John,  with  his  Whig  following, 
trooping  into  the  division  lobby,  shoulder  to  shoulder  with  the 
Tories,  to  vote  comfort  to  England's  suffering  sister  in  the  form 
of  a  vile  Coercion  Bill.  This,  on  the  Bill's  first  reading.  Before 
the  second  reading  was  reached  the  Whigs  found  need  for  O'Con- 
nell  and  his  fellows,  enlisted  again  Dan's  alliance  to  throw  out 
the  Tories — which  he  enabled  them  to  do — and  put  their  kind 
selves  in  power.  And  on  the  old,  old  and  again  implicitly  be- 
lieved promise  of  remedial  measures  for  Ireland,  O'Connell  prac- 
tically blotted  out  of  his  dictionary  the  word  Repeal. 

The  Nation  party,  the  Young  Ireland  party,  which  had  its  first 
serious  difference  with  O'Connell  on  his  Federal  fad,  led  now  by 
Duffy,  Mitchel  and  Smith  O'Brien,  were  rebelling  against  him 
and  the  Association  (which  was  controlled  by  his  son  John)  ;  and, 
seeking  an  antidote  to  the  Whigs'  opiate,  were  preaching  revolu- 
tion to  the  country.  The  final  split  between  the  old  and  the  new 
came  when  Dan  ordered  the  Association  to  purge  itself  by  passing 
the  Peace  Resolutions — which  would  pledge  every  man  within  the 
Association  ranks  to  the  single-drop-of-blood  policy.  The  split 
at  that  meeting  of  the  Association  was  Immediately  precipitated 
by  young  Meagher's  Sword  speech. 

John  O'Connell  made  Immediate  reply  to  Meagher,  "These 
sentiments  imperil  the  very  existence  of  our  association.  Either 
Mr.  Meagher  or  I  must  leave."  Thereupon  the  Young  Ireland 
leaders,  Duffy,  Mitchel,  O'Brien  and  Meagher,  marched  out  of 
the  hall,  and  out  of  the  Association. 

And  henceforward  to  the  sincerely  grieved  Daniel  O'Connell 
and  his  lieutenants  In  the  Association,  the  Young  Ireland  party, 
more  than  England,  were  Ireland's   enemy.^ 

1  Mitchel  (in  after  years)  named  O'Connell,  "next  to  the  British  Government, 
the  greatest  enemy  Ireland  ever  had."  It  was  owing  to  his  influence,  Mitchel  held, 
that  the  attempted  insurrection  of  '48  ended  in  failure.  In  his  Jail  Journal  he,  not 
without  much  of  the  exaggeration  of  prejudice,  exclaims,  "Poor  old  Dan!    Won- 


THE  END  OF  O'CONNELL  587 

And  now,  day  by  day,  more  ardently  than  ever  Dan  courted 
and  flattered  the  new  Whig  friends  who  had  come  to  him,  and 
more  bitterly  than  ever  denounced  the  Irish  friends  who  had  left 
him. 

Famine  nov/  fastened  Its  clutch  on  the  country.  The  potato 
crop  of  '46,  which  was  eagerly  expected  to  cure  the  acute  distress 
produced  by  the  '45  failure,  was  blighted — and  proved  a  more 
overwhelming  failure  than  that  of  the  year  before.  And  the  har- 
vest of  '47  was  yet  to  plunge  the  people  in  far  deeper  distress. 

The  dreadful  sufferings  of  the  poor  people  now  helped  to 
complete  the  Liberator's  mental  breakdoAvn.  The  heart  of  him 
sank  down  into  sadness.  The  Tribute  which  had  been  paid  to 
him  annually  by  his  faithful  people,  and  which,  through  recent 
years  had  amounted  to  about  twenty  thousand  pounds  annually, 
he  now  spurned.  His  friend  Fitzpatrick,  who  had  had  charge  of 
the  Tribute,  was  rebuked  by  him  for  mentioning  it  in  a  time  so 
pitiful.  For  though  in  his  necessarily  lavish  way  of  living  he 
needed  money  now,  as  always,  and  could  command  all  he  pleased 
whenever  he  pleased,  he  was  never  avaricious.  And  the  sugges- 
tion of  taking  money  from  the  people  in  these  times  cut  him  to 
the  quick. 

In  the  beginning  of  '47,  though  feeling  sick  and  worn  both  in 
body  and  soul,  he  set  out  upon  the  sore  week's  journey  to  London 
to  plead,  this  time,  the  material  cause  of  the  people.  He  made  his 
last  appearance,  and  last  speech  in  Parliament,  In  February  of 
that  year.  It  was  a  pathetic  scene,  the  pitifulness  of  which  affected 
some  of  his  bitterest  enemies — who  now  saw  and  heard  with  pain 
the  bent  and  broken  giant.  In  tones  weak,  shaken,  and  .indistinct, 
plead  with  them,  beg  of  them,  for  sake  of  God  and  common  hu- 
manity, to  save  his  perishing  people! 

All  the  more  heart-breaking  for  the  giant  was  this  trial,  since 
he  felt  from  sad,  long,  and  bitter  experience,  that  he  spoke  to  ears 
that  were  officially  deaf.  Howsoever  sympathetic  they  might  have 
felt  Individually  in  response  to  his  plea,  these  British  members  of 

derful,  mighty,  jovial,  and  mean  old  man !  With  silver  tongue  and  smile  of  witchery 
and  heart  of  unfathomable  fraud  !  What  a  royal  yet  vulgar  soul,  with  the  keen 
eye  and  potent  sweep  of  a  generous  eagle  of  Cairn  Tuathal — with  the  base  servility 
01  a  hou;uJ,  and  the  cold  cruelty  of  a  spider!  Think  of  his  speech  for  John  Magee, 
the  most  powerful  forensic  achievement  since  before  Demosthenes,  and  then  think 
of  the  'gorgeous  and  gossam.er'  theory  of  moral  and  peaceful  agitation,  the  most 
astounding  organon  of  public  swindling  since  first  man  bethought  him  of  obtaining 
money  under  false  pretence.  And  after  one  has  thought  of  all  this  and  more,  wha't 
then  can  a  man  say?  What  but  pray  that  Irish  earth  may  lie  light  on  O'Co'nnell's 
breast,  and  that  the  good  God  who  knew  how  to  create  so  wondrous  a  creature  may 
have  mercy  upon  his  soul?" 


588  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

Parliament  were  jealous  guardians  of  tradition.  And  British 
tradition  always  held  that  it  was  a  serious  mistake  and  setting 
unwise  precedent  ever  to  extend  a  helping  hand  to  the  perverse 
step-child  of  the  Empire, 

O'Connell  went  back  to  his  hotel,  and  lay  down,  ill.  "Take 
me  home  to  Kerry!"  No,  it  was  ordered  by  the  physicians — who 
diagnosed  lingering  congestion  of  the  brain — that  his  only  chance 
was  to  seek  sunshine  and  distraction,  under  southern  skies.  He 
refused.  But  he  soon  compromised  with  them  on  the  scheme  of  a 
pilgrimage  to  Rome. 

He  set  out  under  charge  of  his  youngest  son,  Daniel,  and  his 
chaplain.  Dr.  Miley.  His  sad,  slow  journey  was  yet  relieved  and 
made  memorable  by  many  proud  things.  The  most  noted  men 
and  Societies  of  the  chief  Continental  cities  through  which  they 
passed  came  to  do  homage  to  the  famous  invalid.  Had  he  not 
been  suffering  from  such  deep  depression,  it  would  have  been  for 
him  a  truly  triumphal  journey.  Not  perhaps  since  the  year  Napo- 
leon escaped  from  Elba  had  the  journeying  of  any  man  through 
France  been  so  widely  chronicled  on  the  Continent,  so  eagerly 
read  of,  caused  such  profound  sensation. 

He  appeared  to  brighten,  and  the  cloud  over  his  mind  to 
lighten,  as  he  progressed  south.  But  at  Genoa  he  was  severely 
stricken.  He  could  go,  would  go,  no  farther.  He  took  to  his 
bed,  there,  and  sank  gradually.  The  sinking  of  an  exiled  monarch 
in  their  midst  could  not  have  moved  and  stirred  the  good  citizens 
of  Genoa  as  did  that  of  the  Irish  Liberator — and  certainly  would 
not  have  evoked  a  tithe  of  the  pleading  prayers,  deep  and  sincere, 
that  from  all  classes,  high  and  low,  were  daily  going  up  for  the 
dying  man. 

The  great  man's  end  came,  calm  and  painless,  on  May  15th, 
1847.  In  accordance  with  his  dying  wish,  his  heart,  enshrined 
in  a  silver  urn,  was  taken  to  Rome,  where  it  was  received  with 
signal  honours.  The  body  was  carried  on  the  long  journey  to 
Ireland.  And  city  vied  with  city  in  doing  highest  homage  to  it  as 
it  passed.  To  the  funeral  ship  on  the  sea  passages  the  ships  of 
all  nations  lowered  their  flag.  When  a  little  Skerries  fishing 
craft,  accidentally  encountering  the  funeral  ship  on  the  Irish  sea, 
learnt  that  it  bore  O'Connell,  it  is  recorded  that  all  hands,  in- 
cluding the  helmsman,  let  go  everything,  fell  upon  their  knees,  and 
while  their  little  craft  drifted,  prayed  toward  the  funeral  ship  till 
they  were  lost  sight  of.  When  the  O'Connell  ship  was  entering 
Dublin  Bay  they  met,  coming  out,  a  big  passenger  ship,  the  Bir- 
mingham,  crowded  with  poor  emigrants  leaving  their  beloved  land 


THE  END  OF  O'CONNELL  589 

behind — most  of  them,  forever.  The  moment  these  creatures 
recognised  the  funeral  ship,  they  spontaneously  dropped  on  their 
knees  on  the  deck,  and  with  hands  uplifted  to  heaven,  raised  the 
wildly  sorrowful  caoine   (keen). 

Having  been  accorded  the  greatest  funeral  that  Dublin  had 
ever  witnessed,  the  remains  of  Daniel  O'Connell  were  laid  under 
the  earth  in  Glasnevin  cemetery  on  August  5th,  1847 — while  a 
whole  nation  wept  the  loss  of  a  leader,  than  whom  no  Captain  of 
any  people  was  ever  more  widely,  more  deeply,  and,  let  us  say, 
on  the  whole  more  deservedly  beloved. 

By  his  intimate  and  personal  friend,  O'Neill  Daunt,  it  was  truly 
said  of  O'Connell :  "Well  may  his  countrymen  feel  pride  in  the 
extraordinary  man,  who,  for  a  series  of  years,  could  assail  and 
defy  a  hostile  and  powerful  government,  who  could  knit  together 
a  prostrate,  divided,  and  dispirited  nation  into  a  resolute  and  in- 
vincible confederacy;  who  could  lead  his  followers  in  safety  through 
the  traps  and  pitfalls  that  beset  their  path  to  freedom;  who  could 
baffle  all  the  artifices  of  sectarian  bigotry;  and  finally  overthrow 
the  last  strongholds  of  anti-Catho'iic  tyranny  by  the  simple  might 
of  public  opinion." 

For  O'Connell  and  the  O'Connell  Period  read : 
Lives  of  O'Connell  by  MacDonagh,  Fagan,  Luby. 
Personal  Recollections  of  O'Connell,  O'Neill  Daunt. 
Leaders  of  Public  Opinion,  Lecky. 


CHAPTER  LXTX 

YOUNG    IRELAND 

The  Young  Ireland  movement  developed  naturally  from  the 
O'Connell  movement.  When  any,  the  best,  movement  in  the  world 
grows  old  with  its  founder,  it  gradually  loses  its  idealism,  inspira- 
tion, and  progressiveness,  follows  the  line  of  least  resistance  and 
accepts  men  measures  and  methods  that  in  its  heyday  it  would  have 
scorned. 

The  O'Connell  movement,  grown  old,  was  no  exception  to 
the  law.  We  have  seen  that  during  the  'Thirties  O'Connell  fell 
far  from  his  earlier  high  aims,  and  dragging  his  movement,  bound 
but  willing,  after  the  Whig  chariot,  lost  it  its  respect,  prestige  and 
effectiveness.  Its  strength  ebbed,  and  it  was  honeycombed  with 
placehunters.  The  leader  made  a  bold  burst  in  the  early  'For- 
ties, resolved  to  put  the  movement  in  its  high  place  again,  but 
though  he  was  a  giant  the  effort  needed  more  than  a  giant's  strength. 
Besides  he  was  now  far  from  being  the  same  moral  giant  who  had 
pulled  down  the  pillars  of  the  enemy's  temple  twenty  years  before. 
True,  the  magic  of  his  name  and  the  memory  of  the  dauntless 
O'Connell  that  had  been,  rallied  behind  him  for  a  time  the  same 
nation  in  the  same  solid  phalanx  as  of  yore.  But  the  giant  leader 
now  had  not  the  same  unflinching  determination  and  unwavering 
vision  which  used  to  drive  and  draw  him  to  victory  over  all  ob- 
stacles. He  did  not  now  so  surely  feel  the  lofty  ideals  which  he 
voiced,  and  consequently  was  not  so  irresistibly  drawn  on  by  them. 
In  the  olden  days,  in  the  fight  for  Emancipation,  O'Connell  was 
supereminently  intolerant  of  any  suggestion  of  compromise,  and 
as  a  consequence  Vv'on  out.  In  these  days,  however,  though  he  de- 
manded as  undauntedly  and  thundered  as  defiantly  as  before,  he 
nursed  in  the  back  of  his  mind  the  wish  to  accept  a  part  if  he  could 
not  get  the  whole — occasionally  too,  let  the  wish  thrust  its  head 
from  its  hiding-place.     Consequently  he  failed. 

The  younger  men  whom  he  fired  by  his  eloquence  In  the  first 
forward  move  of  the  'Forties,  and  who  took  his  words  at  their 
face  value,  grew  restive  when  at  length  they  discovered  that  they 

59C 


YOUNG  IRELAND  591 

had  been  deceived — and  went  out  from  his  movement  to  found 
for  themselves  a  more  forward  one,  the  Young  Ireland  move- 
ment. 

The  poet,  Thomas  Davis,  was  the  founder  of  it.  He  was  a 
young  Protestant  barrister  from  Cork.  He  was  smitten  by  the  en- 
thusiasm in  the  air  and  drawn  into  the  Repeal  Movement.  With  a 
County  Monaghan  young  man,  Charles  Gavan  Duffy,  then  editing 
a  national  weekly  in  Belfast,  and  a  young  barrister,  John  Blake 
Dillon,  he  founded  7V/<'  \atioii — to  support  the  movement  for  Re- 
peal, to  propagate  patriotism  in  the  country,  and  to  develop  a  love 
for  Irish  national  literature.  The  Nation  was  destined  to  be  a 
great  power  in  the  land,  and  to  leave  behind  It  a  magnincent  and 
inspiring  tradition.  The  support  of  these  intensely  earnest  and 
eminently  able  young  men,  and  of  their  organ,  which  instantly 
leaped  into  powerful  popularity,  at  first  pleased  O'Connell.  But 
when,  after  a  time,  they  showed  that  they  had  minds  of  their  own, 
which  exquisite  blarney  could  not  befog,  he  grew,  first  impatient 
with,  and  then  resentful  of,  them.  It  was  the  O'Connellites,  too, 
who  In  derision — because  they  failed  to  follow  the  Leader  in  every 
vagary  in  which  he  would  Indulge — first  nam.ed  them  Young  Ire- 
landers.  And  that  which  was  first  applied  to  them  in  opprobrium 
came  in  course  of  time  to  be  their  pride. 

With  historical  essays,  patriotic  ballads  and  poems,  and  virile 
national  articles,  they  aroused  and  enthused  the  people — especially 
the  young  men,  and  quickly  made  for  themselves  a  great  follow- 
ing. They  attracted  and  gathered  around  them  the  finest  minds 
of  the  nation — till  three  patriot  propagandists  soon  increased  to 
thirt)'-three.  Through  the  medium  of  the  loved  Nation,  there 
blossomed  upon  Ireland  poets,  essayists,  and  patriots,  the  memory 
of  most  of  whom  has  been  an  inspiration  to  succeeding  generations 
of  young  Irish  men  and  women,  and  will  be  cherished  by  genera- 
tions yet  to  come.  Duffy  and  Davis  themselves  gav^e  to  the  country 
som.e  of  Its  most  Inspiring  songs  and  ballads,  and  their  efforts  were 
well  sustained  by  Denis  Florence  McCarthy,  Samuel  Ferguson, 
Michael  Doheny,  John  Fisher  Murray,  Denny  Lane,  "Eva," 
"Mary,"  "Speranza"  (Lady  Wilde),  Drennan,  Brennan,  Clar- 
ence Mangan,  Devin  Rellly,  Barry  and  D'Arcy  McGee.^  And  tvv^o 
of  their  greatest  acquisitions  undoubtedly  were  William  Smith 
O'Brien  and  John  MItchel. 

The  death  of  Davis,  young,  brave,  the  hope  of  the  country,  In 

^  Sad  tc  say,  in  later  days,  Barry  and  also  McGee  who  sang  some  noble  strains 
and  did,  each,  a  man's  work  in  the  Young  Ireland  movement,  lapsed  and  fell  far 
from  the  ideal  of  their  young  manhood. 


592  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

'45,  was  a  sad  blow,  and  probably  a  greater  disaster  than  we  can 
ever  definitely  realise,  not  only  to  Young  Ireland  but  to  Ireland. 
So  loveable  and  so  estimable  was  he,  and  so  big  with  promise  of 
a  great  future  was  his  young  life,  that  the  whole  nation  wept — just 
as  O'Connell  wept  when  he  learnt  the  sad  news. 

O'Brien,  who  eventually  became  one  of  the  most  prominent  fig- 
ures in  the  Young  Ireland  movement,  was  a  Protestant  country 
gentleman,  studious  of  habit,  who  had  not  shown  any  national  lean- 
ings until  the  O'Connell  Repeal  movement  first  won  him  to  nation- 
alism. The  Young  Ireland  party  gradually  won  him  over  from 
O'Connell.  Their  greatest  acquisition  was  John  Mitchel,  son  of 
a  Unitarian  minister,  who  was  practising  law  in  Banbridge  when 
The  Nation  inspired  him,  drew  him  to  Dublin,  and  into  the  whirl 
of  national  politics.  In  turn  he  drew  in  his  brother-in-law  the  gen- 
tle but  firm-willed  John  Martin. 

The  Nation  gave  fresh  impetus  to  those  who  had  already  been 
inspired  by  O'Connell,  and  it  awoke  in  their  breasts  a  new  spirit. 
O'Connell  had  deluded  the  multitude  into  giving  awed  respect  to 
the  foreign  laws  that  bound  them,  marching  to  Repeal  meetings  in 
their  many  thousands,  that  they  might  cheer  his  speeches  to  the 
skies,  and  go  home  again  without  breach  of  law  or  order — leaving 
him  and  Providence  to  do  the  rest.      The  Nation  and  the  Young 
Irelanders,  while  still  giving  heartiest  help  to  O'Connell,  managed, 
at  first  by  suggestion,  afterwards  by  plain  precept,  to  stir  the  mili- 
tant spirit  in  the  people,  and  to  impress  on  them  that  platform  talk 
had  to  be  backed  by  grim  resolve,  and  that  a  nation's  freedom  was 
worth  fighting  and  dying  for.    The  militancy  of  the  verse  and  prose 
that  every  week  warmed  the  cold  print,  and  enlivened  the  columns, 
of  The  Nation — and  then  the  breasts  of  the  people — hurt  O'Con- 
nell, and  alarmed  him — and  excited  his  jealousy,  moreover.     And 
when,  in  reply  to  a  warning  from  the  English  press  that  the  new 
Irish  railway  system  afforded  effective  means  for  the  quick  move- 
ment of  troops  against  Repealers  grown  bold,   Mitchel,  in   The 
Nation  wrote  an  article  showing  the  people  how  easily  railway 
lines  could  be  rendered  ineffective,  O'Connell  was  thereby  so  deeply 
incensed  that  he  held  both  the  Repeal  Association  and  himself  silent 
while  The  Nation  was  now  being  prosecuted  for  sedition. 

Other  causes  of  irritation  to  Dan  were  that  they  had  opposed 
him  on  Federalism  when  he  gave  way  for  a  time  to  that  weakness — 
and  upon  the  propriety  of  accepting  the  Queen's  Colleges.  On  this 
latter  issue  he  and  his  Repeal  Association  opposed  them  bitterly, 
going  to  such  extravagant  length  as  to  accuse  The  Nation  of  being 
a  school  of  infidelity. 


YOUNG  IRELAND  593 

While  there  was  absolutely  no  ground  for  this  accusation  against 
the  Young  Irelanders,  they  had  the  best  possible  ground  for  being 
aggrieved  against  Dan  and  his  Association  for  letting  itself  down 
from  nationality  to  sectarianism.  Young  Ireland  had  set  before 
it  as  one  of  its  prime  objects,  the  winning  over  to  nationalism  of 
the  Protestant  elements  of  the  country;  and  they  found  the  Repeal 
Association  demonstrating  that  it  was  only  a  Catholic  Association, 
thus  driving  the  Orange  element  into  its  old  anti-Irish  shell.  The 
breach  between  the  Old  and  Young  Irelanders  widened  when  Wil- 
liam Smith  O'Brien,  living  up  to  O'Connell's  command  of  '46,  that 
the  Repeal  Members  of  Parliament  should  remain  away  from  the 
British  House  to  work  for  Ireland  in  Ireland,  and  refuse  even  to 
serve  upon  Special  Committees  to  which  Parliament  commandeered 
them,  went  to  prison  in  the  House  for  disobedience — while  O'Con- 
nell  and  his  son,  forsaking  the  principle,  tamely  obeyed  the  Par- 
liamentary order.  Young  Ireland  espoused  the  cause  of  O'Brien, 
commended  him  for  his  devotion  to  principle  and  Ireland — and 
thereby  of  course  severely  censured  O'Connell. 

Finally,  when  O'Connell,  repeating  his  grave  error  of  the  'Thir- 
ties, not  only  allied  himself  with  the  Whigs,  but  thus  tacitly  de- 
serted Repeal,  he  was  openly  reprimanded  by  The  Nation  and 
Young  Ireland.  O'Connell,  furious  at  such  flagrant  insubordina- 
tion in  the  Repeal  ranks  resolved  to  rid  it  of  all  mutinous  ones. 
For  this  purpose  he  directed  the  Repeal  Association  to  reaffirm  the 
constitutional  and  peace  principles  on  which  the  Association  was 
founded,  and  make  every  member  subscribe  to  these  principles. 
This  would  automatically  rid  the  movement  of  the  militants.  The 
Peace  Resolutions  debate,  which  it  came  to  be  called,  was  a  fierce 
one,  lasting  two  days,  and  reaching  its  climax  when  Meagher  burst 
into  his  famous  sword  speech — 

"The  soldier  is  proof  against  an  argument,  but  he  is  not  proof 
against  a  bullet.  The  man  who  will  listen  to  reason  let  him  be  rea- 
soned with ;  but  it  is  the  weaponed  arm  of  the  patriot  that  can  alone 
avail  against  battalioned  despotism.  I  do  not  disclaim  the  use  of 
arms  as  immoral,  nor  do  I  believe  it  is  the  truth  to  say  that  the 
God  of  Heaven  withholds  His  sanction  from  the  use  of  arms.  From 
the  day  on  which,  in  the  valley  of  Bethulia,  He  ncrvtA.  the  arm  of 
the  Jewish  girl  to  smite  the  drunken  tyrant  in  his  tent,  down  to  the 
hour  in  which  He  blessed  the  insurgent  chivalry  of  the  Belgian 
priests,  His  Almighty  hand  hath  been  stretched  forth  from  His 
throne  of  light,  to  consecrate  the  flag  of  freedom,  to  bless  the 
patriots'  sword.  Be  it  for  the  defence,  or  be  it  for  the  assertion,  of 
a  nation's  liberty,  I  look  upon  the  sword  as  a  sacred  weapon.     And 


594  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

if,  my  lord,  it  has  sometimes  reddened  the  shroud  of  the  oppressor, 
like  the  anointed  rod  of  the  high  priest,  it  has,  at  other  times,  blos- 
somed into  flower  to  deck  the  free  man's  brow.  Abhor  the  sword, 
and  stigmatise  the  sword?  No,  my  lord,  for  in  the  cragged  passes 
of  the  Tyrol  it  cut  in  pieces  the  banner  of  the  Bavarian,  and  won 
an  immortality  for  the  peasant  of  Inspruck.  Abhor  the  sword  and 
stigmatise  the  sword?  No,  my  lord,  for  at  its  blow  a  giant  nation 
sprang  from  the  waters  of  the  Atlantic,  and  by  its  redeeming  magic 
the  fettered  colony  became  a  daring  free  republic.  Abhor  the  sword 
and  stigmatise  the  sword?  No,  my  lord,  for  it  scourged  the  Dutch 
marauders  out  of  the  fine  towns  of  Belgium,  back  into  their  own 
phlegmatic  swamps,  and  knocked  their  flag,  and  laws,  and  sceptre, 
and  bayonets,  into  the  sluggish  waters  of  the  Scheldt,  My  lord, 
I  learnt  that  it  was  the  right  of  a  nation  to  govern  itself,  not  in 
this  Hall,  but  upon  the  ramparts  of  Antwerp." 

O'Connell's  son,  John,  who  now  always  represented  his  father 
in  the  Repeal  Association,  arose  from  his  seat  on  the  platform,  in- 
terrupting the  speaker,  and  announcing  that  he  could  not  sit  there 
and  listen  to  such  sentiments.  He  would  leave  the  hall  and  leave 
the  Association  if  such  a  speech,  in  flagrant  breach  of  the  Associa- 
tion's Constitution,  was  permitted  and  approved. 

Rather  than  have  John  O'Connell  leave  the  Association  that 
had  been  founded  and  fostered  by  his  father,  Meagher,  Mitchell, 
Duffy,  O'Brien,  Reilly,  Father  Meehan,  and  other  Young  Ireland- 
ers  present,  got  up  and  walked  out — out  of  the  hall  and  out  of  the 
Repeal  Association. 

Then  the  Young  Irelanders  founded  the  Confederacy — to  work 
for  Ireland's  uplifting — at  the  very  beginning  of  '47.  And  the 
two  movements,  the  constitutional  and  the  flagrantly  unconstitu- 
tional, went  side  by  side.  The  Nation  had  been  driven  from  the 
Repeal  reading  rooms — which  reading  rooms,  by  the  way,  were 
mainly  the  fruits  of  Davis'  work — and  its  circulation  for  a  time 
materially  injured.  But  the  enthusiasm  of  its  supporters  soon  wid- 
ened its  field,  and  compensated  for  the  injury  which  the  Associa- 
tion had  done  it.  It  now  grew  more  militant  than  ever,  with  Mlt- 
chel  ever  in  a  militant  lead. 

Very  great  was  the  enthusiasm  for  The  Nation  throughout 
mountain  and  valley  of  all  the  land.  At  the  cottage  firesides,  in 
the  forge,  in  the  churchyard,  at  the  cross-roads — wherever  the  old 
men  sat,  and  the  young  men  met — The  Nation,  the  news  in  The 
Nation,  its  rousing  ballads,  its  stirring  articles,  were  the  inspiring 
constant  theme.  Though  money  was  scarce  and  newspapers  dear 
— The  Nation  costing  fivepence — the  people  in  the  remotest  moun- 


YOUNG  IRELAND  595 

tains  clubbed  their  pennies,  and  paid  a  smart  boy  to  foot  it  far  over 
the  hills  each  Saturday  and  bring  from  distant  town  the  coveted 
paper — which  should  be  read  in  company  on  the  day  of  rest.  They 
gathered  to  the  house  of  a  farmer  famed  as  a  fine  reader, 
or  of  a  schoolmaster — oftentimes  to  the  house  of  the  tailor  or 
shoemaker,  whose  smart  daughter,  seated  on  a  chair  on  the  table, 
read  aloud  for  the  delectation  of  the  company  the  momentous  hap- 
penings, the  wonderful  speeches  of  the  week,  the  articles,  the 
essays,  the  inspiring  ballads.  And  the  company  afterwards  dis- 
persed, each  to  carry  the  great  news  to  the  group  that  waited  for 
him  at  his  own  fireside. 

Mitchcl  kept  pushing  so  far  ahead  militantly  of  his  fellows  in 
The  Nation  group  that  he  eventually  parted  with  them — in  Feb- 
ruary '48.  He  stood  for  action — and  for  precipitating  action.  He 
was  impatient  of  temporising.  His  fellows  on  The  Nation,  and 
the  general  body  of  the  Confederacy,  felt,  knew,  that  Ireland  was 
not  yet  prepared  to  rise  out  against  the  mighty  British  Empire, 
that  their  people  were  neither  trained  nor  equipped.  They  wanted 
to  make  the  most  of  the  Constitutional  policy,  at  the  same  time 
that  they  proceeded  with  the  ripening  of  the  country  for  ultimate 
revolution,  should  revolution  become  necessary.  Mitchel  felt  that 
so-called  Constitutionalism  had  had  its  trial  and  failed  despicably 
to  do  other  than  demoralise  the  people  who  used  it — and  also  felt 
that  since  the  famine  was  mowing  down  the  people  in  hundreds 
of  thousands  it  w-as  infinitely  better  for  Ireland,  and  nobler  far  for 
themselves,  to  sell  their  lives  for  their  country  than  to  throw  them 
away  without  return — to  fall  on  the  field,  facing  their  nation's  foe, 
than  to  wait  for  the  famine  to  drain  their  life  from  them  in  the 
ditches. 

When  he  parted  with  his  colleagues  upon  the  matter  of  policy, 
he  founded  Tlie  United  Irishman  for  purpose  of  propagating  his 
principles.  The  little  paper  leaped  into  instant  fame,  and  in  wide- 
spread circulation  soon  far  outstripped  The  Nation.  He  had 
Devin  Reilly  as  his  active  coadjutor.  And  he  had  poor  faithful 
Clarence  Mangan,  and  "Mary"  and  "Eva"  as  his  warm  supporters 
and  steady  contributors.  He  preached  open  rebellion;  and  from 
week  to  week  gave  instructions  in  pike  practice — which  awaked 
such  hearty  response  throughout  the  country  that  The  Nation 
quickly  felt  itself  called  upon  to  follow  suit. 

The  French  Revolution  now  burst  and  quickly  established  the 
rule  of  the  people  in  that  nation.  Europe  was  rocking  with  revolu- 
tion. It  had  got  into  the  people's  blood.  Their  blood  rose  and 
thoughts  of  freedom  fired  their  souls.     All  enslaved  ones  were 


596  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

bursting  their  bonds.  Ireland  was  riper  than  most  of  them  to 
nurture  the  new  spirit.  And  nurture  it  Ireland  did.  The  split  in 
the  Confederacy  was  closed  by  the  new  great  dynamic  impulse 
which  reached  Ireland's  shores.  Mitchel  and  Reilly  again  stood 
shoulder  to  shoulder  with  their  former  comrades — all  followers  of 
Young  Ireland  throughout  the  nation  became  as  one.  The  wish 
to  lift  a  pike  or  shoulder  a  gun  nerved  the  young  men.  And  to 
the  labourers  in  the  national  field  prospects  were  never  before  so 
promising.  The  good  work  strode  forward  magnificently — and  it 
was  foreseen  that  by  the  time  the  people  had  harvested  their  crops, 
the  revolution  would  be  ripe  for  bursting.  '45,  '46  and  '47  had 
seen  the  great  and  progressive  potato  failure.  In  '47  the  worst  of 
all,  the  nation  staggered  at  the  mouth  of  a  pit — not  the  most  fa- 
vourable condition  for  successful  revolution.  But  things  were  more 
hopeful  in  '48.  And  a  good  harvest,  safely  gathered,  would  leave 
the  country  fit.  The  harvest  was  a  necessity  for  the  success  of  their 
plans.  And  the  time  that  would  elapse  before  harvest  was  also  a 
necessity  for  the  ripening  of  the  plans,  the  training  and  equipping 
of  an  army. 

But  all  this  calculation  was  based  on  the  foolish  assumption 
that  the  British  Government  would  accommodate  them  by  waiting 
their  time  for  rebelling.  But  the  Government  was  not  now  grown 
any  more  accommodating  to  Irish  revolutions  and  revolutionaries, 
than  it  had  ever  been.  In  the  early  summer  it  moved.  It  arrested 
O'Brien,  Meagher  and  Mitchel  on  charges  of  sedition.  At  the 
trials  of  O'Brien  and  Meagher  they  failed  to  pack  their  juries  with 
their  usual  care — one  or  two  men  of  independent  thought  had,  in 
each  of  those  cases,  been  permitted  to  squeeze  into  the  jury  box — 
with  the  result  that  convictions  could  not  be  obtained.  Before  try- 
ing Mitchel  the  Government  with  its  usual  ingenuity  invented  and 
patented  a  new  crime,  treason-felony,  under  which  an  Irishman  who 
uttered  any  revolutionary  idea,  was  branded  a  felon,  to  be  classed 
with  the  most  despicable  of  criminals,  and  punished  by  many  years' 
transportation.  Mitchel  was  tried  under  the  new  Act.  Moreover, 
the  prosecution  took  care  not  to  commit  the  same  mistake  it  had 
made  in  the  trials  of  O'Brien  and  Meagher.  They  did  not  let  on 
the  jury  a  single  Individual  of  whose  verdict  they  were  not  certain. 
No  Catholic,  no  independent-minded  Protestant,  was  permitted  in 
the  box.  Mitchel  procured  old  Robert  Holmes,  one  of  the  United 
Irish  Revolutionaries  of  half  a  century  before — brother-in-law  to 
Robert  Emmet — to  defend  him.  Holmes  was  a  ruggedly  honest 
Irishman,  in  whom  age  had  not  dulled  the  edge  of  resolve,  or 
smothered  the  fire  of  patriotism.     In  his  youth  he  had  taken  the 


YOUNG  IRELAND  597 

same  bold  stand  that  did  John  Mitchel  now.  And  after  fifty  years 
of  reflection  upon  the  action  of  his  youth,  he  now,  in  the  winter  of 
his  days,  stood  up  with  Mitchel,  and  to  the  rage  of  the  prosecu- 
tion, and  the  horror  of  the  court,  instead  of  defending  his  client 
justified  him.  He  told  the  judges  his  opinion  and  emphasised  and 
repeated  it,  that  Mitchel,  statutably  guilty,  was  not  morally  guilty. 

"  'Jailor,  put  forward  John  Mitchel,'  said  the  official,  whose  duty 
is  to  make  such  orders. 

"A  grating  of  bolts,  a  clanging  of  chains,  were  heard.  The  low 
doorway  at  the  back  of  the  dock  opened,  and  between  turnkeys 
Mitchel  entered. 

"Ascending  the  steps  to  the  front  of  the  dock,  and  lifting,  as 
he  advanced,  the  glazed  dark  cap  he  wore  through  his  imprisonment, 
as  gracefully  as  if  he  entered  a  room,  he  took  his  stand  in  a  firm 
but  easy  attitude.  His  appearance  was  equally  removed  from  bravado 
and  fear.  His  features,  usually  placid  and  pale,  had  a  rigid  clear- 
ness about  them  that  day  which  we  can  never  forget.  They  seemed, 
from  their  transparency  and  firmness,  like  some  wondrous  imagining 
of  the  artist's  chisel,  in  which  the  marble,  fancying  itself  human,  had 
begun  to  breathe.  The  face  was  calm  and  bright — the  mouth,  the 
feature  around  which  danger  loves  to  play — though  easy,  motion- 
less, and  with  lips  apart,  had  about  it  an  air  of  immobility  and  quiet 
scorn,  which  was  not  the  efifect  of  muscular  action,  but  of  nature  in 
repose.  And  in  his  whole  appearance,  features,  attitude  and  look, 
there  was  a  conscious  superiority  over  his  opponents,  which,  though 
unpresuming  and  urbane,  seemed  to  say  louder  than  words — 'I  am 
victor  here  to-day.'  "  - 

Mitchel,  to  be  sure,  for  the  crime  of  advocating  the  freedom 
of  his  country,  was,  under  British  law  found  guilty  of  treason-fel- 
ony. And  Baron  Lefroy,  after  a  hypocritical  speech  in  which  he 
said  that  he  was  indulging  in  a  leniency  which  the  magnitude  of  the 
crime  did  not  countenance,  sentenced  Mitchel  to  fourteen  years' 
transportation  beyond  the  sea ! 

Then  the  prisoner,  facing  his  judges,  spoke — though  to  those 
present  it  seemed  more  like  a  noble  judge  in  the  dock  lecturing 
miserable  convicts  on  the  bench.  He  defended  his  "crime,"  gloried 
in  it,  bade  them  and  their  laws  an  audacious  defiance,  and  pre- 
cipitated among  his  friends  in  the  court  such  ringing  avowal  of 
"treason"  as  never  before  or  since  startled  an  English  law  court.^ 

-  Doheny's  description  of  Mitchel's  arraignment. 

3  "  'The  law  has  now  done  its  part,  and  the  Queen  of  England,  her  crown  and 
government  in  Ireland,  are  secure,  pursuant  to  act  of  Parliament.  I  have  done  my 
part  also.    Three  months  ago   I  promised   Lord   Clarendon  and   his  government. 


598  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

The  Confederates'  Club  considered  the  advisability  of  letting 
the  revolution  burst,  in  attempt  to  rescue  Mitchel  from  his  jailers 
before  they  took  him  from  Dublin.  But  the  proposal  was  eventu- 
ally and  wisely  voted  down.  For,  the  soldiery  on  the  alert  and 
equipped  with  all  the  paraphernalia  of  war,  were  in  command  of 
every  strategic  point;  and  thousands  would  have  been  mown  down 
in  the  streets,  and  probably  the  incipient  rising  smothered  in  blood, 
had  they  decided  to  make  the  wild  attempt.  Mitchel  himself  in  his 
Jail  Journal  reflects  upon  them  for  their  decision.     He  considers 

who  holds  this  country  for  the  English,  that  I  would  provoke  him  into  his  courts 
of  justice,  as  places  of  this  kind  are  called,  and  that  I  would  force  him  publicly 
and  notoriously,  to  pack  a  jury  against  me  to  convict  me,  or  else  that  I  would 
walk  a  free  man  out  of  his  court,  and  provoke  him  to  a  contest  in  another  field. 
My  lords,  I  knew  that  I  was  setting  my  life  on  that  cast;  but  I  knew  that,  in 
either  event,  victory  should  be  with  me — and  it  is  with  me.  Neither  the  jury, 
nor  the  judges,  nor  any  other  man  in  this  court  presumes  to  imagine  that  it  is  a 
criminal  who  stands  in  this  dock  (murmurs  of  applause,  which  the  police  en- 
deavoured to  repress).  I  have  kept  my  word.  I  have  shown  what  the  law  is 
made  of  in  Ireland.  I  have  shown  that  her  Majesty's  government  sustains  itself 
in  Ireland  by  packed  juries — by  partisan  judges — by  perjured  sheriffs. 

"  'What  I  have  now  to  add  is  simply  this — I  have  acted  all  through  this  busi- 
ness, from  the  first,  under  a  strong  sense  of  duty.  I  do  not_  repent  anything  I 
have  done ;  and  I  believe  that  the  course  which  I  have  opened  is  only  commenced. 
The  Roman  who  saw  his  hand  burning  to  ashes  before  the  tyrant,  promised  that 
three  hundred  should  follow  out  his  enterprise.  Can  I  not  promise  for  one,  for 
two,  for  three?'    He  indicated  as  he  spoke,  Reilly,  Martin,  and  Meagher. 

"  'Promise  for  me !'  'And  me !'  'And  me,  Mitchel !'  rose  around  him  in  com- 
mingled tones  of  earnest  solemnity,  passionate  defiance,  and  fearless  devotion, 
from  his  friends  and  followers. 

"  'Officer !  officer !     Remove  Mr.  Mitchel !'  shouted  Lef  roy. 

"A  rush  was  made  on  the  dock,  and  the  foremost  ranks  sprang  from  the  gal- 
leries with  outstretched  hands  to  vow  with  him  too.  The  judges  fled  in  terror 
from  the  benches — the  turnkeys  seized  the  hero,  and  in  a  scene  of  wild  confusion 
he  half  walked,  was  half-dragged  from  the  dock — and  disappeared  waving  his 
hand  in  farewell.    The  bolts  grated,  the  p;ate  slammed,  and  he  was  seen  no  more. 

'•Men  stood  in  affright,  and  looked  m  each  other's  faces  wonderingly.  They 
had  seen  a  Roman  sacrifice  in  this  modern  world  and  they  were  mute. 

"An  hour  elapsed — the  excited  crowd  had  passed  away;  and  the  partisan 
judges,  nervous  and  ill  at  ease,  ventured  upon  the  bench  again. 

"Then  Holmes  rose  to  his  feet  to  add  his  defiance  to  that  of  the  convict. 
He  said : 

"  'I  think  I  had  a  perfect  right  to  use  the  language  I  did  yesterday.  I  now 
wish  to  state  that  what  I  said  yesterday  as  an  advocate,  I  adopt  to-day  as  my  own 
opinion.  I  here  avow  all  I  have  said,  and  perhaps  under  late  Act  of  Parliament, 
her  majesty's  Attorney-General,  if  I  have  violated  the  law  in  anything  I  said,  may 
think  it  his  first  duty  to  proceed  against  me.  But  I  must,  with  great  respect  to 
the  court,  assert  that  I  had  a  perfect  right  to  state  what  I  stated;  and  now  I  say 
in  respect  to  England  and  her  treatment  of  this  country,  those  are  my  sentiments, 
and  I  here  openly  avow  them.  The  Attorney  General  is  present — I  retract  noth- 
ing— these  are  my  well  judged  sentiments — these  are  my  opinions  as  to  the  relative 
position  of  England  and  Ireland ;  and  if  I  have,  as  you  seem  to  insinuate,  vio- 
lated the  law  by  stating  these  things,  I  now  deliberately  do  so  again.  Let  her 
majesty's  attorney-general  do  his  duty  to  his  government,  I  have  done  mine  to  my 
country.' 

"Such  was  the  conclusion  of  the  trial  of  John  Mitchel.  The  brother-m-law 
and  friend  of  Robert  Emmet,  the  Republican  of  our  father's  days,  came  to  attest 
the  justice  of  the  republican  of  our  own,  and  to  vie  with  him  in  defying  and 
scorning,  the  infamous  laws  of  England." 


YOUNG  IRELAND  599 

that  bloody  slaughter  would  have  been  better  than  acquiescence. 
Under  heav>'  escort,  and  by  a  roundabout  route,  he  was  secretly 
rushed  of!  and  conveyed  to  a  ship  which,  in  the  Litty,  waited  to 
carry  him  away. 

John  Martin,  Mitchel's  brother-in-law,  a  quiet  Northern  gen- 
tleman farmer,  now  felt  called  upon  to  step  into  the  breach.  To 
take  the  place  of  the  suppressed  United  Irislnnan,  Martin  started 
The  Felon.  He  had  the  assistance  of  Devin  Reilly  and  of  Fintan 
Lalor,  the  latter  a  Tipperary  man,  strange  and  lonely  of  nature, 
with  powerful  intellect  and  determination,  and  almost  fanatically 
committed  to  ideas  of  land  ownership  far  in  advance  of  his  time. 

Another  revolutionary  paper,  The  Tribune,  was  founded  by 
Kevin  O'Doherty  assisted  by  the  poet  Richard  Dalton  Williams. 
So  the  taking  away  of  The  United  Irishman  was  almost  compen- 
sated for.  The  Felon,  The  Tribune,  and  The  Nation  all  three  now 
worked  with  a  will  to  rouse  and  to  ripen  the  country  with  the  har- 
vest. 

But  still  the  English  Government  would  not  be  accommodating. 
If  there  must  be  a  revolution  it  must  be  forced  before  it  is  ready. 
Six  weeks  after  Mitchel  was  convicted,  the  Government  made  a 
great  swoop.  The  editors  of  all  three  papers  were  arrested,  and, 
besides,  O'Brien  and  Meagher  were  sought  with  warrants.  The 
Young  Irelanders  instantly  saw  that  they  must  at  once  strike  or  be 
struck.  i\lthough  they  knew  that  the  country  was  not  ready — 
neither  the  harvest  ripe,  nor  the  men  equipped — they  desperately 
resolved  upon  rising.  O'Brien,  Meagher,  Doheny,  O'Gorman, 
Terence  Bellew  MacManus,  Reilly,  Dillon  and  others,  spread  them- 
selves over  the  south  (chiefly).  O'Brien,  who  was  looked  to  as 
the  leader,  should  give  the  signal  by  striking  the  first  blow. 
Through  want  of  preparedness,  through  O'Brien's  exasperating 
punctiliousness  about  when,  where,  and  how,  he  would  strike  the 
blow,  and  through  the  active  opposition  of  the  clergy* — part  of 
whom  were  in  principle  against  the  rising,  and  part  against  it  be- 
cause circumstances  were  untoward,  the  people  unprepared,  and 
the  harvest  not  gathered — the  rising  never  materialised.  O'Brien, 
Meagher,  MacManus  and  others,  were  run  down  and  arrested — 
while  Doheny,  Reilly,  Dillon,  O'Gorman  escaped  the  country  after 
loug  pursuit. 

It  was  an  unfortunate  ending  to  a  promising  project.    The  vari- 

*A11  of  the  clergy  were  not  against  the  movement — evidently  not  all  of  the 
Hierarchy  either.  Bishop  Maginn  of  Derry  sent  a  messenger  to  Duffy,  in  prison, 
to  say  that  if  the  Rising  was  deferred  until  the  harvest  was  gathered,  he  would 
take  the  field  himself,  and  have  with  him  at  least  twenty  officers  in  black. 


6oo  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

ous  accounts  of  the  times,  written  by  the  actors  themselves,  show 
that  the  people  were  ripe  for  revolution — full  as  anxious  to  take 
the  field  as  in  '98 — more  anxious  perhaps — even  ready  and  anxious 
to  go  out  unarmed,  or  with  such  homemade  arms  as  they  could 
procure  on  short  notice.  But,  disastrous  as  might  have  been  the 
fool-hardiness  of  facing  the  armies  of  the  British  Empire  with  pikes 
and  scythes,  even  that  forlorn  hope  was  frustrated  by  the  want  of 
carefully  prepared  plans,  unified  direction,  and  a  bold  leader  capa- 
ble of  sweeping  aside  the  small  considerations,  grasping  the  big 
ones,  and  acting  instantly,  and  with  certitude.^ 

But  consistent  with  the  working  of  the  strange  fatality  that 
through  centuries  dogged  the  steps  of  Ireland's  liberators,  the  fierce 
desire  of  the  people  was  not  to  eventuate  in  action. 

The  captured  leaders  were  put  through  the  usual  farcical  form 
of  trial — found  guilty  of  course — as  Smith  O'Brien  convicted,  and 
sentenced,  and  stepped  out  of  the  box  put  it  to  Meagher,  "Guilty, 
Meagher,  of  not  having  sold  our  country."  O'Doherty  and  Mar- 
tin, whose  offence  was  considered  less  gross  since  they  had  been 
imprisoned  before  putting  in  effect  their  rebellious  purpose,  were 
sentenced  each  to  ten  years'  transportation.*^  Duffy,  over  whom  a 
jury  twice  disagreed,  was  kept  in  prison  a  length  of  time,  and 
eventually  released  because  of  his  failing  health.  But  the  leaders 
who  had  been  "out,"  O'Brien,  Meagher,  MacManus,  and  O'Don- 
oghue  got  the  same  savage  sentence — later  commuted  to  life  trans- 

^  Meagher's  description  of  the  scene  in  the  little  town  of  Carrick-on-Suir  when 
the  news  sped  that  the  leaders  had  arrived  "to  give  the  word,"  well  pictures  for 
us  the  tremendous  force  of  the  long  pent  up  desire  now  let  loose:  "A  torrent  of 
human  beings,  rushing  through  lanes  and  narrow  streets,  whirling  in  dizzy  circles, 
and  tossing  up  its  dark  waves  with  sounds  of  wrath,  vengeance,  and  defiance  .  .  . 
eyes  red  with  rage  and  desperation  .  .  .  wild,  half-stifled,  passionate,  frantic 
prayers  of  hope,  curses  on  the  red  flag;  scornful,  exulting  defiance  of  death.  It 
was  the  Revolution,  if  we  had  accepted  it." 

« John  Martin's  speech  upon  being  convicted  is  too  beautiful  to  be  omitted — 
"My  lords,  I  have  no  imputation  to  cast  upon  the  bench,  neither  have  I  anything 
of  unfairness  toward  myself  to  charge  the  jury  with.  I  think  the  judges  desired 
to  do  their  duty  fairly,  as  upright  judges  and  men,  and  that  the  twelve  men  who 
were  put  into  the  box,  not  to  try  but  to  convict  me,  voted  honestly  according  to 
their  prejudices.  I  have  no  personal  enmity  against  the  sherifT,  sub-sherift',  or  any 
other  gentleman  connected  with  the  arrangements  of  the  jury  panel,  nor  against 
the  attorney  general,  or  any  other  person  engaged  in  the  proceedings  called  my 
trial.  But,  my  lords,  I  consider  I  have  not  yet  been  tried  1  There  have  been  cer- 
tain formalities  carried  on  here  for  three  days,  but  I  have  not  been  put  upon  my 
country,  according  to  the  constitution  said  to  exist  in  Ireland ! 

"Twelve  of  my  countrymen,  'indifferently  chosen'  have  not  been  put  into 
the  jury  box  to  try  me,  but  twelve  men,  who,  I  believe  have  been  selected  by  the 
parties  who  represent  the  crown,  for  the  purpose  of  convicting  and  not  of  trying  me. 

"Every  person  knows  that  what  I  have  stated  is  the  fact,  and  I  would  repre- 
sent to  the  judges,  most  respectfully,  that  they,  as  honoural)le  judges,  and  as  up- 
right citizens,  ought  to  see  that  the  administration  of  justice  in  this  country  is 
above  suspicion.     I  have  nothing  more  to  say." 


YOUNG  IRELAND  6ui 

portation,  to  Van  Diemcn's  Land — "That  sentence  is  that  you, 
William  Smith  O'Brien,  be  taken  from  hence  to  the  place  from 
whence  you  came,  and  be  thence  drawn  on  a  hurdle  to  the  place  of 
execution,  and  be  there  hanged  by  the  neck  until  you  are  dead;  and 
that  afterwards  your  head  shall  be  severed  from  your  body,  and 
your  body  divided  into  four  quarters,  to  be  disposed  of  as  Her  Ma- 
jesty shall  think  fit.    And  may  the  Lord  have  mercy  on  your  soul." 

And  so  ended  in  gloom  the  short  bright  chapter  of  Ireland's 
history  written  by  the  gallant  Young  Irclanders. 

After  a  period  of  joyful  hope  Ireland  was  prostrate  once  more 
under  the  conqueror's  heel — to  do  what  he  would  with.  Some  of 
the  biggest  English  minds  considered  it  was  proper  that  it  should 
be  prostrate,  that  the  iron  heel  should  unmercifully  be  sunk  into 
it.  The  great  Carlyle,  sad  to  relate,  gave  his  British  mind  utter- 
ance on  the  subject  thus,  "When  a  mouse  comes  in  the  way  of  an 
elephant,  what  must  the  elephant  do?  Squelch  it."  Prime  Min- 
ister Peel  was  evidently  of  a  like  mind:  for,  we  are  told  that  he  con- 
sidered the  idea  of  another  Cromwellian  clearance  of  the  trouble- 
some Celt,  and  a  new  Plantation.  Queen  Victoria,  in  a  letter  to 
Leopold  of  Belgium  expressed  her  regret  that  the  Rising  had  not 
materialised  and  given  chance  for  the  British  guns  to  mow  down 
the  young  men  of  Ireland — "to  teach  the  Irish  a  lesson,''  as  the 
gentle  lady  put  it. 

Mitchel's  Last  Conquest. 
Doheny's  Felon's  Track 
Gavan  Duffj^'s  Young  Ireland. 

"  "        Four  Years  of  Irish  History. 


CHAPTER  LXX 

THE    GREAT    FAMINE 

The  Great  Famine,  usually  known  as  the  famine  of  '47,  really  be- 
gan in  '45,  with  the  blighting  and  failure  of  the  potato  crop,  the 
people's  chief  means  of  sustenance.  The  loss  that  year  amounted 
to  nine  million  pounds  sterling.  A  worse  failure  occurred  in  '46. 
But  by  far  the  worst  was  in  '47,  when  the  suffering  reached  its 
climax.  The  terrible  famine  of  '47  and  '48  proved  to  be  the  most 
stunning  blow  that  the  Irish  nation  received  in  a  century.  It  is 
calculated  that  about  a  million  people  died — either  of  direct  starva- 
tion, or  of  the  diseases  introduced  by  the  famine,  and  about  another 
million  fled  to  foreign  lands  between  '46  and  '50.^ 

The  sufferings  caused  by  the  very  first  blight,  that  of  '45,  were 
such  that  Lord  Brougham  said:  "They  surpass  anything  on  the 
page  of  Thucydides — on  the  canvass  of  Poussin — in  the  dismal 
chant  of  Dante."  It  was  a  catastrophe  that  demanded  the  imme- 
diate, energetic,  most  powerful,  help  of  a  country's  government. 
And  it  is  interesting  to  note  just  how  those  who  insisted  on  govern- 
ing this  country  met  the  terrible  crisis. 

Naturally,  of  course,  the  first  thing  that  people  in  power  should 
do,  for  a  country  facing  starvation,  was  to  forbid  all  export  of 
foodstuffs  from  Ireland.  But,  as  Englishmen,  having  this  source 
of  supply  cut  off,  would  then  have  to  pay  a  higher  price  for  their 
corn,  the  British  Government,  "could  not  interfere  with  the  natural 
course  of  trade."  "But,"  the  Viceroy  Lord  Heytesbury,  reassured 
the  dying  ones,  "there  is  no  cause  for  alarm — the  Government  is 
carefully  watching  the  course  of  events!" 

To  relieve  the  acute  situation,  their  first  step  was  to  send  over 
a  shipload  of  scientists  to  study  the  cause  of  the  potato  failure. 
Their  second  step  was  to  bring  in  a  new  Coercion  Bill  for  Ireland. 
The  third  step  was — after  they  had  voted  two  hundred  thousand 
pounds  to  beautify  London's  Battersea  Park — to  vote  one  hundred 

1  The  Governmert  returns  of  emigration  for  those  years  are  inaccurate.  There 
were  hundreds  of  httle  schooners  sailing  out  of  almost  every  bay  on  the  west 
coast,  weighted  down  with  human  cargo,  of  which  no  record  was  ever  kept. 

602 


THE  GREAT  FAMINE  603 

thousand  pounds  for  the  rehcf  of  the  two  milHon  Irish  people  (out 
of  a  total  of  eight  million)  who  were  suffering  keen  distress — which 
was  the  handsome  help  of  twelve  pence  each  person  to  tide  a  starv- 
ing population  over  till  the  next  harvest!" 

As  they  were  this  year  unable  to  pay  rack  rent  to  the  absentee 
landlord,  thousands  of  the  starving  ones  were  thrown  out,  and 
other  thousands  threatened  to  be  thrown  out  of  their  wretched 
homes,  to  perish  on  the  roadside.  In  consequence  frenzied  poor 
men  shot  a  few  of  the  vilest  of  the  land-agents  and  landlords.  At 
the  opening  of  the  Parliament  in  January,  '46,  Queen  Victoria,  ad- 
dressing her  "Lords  and  Gentlemen"  observed,  with  deep  regret, 
the  fearful  situation  in  Ireland — adding — "It  will  be  our  duty  to 
consider  whether  any  measure  can  be  devised,  calculated  to  give 
peace  and  protection  for  life  there." 

The  simple  reader,  who  knows  not  the  way  of  Britain  with  Ire- 
land, would  here  naturally  come  to  the  conclusion  that  the  tender- 
hearted gentlewoman,  full  of  sympathy  for  the  thousands  who  were 
dying  of  starvation,  and  for  the  hundreds  of  thousands  who  were 
daily  in  danger  of  dying,  was  directing  her  Parliament  to  try  to 
save  a  multitude  of  lives.  But  this  would  be  a  mistaken  conclu- 
sion. She  was  here  referring  to  the  handful  of  Anglo-Irish  land- 
lords and  agents,  whose  lives  must  be  solicitously  protected  whilst, 
in  trying  times,  they  were  endeavouring  to  hack  and  hew  their  usual 
pound  of  flesh  from  the  walking  skeletons  in  the  bogs  and  moun- 
tains of  Ireland.  Some  of  these  thoughtless  ones  were  in  danger 
of  slaying  a  landlord  rather  than  see  him  slay  their  famished  wife, 
or  hollow-eyed  children.  Hence  the  good  Queen  advised  her 
"Lords  and  Gentlemen"  that  a  stringent  Coercion  Bill  was  needed, 
and  must  be  provided  to  relieve  the  unfortunate  conditions  prevail- 
ing in  Ireland.^ 

2  When  the  Irish  Parliamentary  representatives  presented  the  claim  of  their 
suffering  cr.untry  for  assistance  from  the  common  Exchequer  to  which  their  coun- 
try contributed  millions  every  year,  the  British  view  of  their  action  was  fairly 
well  voiced  by  the  Loudon  Times:  "There  would  be  something  highly  ludicrous 
in  the  impudence  with  which  Irish  legislators  claim  English  assistance  if  the  cir- 
cumstances by  which  they  enforced  their  claims  were  not  of  the  most  pitiable 
kind.  The  contrast  between  insolent  menace  and  humble  supplication  reminds  one 
forcibly  of  the  Irish  characters  so  popular  with  the  dramatists  of  the  last  cen- 
tury who  hectored  through  three  acts  of  intermittent  brogue,  bulljnng  the  husband 
and  making  love  to  the  wife." 

3  Among  other  benefits  which  this  excellent  Bill  proposed  to  confer  upon  the 
suffering  people,  it  rendered  liable  to  fourteen  years'  transportation  any  one  found 
out  of  his  own  house  after  the  sun  set  in  the  evening  and  before  it  arose  next 
morning.  In  the  operation  of  this  beneficial  Act  many  things  occurred,  that  to  an 
outsider  might  seem  strange.  For  instance,  John  Mitchel  records  such  happen- 
ings as  that  of  a  quiet,  respectable  farmer,  who  on  a  summer  evening,  when  the 
sun  was  near  setting,  strolled  a  short  way  down  the  road  to  pay  his  working-men. 


6o4  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

In  the  following  year,  when  the  distress  grew  worse,  the  Gov- 
ernment granted  the  Labour  Rate  Act  to  Ireland — permitting  the 
Irish  people  to  tax  themselves  to  give  employment  to  those  of  them 
who  were  worse  off  than  the  others.  And  over  and  above  this, 
there  was  contributed  from  the  Imperial  Exchequer  a  hundred  thou- 
sand pounds  for  districts  that  were  too  utterly  destitute  to  raise 
any  money  under  the  Act.  This  Act  and  Government  grant  ma- 
terially alleviated  such  polite  poverty  as  existed  among  the  Anglo- 
Irish  class  in  Ireland — going  chiefly  in  salaries  to  many  thousands 
of  these  people  employed  as  "Commissioners,"  "Superintendents  of 
work,"  "Inspectors  of  work,"  and  so  forth — a  huge  staff  who  were 
paid  a  large  part  of  the  small  fund  for  the  purpose  of  administer- 
ing the  little  that  remained.* 

What  did  remain  was  paid  in  half  wages  to  starving  men  for 
doing  work  that  was  unprofitable.  This  latter  was  a  specific  Gov- 
ernment condition  embodied  in  the  Act.  The  work  must  be  un- 
profitable, non-productive.  The  money,  for  instance,  could  not 
be  used  to  build  Irish  railways — because  that  would  be  a  discrim- 
ination against  English  railway  builders.  It  could  not  be  used 
either  for  seeding  the  lands,  or  reclaiming  the  millions  of  acres  of 
bog — because  that  would  be  giving  the  Irish  farmer  an  unfair  ad- 

and  walking  back  when  the  sun  had  just  sunk — though  it  was  still  broad  day 
light — was  arrested  for  heinous  crime  against  "the  Queen  and  Constitution  of 
this  realm."  At  that  time  the  tailor  and  the  shoemaker  would,  in  the  late  autumn 
and  early  winter,  be  taken  by  the  big  farmers  to  their  houses,  and  kept  there  a 
week,  to  make  shoes  and  clothes  for  the  family.  One  of  these  tailors  was  arrested, 
on  an  evening,  as  he  sat  at  his  work  in  a  big  farmer's  house — where  of  course  he 
was  spending  his  nights  as  well  as  his  days.  The  villain  had  literally  transgressed 
British  law.  He  has  been  "out  of  his  house"  between  sunset  and  sunrise!  Four- 
teen years'  transportation  taught  this  dangerous  criminal  that  British  law  was  made 
to  be  respected. 

Then,  too,  the  Government  was  not  only  alert  to  guard  the  sacred  rights 
of  life — English  landlords'  lives,  but  also  the  sacred  rights  of  property — Eng- 
lish landlords'  property.  Mitchel,  in  his  "Last  Conquest,"  describes  how  he 
was  called  upon  to  defend  poor  starving  creatures  on  charges  of  trespass  be- 
cause they  had  gone  down  to  gather  seaweed  below  high-water  mark — and 
poor  farmers  who  were  indicted  for  robbery,  because  going  forth  into  the  sea's 
realm — where  Britain  decrees  that  the  British  landlords'  rights  reach — they  had 
taken  limestone  from  a  rock  that  was  uncovered  at  low-water  only,  and  burnt  it 
upon  their  lands,  to  try  to  force  a  little  crop.  The  Cork  Examiner  of  that  period 
says:  "Our  town  presents  nothing  but  a  moving  mass  of  military  and  police, 
conveying  to  and  from  the  court-house  crowds  of  famine  culprits.  I  attended  the 
court  for  a  few  hours  this  day.  The  dock  was  crowded  with  the  prisoners,  not  one 
of  whom,  when  called  up  for  trial,  was  able  to  support  himself  in  front  of  the 
dock.  The  sentence  of  the  court  was  received  by  each  prisoner  with  apparent 
satisfaction.  Even  transportation  appeared  to  many  to  be  a  relaxation  from  their 
sufferings." 

4  In  the  beginning  of  '47  there  were  ten  thousand  Government  servants  under 
salary  for  administering  what  portion  of  the  relief  fund  their  salaries  did  not 
consume.  "Some  of  these  gentlemen,"  says  Mitchel,  "got  more  pay  than  an  Ameri- 
can Secretary  of  State." 


THE  GREAT  FAMINE  605 

vantage  over  his  English  brother,  and  might  enable  him  to  under- 
sell the  latter  in  the  market.  It  could  only  be  used — and  only  was 
used — for  such  benevolent  purpose  as  cutting  down  roads  where 
there  was  no  hill,  filling  in  roads  where  there  was  no  hollow,  build- 
ing roads  where  nobody  ever  travelled — having  them  start  any- 
where and  end  nowhere — erecting  bridges  where  no  rivers  flowed, 
and  piers  where  a  ship's  sail  was  never  seen.  There  are  still  to  be 
viewed  in  various  parts  of  Ireland,  some  of  these  monuments  to 
British  Government  wisdom,  and  solicitude — roads  that  are  only 
frequented  by  the  daisy  and  harebell,  and  broken  bridges  and  tum- 
ble-down piers  that  stood  in  solitude  for  years,  before  sinking  in 
despair. 

Public  committees  had  been  formed  In  various  countries  (in- 
cluding England)  and  hundreds  of  thousands  of  pounds  were  col- 
lected for  the  relief  of  Irish  distress — even  the  Sultan  of  Turkey 
contributing  to  the  starving  Irish  subjects  that  the  great  British 
Government  could  not  afford  to  care  for.  With  the  money  thus 
collected,  shiploads  of  Indian  corn  were  imported  to  Ireland  from 
America.  As  there  were  in  the  country  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
people  in  want  for  food,  who  yet  would  not  accept  it  In  charity,  it 
was  proposed  that  imported  corn  should  be  sold  to  these  people  at 
reduced  price — but  the  paternal  Government  forbade  the  irregular 
procedure.  It  was  not  in  accordance  with  the  laws  of  political 
economy,  and  "there  must  be  no  interference  with  the  natural  course 
of  trade."  For  the  same  reason  the  Government  still  persistently 
refused  to  close  the  Irish  ports  against  export  of  foodstuffs.  And 
it  was  noted  that  a  ship,  laden  ^vith  relief  corn  from  America,  sail- 
ing into  an  Irish  harbour,  would  meet  several  ships  laden  with  Irish 
foodstuffs,  sailing  out! 

At  length,  when  conditions  reached  their  most  fearful  stage,  in 
'47,  and  that  the  uncoffined  dead  were  being  burled  in  trenches,^ 
and  the  world  was  expressing  itself  as  appalled  at  the  conditions, 
the  Government  advanced  a  loan  of  ten  million  pounds,  one-half 
to  be  expended  on  public  works,  the  other  half  for  outdoor  relief. 
And  this  carried  with  it  the  helpful  proviso  that  no  destitute  farmer 
could  benefit  from  that  windfall  unless  he  had  first  given  up  to  the 
landlord  all  his  farm  except  a  quarter  of  an  acre. 

The  extent  of  the  want  In  Ireland,  In  the  spring  of  '47,  can  be 

°  Some  Poor  Law  Unions,  unable  to  provide  coffins  for  all  who  died  destitute, 
hit  on  the  expedient  of  using  one  coffin  with  a  hinged  bottom.  Corpses  were  often 
simply  wrapped  in  straw  for  burial.  Some  were  buried  even  without  the  cover- 
ing of  straw.  People  driving  after  night  sometimes  drove  over  the  dead  who 
had  dropped  on  the  road  and  there  lay  unburied.  Dogs,  pigs,  rats,  were  fre- 
quently found  feasting  on  the  neglected  dead. 


6o6  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

judged  from  the  fact  that  in  March  there  were  no  less  than  730,000 
heads  of  families  engaged  on  relief  works — almost  three-quarters 
of  a  million  men,  who,  for  sake  of  earning  about  six-pence  a  day, 
forsook  all  work  upon  the  land.  Thus,  the  sagacious  statesmanship 
of  the  English  ruler  in  Ireland,  sought  to  relieve  want  caused  by 
shortage  of  crops,  by  paying  men  sixpence  a  day  to  refrain  from 
raising  further  crops — and  do  work  that  was  guaranteed  by  the 
Government  expert  not  to  produce  anything  for  the  country's  aid. 

But  to  relieve  acute  distress  among  the  poor  absentee  landlords 
in  the  gambling  hells  of  Europe,  the  Government  gladly  contributed 
troops  to  aid  the  Absentee's  agent  and  bailiffs  in  seizing  the  sheep, 
the  cow,  the  oats,  the  furniture,  of  the  starving  people.  Some- 
times to  seize  the  potatoes  that  had  been  donated  to  them  to  seed 
their  land. 

But  in  these  terrible  times  there  were  thousands  of  poor  people 
who,  having  nothing  left  to  seize,  were  by  the  landlord  thrown  out 
with  their  families  on  the  roadside.  These  people  had  two  re- 
sources open  to  them.  Having  no  house  of  their  own  to  be  in  be- 
tween sunset  and  sunrise  (for  even  the  workhouses  and  hospitals 
were  long  since  filled)  they  could  take  advantage  of  the  Coercion 
Act,  and  get  transported  for  their  crime.  Or,  their  cases  were 
thoughtfully  met  by  the  Vagrancy  Act  which  punished  by  imprison- 
ment with  hard  labour  any  one  found  idly  wandering  without  visible 
means  of  support.^ 

As  the  famine  sufferings  increased,  the  Government  met  the 
more  acute  situation  by  proposing  a  renewal  of  the  Disarming  Act, 
increase  of  police,  and  several  other  British  remedies. 

True,  the  Government  now  shipped  in  Indian  corn.  But  there 
was  more  corn  went  out  of  the  country  in  one  month  than  the  Gov- 
ernment sent  in,  in  a  year.     And  during  this  time  English  traders 

^  To  some  who  do  not  know  the  quaint  ways  of  English  laws  with  Irish  peo- 
ple this  will  seem  to  be  a  joke.  Alas,  it  is  a  grim  truth.  Many  of  the  broken  and 
broken-hearted  creatures — of  the  half-million  people  evicted  in  one  year — were 
sent  to  the  prison  stone-piles  in  pimishment  for  vagrancy. 

In  this  black  year  of  '47  in  which  the  potato  crop  failed  a  third  time — a 
total  failure  this  time — in  which  far  more  than  half  a  million  died  of  famine 
and  of  plague  begotten  by  famine,  and  far  more  than  a  quarter  million  fled  the 
country,  Larcom  (the  Government  Commissioner)  estimated  at  forty-five  million 
pounds  the  value  of  the  food-crops  produced.  The  greater  portion  of  these  crops 
crossed  the  channel — sold  to  satisfy  the  landlord  and  tax-gatherer.  "Travellers 
were  often  appalled  when  they  came  upon  some  lonely  village  by  the  western  coast, 
with  the  people  all  skeletons  on  their  own  hearths.  .  .  .  Priests,  after  going  their 
rounds  all  day,  administering  Extreme  Unction,  often  themselves  went  supperless 
to  bed."  And  the  Protestant  cler^,  too,  be  it  noted,  worked  nobly  for  the  suf- 
ferers. One  brave  Protestant  minister  took  off  his  shirt,  and  put  it  on  a  fever 
patient.  Some  few  signally  noble-hearted  ones  among  the  landlords  lived  on  In- 
dian meal,  in  order  to  spare  more  for  the  starving — some  of  whom  were  eating 
grass  and  turf. 


THE  GREAT  FAMINE  607 

were  speculating  in  Irish  corn,  importing  or  exporting  it,  as  called 
for  by  variations  in  the  market.  And  while  tens  of  thousands  were 
dropping  dead  for  want  of  food,  in  the  fields,  and  on  the  roads, 
and  in  the  streets  of  Irish  cities,  the  shiploads  of  Irish  corn  in 
which  these  traders  were  speculating  were  crossing  and  recrossing 
the  Channel,  in  furtherance  of  their  gamble.  It  is  recorded  that, 
in  the  time  of  direst  need,  certain  cargoes  of  corn  crossed  the  Irish 
sea  four  times! 

Things  had  now  come  to  a  dreadful  pass.  And  the  nation  was 
in  the  throes  of  despair.  Mitchcl  gives  a  harrowing  account  of  the 
sights  that  he  then  saw  on  a  journey  to  Galway  through  the  fertile 
centre  of  a  fertile  island: 

"We  saw  sights  that  will  never  wholly  leave  the  eyes  that  be- 
held them,  cowering  wretches  almost  naked  in  the  savage  weather, 
prowling  in  turnip  fields,  and  endeavouring  to  grub  up  roots  which 
had  been  lett,  but  running  to  hide  as  the  mailcoach  rolled  by :  groups 
and  families,  sitting  or  wandering  on  the  highroad,  with  failing 
steps,  and  dim,  patient  eyes,  gazing  hopelessly  into  infinite  darkness 
and  despair;  parties  of  tall,  brawny  men,  once  the  flower  of  Meath 
and  Galway,  stalking  by  with  a  fierce  but  vacant  scowl:  as  if  they 
realised  that  all  this  ought  not  to  be,  but  knew  not  whom  to  blame, 
saw  none  whom  they  could  rend  in  their  wrath.  Sometimes,  I  could 
see,  in  front  of  the  cottages,  little  children  leaning  against  a  fence 
when  the  sun  shone  out — for  they  could  not  stand — their  limbs 
fleshless,  their  bodies  half-naked,  their  faces  bloated  yet  wrinkled, 
and  of  a  pale  greenish  hue — children  who  would  never,  it  was  too 
plain,  grow  up  to  be  men  and  women. "^ 

'  The  Mayo  Constitution  in  the  month  of  March  reported :  "The  land  is  one 
vast  waste :  a  soul  is  not  to  be  seen  working  on  the  holdings  of  the  poor  farmers 
throughout  the  country :  and  those  who  have  had  the  prudence  to  plough  or  dig 
the  ground  are  in  fear  of  throwing  in  the  seed." 

The  Dublin  Evening  Mail  recorded :  "A  gentleman  travelling  from  Borris-in- 
Ossory  to  Kilkenny  one  bright  Spring  morning,  counts  on  both  sides  of  the  road, 
in  a  distance  of  twenty-four  miles,  'nine  men  and  four  ploughs,'  occupied  in  the 
fields ;  but  sees  multitudes  of  wan  labourers,  'beyond  the  power  of  computation  by 
a  mail-car  passenger,'  labouring  to  destroy  the  road  he  was  travelling  upon.  It 
was  'public  work.' " 

A  sample  report  from  an  agent  of  a  Society  which,  more  than  any  other,  de- 
serves eternal  gratitude  from  Irishmen  for  the  great  and  noble  work  it  did  to 
mitigate  the  horrors  of  that  horrible  time — the  Society  of  Friends — reads:  "One 
poor  woman  whose  cabin  I  had  "visited  said,  'There  will  be  nothing  for  us  but  to 
lie  down  and  die.'  I  tried  to  give  her  hope  in  English  aid.  But  alas !  her  prophecy 
has  been  too  true.  Out  of  a  population  of  two  hundred  and  forty  I  found  thirteen 
already  dead  from  want.  The  survivors  were  like  walking  skeletons — the  men 
gaunt  and  haggard,  stamped  with  the  livid  mark  of  hunger,  tl'.e  children  crying 
with  pain — the  women  in  some  of  the  cabins  too  weak  to  stand.  All  the  sheep 
were  gone — all  the  cows — all  the  poultry  killed — only  one  pig  left — the  very  dogs 
which  had  barked  at  me  before,  had  disappeared.     No  potatoes — no  oats." 

An  item  from  a  Dublin  newspaper  of  '47 — just  a  few  lines  casually  set  down 


6o8  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

Yet  the  Government  and  the  law  of  the  land  were  not  remain- 
ing idle  in  this  time  of  terror.  Toward  the  end  of  that  year,  when 
hope  seemed  forever  to  have  fled  the  country,  the  English  Parlia- 
ment, to  meet  the  exigency,  called  for  another  Coercion  Act! 

In  the  summer  of  '47,  when  things  were  very  bad  indeed,  and 
the  living  were  trying — but  oftentimes  failing — to  bury  the  dead, 
the  Government,  to  relieve  the  distress,  sent  sixty  agricultural  lec- 
turers over  the  country.  Some  of  those  who  went  into  the  West, 
came  back  reporting  that  they  could  find  no  one  to  lecture  to. 
Others  who  found  living  people,  could  not  lecture  to  them  because 
there  was  not  going  to  be  any  means  of  putting  their  wise  principles 
into  practice.  One  of  the  lecturers  reports:  "It  is  always  the 
same  excuse  with  them.  They  could  not  get  seed,  or  anything  to 
live  on,  meantime."  Another  reports:  "All  I  met  told  me  they 
were  going  to  give  up  their  land,  for  they  had  neither  food  nor 
strength  to  till  it."^ 

In  those  terrible  years  the  people  began  flocking  from  the 
stricken  land  in  tens  and  hundreds  of  thousands — to  America,  and 
to  the  earth's  ends.  The  little  bays  of  Ireland  were  floating  out 
human  cargoes  upon  the  bosom  of  every  tide — till  within  five  years' 
time  a  million  despairing  refugees  had  fled  the  land.^ 

in  the  ordinary  way  of  news — nothing  at  all  startHng  in  a  time  when  people  could 
not  any  more  be  startled  by  anything  so  commonplace — reads :  "Upwards  of  one 
hundred  and  fifty  ass  hides  have  been  delivered  in  Dublin  from  the  County  Mayo, 
for  exportation  to  Liverpool.  The  carcasses,  owing  to  the  scarcity  of  provisions, 
had  been  used  as  food." 

s  As  a  further  means  of  helping  the  dread  situation  the  Government,  through 
its  Lord  Lieutenant,  Lord  Clarendon,  hired  a  creature  named  Birch,  publisher  of 
a  sheet  that  he  called  The  World,  to  invent  and  print  the  foulest  slanders  the 
creature's  filthy  imagination  could  conceive,  about  the  people's  leaders,  the  Young 
Irelanders — and  then  gratuitously  circulated,  his  lying  sheet.  It  was  only  when 
Birch  eventually  sued  his  employer.  Lord  Clarendon,  for  more  wages — black-mail, 
Clarendon  called  it — that  the  whole  odious  transaction  came  into  the  light  of  day. 

^  The  great  Exodus  of  the  race,  which  then  began,  continued  thence  forward 
till,  in  a  half  a  century,  Ireland,  which  had  almost  nine  million  people  in  '46, 
lost  one-half  its  population.  On  this  sad  subject  Ethna  Carbery  penned  her  well 
known  poem — 

THE  PASSING  OF  THE  GAEL 

They  are  going,  going,  going  from  the  valleys  and  the  hills. 

They  are  leaving  far  behind  them  heathery  moor  and  mountain  rills, 

All  the  wealth  of  hawthorn  hedges  where  the  brown  thrush  swa3's  and  thrills. 

They  are  going,  shy-eyed  cailins,  and  lads  so  straight  and  tall, 
From  the  purple  peaks  of  Kerry,  from  the  crags  of  wild  Iraaal, 
From  the  greening  plains  of  Mayo,  and  the  glens  of  Donegal. 

They  are  leaving  pleasant  places,  shores  with  snowy  sands  outspread ; 
Blue  and  lonely  lakes  a-stirring  when  the  wind  stirs  overhead ; 
Tender  living  hearts  that  love  them,  and  the  graves  of  kindred  dead. 


THE  GREAT  FAMINE  609 

And  in  the  famine  exodus,  thousands  and  thousands  carried 
their  load  of  famine  fever  with  them  aboard  the  Httle  ships,  or  de- 
veloped famine  fever  on  the  voyage.  And  thousands  upon  thou- 
sands, fleeing  from  Ireland,  for  the  Promised  Land  beyond  the 
Sea,  never  saw  that  land,  but  left  their  bones  to  whiten  on  the  Ocean 
bed.  And  still  other  thousands  and  thousands  reached  the  Promised 
Land  only  to  see  it,  and  die. 

Along  the  Canadian  shore,  to  which  their  little  ships  came,  the 
famine-stricken  ones  were  quarantined  in  droves,  died  in  piles,  and 
in  heaps  were  buried. 

This  writer  once  visited  Patrldge  Island  at  the  mouth  of  the 
St.  John  River,  in  the  company  of  a  very  old  man,  a  doctor,  who 
as  a  boy  saw  the  "coffin  ships"  arrive  at  St.  John.  He  gave  har- 
rowing pictures  of  the  appearance  of  the  unfed,  unclad  creatures, 
who  were  dumped  there  by  the  shipload  in  those  years — some  of 
them  clad  only  in  straw — and  showed  the  great  furrows  on  the 
island,  which  mark  the  trenches  wherein  myriads  were  buried. 

Six  thousand  of  these  poor  creatures  perished  on  Grosse  Island, 
in  the  St.  Lawrence — and  other  many  thousands  along  its  banks. 
A  report  of  the  Montreal  Emigrant  Society  says:  "From  Grosse 
Island,  the  great  charnel-house  of  victimised  humanity,  up  to  Port 
Sarnia,  and  along  the  borders  of  our  magnificent  river,  upon  the 

They  shall  carr)-  to  the  distant  land  a  tear-drop  in  the  eye 
And  some  shall  go  uncoraforted — their  days  an  endless  sigh 
For  Kathaleen  Ni  Houlihan's  sad  face,  until  they  die. 

Oh,  Kathaleen  Ni  Houlihan,  your  road's  a  thorny  way, 

And  'tis  a  faithful  soul  would  walk  the  flint;  with  you  for  aye, 

Would  walk  the  sharp  and  cruel  flints  until  his  locks  grew  grey. 

So  some  must  wander  to  the  East,  and  some  must  wander  West ; 
Some  seek  the  white  wastes  of  the  North,  and  some  a  Southern  nest; 
Yet  never  shall  they  sleep  so  sweet  as  on  your  mother  breast. 

Within  the  city  streets,  hot,  hurried,  full  of  care, 

A  sudden  dream  shall  bring  them  a  whiff  of  Irish  air — 

A  cool  air,  faintly-scented,  blown  soft  from  otherwhere. 

Oh.  the  cabins  long-deserted! — Olden  memories  awake — 

Oh.  the  pleasant,  pleasant  places!— Hush!  the  blackbird  in  the  brake! 

Oh.  the  dear  and  kindly  voices! — Now  their  hearts  are  fain  to  ache. 

They  may  win  a  golden  store — sure  the  whins  were  golden  too ; 
And  no  foreign  skies  hold  beauty  like  the  rainy  skies  they  knew; 
Nor  any  night-wind  cool  the  brow  as  did  the  foggy  dew. 

They  are  going,  going,  going,  and  we  cannot  bid  them  stay; 

Their  fields  are  now  the  stranger's,  where  the  stranger's  cattle  stray. 

Ohl  Kathaleen  Ni  Houlihan,  your  zi'ax's  a  thorny  7vay! 

— From  Ethna  Carbery's  "The  Four  Winds  of  Eirinn." 


6io  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

shores  of  Lakes  Ontario  and  Erie — wherever  the  tide  of  emigra- 
tion has  extended — are  to  be  found  the  final  resting  places  of  the 
sons  and  daughters  of  Erin,  an  unbroken  chain  of  graves,  where 
repose  fathers  and  mothers,  sisters  and  brothers,  in  one  commingled 
heap,  without  a  tear  bedewing  the  soil,  or  a  stone  marking  the  spot. 
Twenty  thousand  and  upwards  thus  went  down  to  their  graves."^" 

Of  a  certain  ninety  thousand  only,  of  the  emigrants  to  Canada 
in  '47,  of  which  accurate  account  was  kept,  it  is  recorded  that  6,100 
died  on  the  voyage;  4,100  died  on  arrival;  5,200  died  in  hospitals, 
and  1,900  soon  died  in  the  towns  to  which  they  repaired. 

Here  is  sample  of  the  reports  for  a  few  of  the  individual  ships 
in  '47:  The  Larch,  carrying  440  passengers,  had  108  deaths;  the 
Queen,  carrying  493  passengers,  had  137  deaths;  the  Avon,  carry- 
ing 552  passengers,  had  236  deaths;  the  Virginius,  carrying  476 
passengers,  had  267  deaths.  William  Henry  Smith,  an  English 
civil  engineer,  who  was  employed  on  public  works  in  Connaught  in 
'47,  records  that  on  one  vessel  carrying  600  emigrants  not  a  hundred 
survived. 

And  thus  was  the  flower  of  one  of  the  finest  nations  on  the  face 
of  the  earth  in  swaths  mowed  down,  and  thus  in  wind-rows  did  they 
wither  from  off  earth's  face — under  the  asgis  of  British  rule." 

John  Mitchel,  Last  Conquest  of  Ireland  (Perhaps). 
O'Rorke's  Histor}'  of  the  Famine. 
The  Halliday  Pamphlets. 

^0  One  Englishman  with  a  man's  heart,  the  naturalist,  Waterton,  travelled 
from  Quebec  to  Montreal  on  an  American  steamboat,  on  which  there  were  five 
hundred  Irish  emigrants, — and  in  his  "Wanderings"  speaks  thus  beautifully  of  them: 

"They  were  going,  they  hardly  knew  whither,  far  away  from  dear  Ireland. 
It  made  one's  heart  ache  to  sec  them  all  huddled  together,  without  expectation  of 
ever  revisiting  their  native  soil.  W'e  feared  that  the  sorrow  of  leaving  home  for 
ever,  the  miserable  accommodation  on  board  the  ship  which  had  brought  them 
away,  and  the  tossing  of  the  angry  ocean,  in  a  long  and  dreary  voyage,  would  have 
rendered  them  callous  to  good  behaviour.  But  it  was  quite  otherwise.  They  con- 
ducted themselves  with  great  proi)riety.  Every  American  on  board  seemed  to 
feel  for  them.  And,  then,  they  were  full  of  wretchedness.  Need  and  oppression 
stared  within  their  eyes ;  upon  their  backs  hung  ragged  misery.  The  world  was 
not  their  friend.  'Poor  dear  Ireland,'  exclaimed  an  aged  female,  as  I  was  talking 
to  her,  'I  shall  never  see  it  any  more  !'  " 

^^  It  was  all  for  the  advancement  of  civilisation, tour  wise  and  humane  Eng- 
lish rulers  and  friends  assured  us.  Their  mouthpiece.  The  London  Times,  which, 
when  the  exodus  was  most  pitiful,  screamed  with  delight  in  one  of  its  editorials, 
"They  are  going  I  They  are  going  I  The  Irish  are  going  with  a  vengeance.  Soon 
a  Celt  will  be  as  rare  in  Inland  as  a  Red  Indian  on  the  shores  of  Manhattan" — 
this,  their  mouthpiece,  comfortably  informed  the  Imperial  English  world,  "Law 
has  ridden  through  Ireland  :  it  has  been  tauglit  with  bayonets,  and  interpreted 
with  ruin.  Townships  levelled  with  the  ground,  straggling  columns  of  exiles, 
workhouses  multiplied,  and  still  crowded,  express  the  determination  of  the  legis- 
lature to  rescue  Ireland  from  its  slovenly  old  barbarism,  and  to  plant  there  the 
institutions  of  this  more  civilised  land." 


CHAPTER  LXXI 

THE    FENIANS 

When  the  day  of  the  fiery  and  forward  Young  Irelanders  had 
passed,  the  political  reactionaries  had  their  day.  In  1850  reduc- 
ing the  Issue  from  a  national  to  a  mere  agrarian  one,  the  Irish 
Tenant  Right  League  was  formed,  to  remedy  the  farmers'  griev- 
ances. With  this  organisation  as  their  instrument — though  it  had 
some  good  men  in  It,  like  Lucas,  Gray,  and  even  Gavan  Duffy  mod- 
erated In  his  Nationalism — and  with  another  known  as  the  Catholic 
Defence  Association,  the  Whiggish  element  of  the  country  took 
control  of  Irish  affairs,  and  the  time-servers  jostled  their  way  to 
the  front.  This  deplorable  state  of  affairs  reached  its  climax  when 
the  Catholic  Defence  leaders,  John  Sadleir  and  William  Keogh, 
trusted,  honoured,  lauded  to  the  skies  by  both  lay  and  ecclesiastical 
sponsors,  and  triumphantly  contrasted  with  the  base  misleaders 
(Young  Ireland)  of  the  decade  before — duped  and  betrayed  their 
supporters,  and  sold  the  people  and  the  cause  for  political  place. 
Sadleir,  later  found  to  be  a  forger  and  swindler  on  a  gigantic  scale, 
fell  with  a  sensational  crash,  leaving  thousands  of  trusting  poor 
Irish  people  financially  ruined — and  committed  suicide.  Keogh 
lived  on,  thinking  that  the  Judge's  ermine  which  was  his  price  hid 
his  shame. ^ 

^  Sadleir's  price,  when  he  sold  out  to  the  British  Government,  was  the  Lord- 
ship of  the  Treasury.  Keogh's  price  was  the  Solicitor-Generalship.  Sadleir  was 
an  able  business  man  who  had  made  much  money.  After  he  was  made  Lord  of 
the  Treasury,  he  soared  into  the  dizziest  realms  of  finance.  All  his  ventures  pros- 
pered. Ever>-thing  he  touched  turned  to  gold.  He  became  one  of  the  very  great 
ones  in  the  London  banking  world.  But,  as  his  success,  extraordinary  and  dazzling, 
was  based  upon  rottenness  and  a  people's  betrayal,  God's  curse  finally  brought  him 
down.  Providence  seemed  to  have  helped  him  to  a  dizzy  pinnacle  in  order  that 
his  fall  might  be  the  more  tremendous.  The  corruption  by  which  he  felt  it  neces- 
sary to  force  himself  upon  the  electors  of  Carlow,  after  he  had  betrayed  them, 
was  the  means  of  setting  his  feet  upon  the  downward  path.  Hurriedly  upon  the 
heels  of  this  exposure,  he  had  to  resort  to  gigantic  schemes  of  forgery,  robbery, 
fraud,  in  vain  endeavour  to  keep  from  toppling  off  his  pinnacle.  But  he  fell  with 
a  crash  that  shook  the  financial  world.  And  finally  a  bottle  of  prussic  acid  taken 
on  Hampstead  Heath  ended  the  betrayer's  career. 

Keogh,  in  his  great  days  as  joint  leader  (with  Sadleir)  of  the  Irish  people, 
had  again  and  again  sworn  in  the  most  solemn  and  impressive  manner — calling 
upon  the  Almighty  God  to  witness  his  sincerity — that  no  bribe  in  the  possession  of 

611 


612  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

But  however  deeply  it  be  buried,  and  however  long  it  be  covered 
by  the  snows  of  misfortune,  the  germ  of  nationality  never  expires 
in  Ireland.  Now  it  found  its  spring  and  woke  again  under  the  sun 
of  Fenianism. 

Fenianism  began  In  Ireland  at  the  end  of  the  'Fifties — and  at 
the  same  time  in  America.  James  Stephens,  who  had  been  a  very 
young  man  in  the  '48  movement,  and  who  had  since  been  a  tutor 
both  in  Paris  and  in  Kerry,  was  the  founder  and  great  organiser 
of  Fenianism.  On  St.  Patrick's  Day,  1858,  in  a  back  room  in  Dub- 
lin, Stephens  swore  in  his  friend  Thomas  Clarke  Luby,  and  Luby 
swore  in  Stephens.^ 

And  from  that  modest  beginning  sprang,  at  first  slowly,  but 
after  a  few  years  with  a  rapidity  that  was  magical,  one  of  the  great- 
est of  Irish  movements,  with  far  reaching  consequences.  For, 
though  to  the  near-sighted  and  superficial  the  movement  seemed  to 
end  in  disastrous  failure,  the  spirit  which  got  rebirth  in  that  little 
back  room  on  that  fateful  St.  Patrick's  Day,  far  from  being  broken 
by  the  so-called  Fenian  failure  has  ever  since  gone  steadily  march- 
ing onward,  and  been  the  motive  power  behind  all  various  succeed- 
ing national  organisations  down  to  the  present  greatest  Irish 
struggle. 

At  the  same  time  that  it  was  started  in  Ireland  by  Stephens  and 
Luby — with   Charles   Kickham^   and   John   O'Leary   as   their   co- 

the  British  Government  would  or  could  buy  him.  From  the  frequency  with  which 
he  had  invoked  God  to  witness  the  sincerity  of  his  oath,  he  was  nick-named 
"So-help-me-God  Keogh."  With  Sadleir,  he  sold  out  at  the  very  first  opportunity 
that  offered.  And  he  was  soon  comfortably  seated  upon  the  Judges'  bench,  grin- 
ning at  the  dujies  whom  he  had  betrayed,  and  glad  of  the  opportunity  to  send  into 
transportation,  or  on  to  the  gallows,  the  "foolish"  ones  who  preferred  to  give 
up  their  lives  in  preference  to  giving  up  Liberty  and  Ireland.  This  scoundrel's 
name  became  a  by-word  for  rottenness.  He  lived  long  to  enjoy  the  place  and  pelf 
for  whicli  he  sold  his  soul,  and  to  be  the  despised  and  the  scorned  of  his  country- 
men. 

2  Tlie  Fenian  oath  (as  quoted#by  John  O'Leary)  ran:  L  A  B,  do  solemnly 
swear,  in  the  presence  of  Almighty  God,  that  I  will  do  my  utmost,  at  every  risk, 
while  life  lasts,  to  make  Ireland  an  independent  democratic  Republic;  that  I  will 
yield  imfjlicit  obedience,  in  all  things  not  contrary  to  the  law  of  God,  to  the  com- 
mands of  my  superior  officers,  and  that  I  shall  preserve  inviolable  secrecy  re- 
garding all  transactions  of  this  secret  society  that  may  be  confided  to  me.  So 
help  me  God  !     Amen. 

Fenianism  was  more  strictly  the  American  title  of  the  movement.  It  was 
John  O'Mahony,  reader,  scholar,  poet,  wlio  conceived  the  title  "Fenian"  for  the 
organisation  which  Stei)liens  in  Inland  called  the  Irish  Republican  Brotherhood. 
The  Fenians,  or  Fianna,  it  will  be  remembered,  were  the  famed  national  militia, 
commanded  i»y  Fionn  MacCumlial.  The  title  was  at  first  resisted  by  O'Mahony's 
friends  and  followers,  but  he  forced  it  on  them.     And  it  proved  to  be  a  happy  one. 

^  Kickham,  one  of  the  finest,  ablest,  noblest  of  the  Fenian  leaders,  and  cer- 
tainly the  most  lovable,  is  best  known  to-day  as  the  Irish  novelist  wlio  wrote  the 
finest  story  of  Irish  home  life,  "Knocknagow,  or  the  Homes  of  Tipperary" — and 


THE  Fl-XIANS  613 

workers,  John  O'Mahoncy  and   Michael   Doheny   (both  of  them 
'Forty-eighters  also)   gave  it  to  America. 

The  American  movement,  from  the  beginning,  affiliated  with 
the  movement  at  home.  Stephens,  immctiiately  after  starting  the 
movement  in  Irelanti,  went  to  the  United  States,  travelled  and  suc- 
cessfully spread  l"eniaiiism  there,  collected  £600  to  carry  on  the 
work  at  home,  and  made  O'Mahoney  the  American  head  of  the 

the  writtT  al.NO  who  wrote  a   few  of  the  finest  of  our  ballads.     Such  as  the  beau- 
tiful Fenian  ballad  : 

RORY  OF  THE  HILLS 

"That  rake  up  near  the  rafters,  why  leave  it  there  so  lonp? 

Its  handle,  of  the  best  of  ash,  is  smooth  and  straight  and  strong; 

And,  mother,  will  you  tell  me,  why  did  my  father  frown 

When  to  make  the  hay,  in  summertime  I  climbed  to  take  it  down?" 

She  looked  into  her  husband's  eyes,  while  her  own  with  light  did  fill, 

"You'll  shortly  know  the  reason,  boyl"  said  Rory  of  the  Hill. 

The  midnight  moon  is  lighting  up  the  slopes  of  Sliav-na-man, — 
Whose  foot  affrights  the  startled  hares  so  long  before  the  dawn? 
He  stopped  just  where  the  Anner's  stream  winds  up  the  woods,  anear, 
Then  whistled  low  and  looked  around  to  see  the  coast  was  clear. 
The  shieling  door  flew  open — in  he  stepped  with  right  good-will — 
"God  save  all  here  and  bless  your  WORK!"  said  Rory  of  the  Hill. 

Right  hearty  was  the  welcome  that  greeted  him,  T  ween. 

For  years  gone  by  he  fully  proved  how  well  he  loved  the  Green  ; 

And  there  was  one  amongst  them  who  grasped  him  by  the  hand — 

One  who  through  all  that  weary  time  roamed  on  a  foreign  strand  ; 

He  brought  them  news  from  gallant  friends  that  made  their  heart-strings  thrill — 

"My  sowl !     I  never  doubted  them  !"  said  Rory  of  the  Hill. 

They  sat  amund  the  humble  board  till  dawning  of  the  day, 
And  yet  not  song  nor  shout  I  heard,  no  revelers  were  they ; 
Some  brows  flushed  red  with  gladness,  while  some  were  grimly  pale ; 
But  pale  or  red,  from  out  those  eyes  flashed  souls  that  never  quail ! 
■'.•\nd  sing  us  now  about  the  vow,  they  swore  for  to  fulfil" — 
"You'll  read  it  yet  in  history,"  said  Rory  of  the  Hill. 

Next  day  the  as^ien  handle  he  took  down  from  where  it  hung, 

The  toothed  rake,  full  scornfully,  into  the  fire  he  flung; 

And  in  its  stead  a  shining  blade  is  gleaming  once  again — 

COh  1  for  a  hundred  thousand  of  such  weapons  and  such  men!) 

Right  soldierly  he  wielded  it,  and — going  through  his  drill — 

"Attention — charge — front  point — advance  1"  cried  Rory  of  the  Hill. 

She  looked  at  him  with  woman's  pride,  with  pride  and  woman's  fears ; 

She  flew  to  him,  she  clung  to  him.  and  dried  away  her  tears ; 

He  feels  her  pulse  beat  truly,  while  her  arms  around  him  twine — 

"Now  God  be  praised  for  your  stout  heart,  brave  little  wife  of  mine."  ! 

He  swung  his  first  born  in  the  air,  while  joy  his  heart  did  fill — 

"You'll  be  a  FR£E  MAN  yet,  my  boy!"  said  Rory  of  the  Hill. 

Oh !  knowledge  is  a  wondrous  power,  and  stronger  than  the  wind ; 

And  thrones  shall  fall,  and  despots  bow,  before  the  might  of  mind ; 

The  poet  and  the  orator  the  heart  of  man  can  sway. 

And  would  to  the  kind  heavens  that  Wolfe  Tone  were  here  to-day 

Yet  trust  me,  friends,  dear  Ireland's  strength — her  truest  strength  is  still 

The  rough  and  ready  roving  boys,  like  Rory  of  the  Hilll 


6i4  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

movement.  Strangely  and  unfortunately  John  MItchel — and  with 
him  Meagher — refused  to  have  anything  to  do  with  the  new  move- 
ment, which,  except  for  O'Mahoney  and  Doheny,  had  to  find  its 
strength  among  new  men.  The  same  v/as  the  case  at  home,  where 
Smith  O'Brien,  Dillon,  and  others  of  the  Young  Irelanders,  rest- 
ing on  their  now  fading  laurels,  fairly  set  their  faces  against  Fe- 
nianism.* 

Stephens  was  a  singularly  strong  and  dominant  character,  a 
man  who  combined  intellectual  powers  with  high  Idealism,  extraor- 
dinary self-confidence — which  sometimes  became  intolerant  ego- 
tism— and  a  hypnotic  optimism.  While  he  was  commonplace  as  a 
writer  and  orator,  he  was  great  as  an  organiser,  having  a  mesmeric 
power  over  men  in  the  intimacy  of  personal  discourse,  and  a  won- 
derful faculty  of  infecting  them  with  his  own  extraordinary  optim- 
ism, inspiring  them  with  his  own  extraordinary  confidence,  and  win- 
ning them  as  enthusiastic  disciples,  and  apostles.  Now,  especially, 
that  he  had  the  American  money  to  finance  him,  he  travelled  east 
and  west  over  Ireland,  from  town  to  ton-n,  from  village  to  village, 
and  it  might  be  said,  from  farm  to  farm,  laying  the  warp  and  weft 
of  the  organisation,  winning  men  by  the  thousand,  and  swearing 
them  In  fealt}'  to  Ireland. 

But  the  miovement  got  its  vastest  impetus  from  the  funeral  of 
MacManus.  Terence  Bellew  MacManus,  one  of  the  singularly 
noble  and  self-sacrificing  of  the  Young  Irelanders,  sent  Into  penal 
servitude  In  Australia,  escaped  therefrom  to  America,  and  in  '6i 
died  In  San  Francisco — living  and  dying  steadfast  and  true  to  his 
principles.  The  American  Fenians,  deciding  that  the  body  of  this 
true  man  should  rest  In  Irish  earth,  arranged  to  bring  him  home 
and  lay  him  In  Glasnevin.  The  funeral  was  one  great  demonstra- 
tion all  the  way  across  the  American  Continent.  In  New  York  it 
assumed  remarkable  proportions.  Wonderful  was  the  reception 
given  to  it  In  Cork;  and  thence  along  the  way  to  Dublin.  It  was 
not  the  funeral  of  a  failure  going  to  his  grave,  but  the  triumphal 
march  of  a  conqueror  coming  to  his  own.  The  enthusiasm  with 
which  the  triumphal  coming  of  MacManus  was  hailed,  grew  and 
swelled  across  the  country.  At  railway  stations  through  which  the 
funeral  train  passed  vast  crowds  of  reverent  ones  dropped  upon 
their  knees  and  prayed,  while  tears  of  mingled  grief  and  joy  rolled 
do^vTl  their  cheeks. 

♦This  strange  attitude  of  many  of  the  Young  Ireland  leaders  was  in  part  at 
least  due  to  the  natural  jealousy  of  older  leaders,  grown  stale,  against  the  impetuous 
and  virile  young  ones  who  come  over  the  horizon  threatening  to  fill  the  places 
which  those  elders  long  had  praced. 


THE  FENIANS  615 

In  Dublin  (where  the  anti-national  Archbishop  Cullen'  had 
closed  all  his  church  doors  against  the  remains  of  the  people's  idol), 
the  climax  was  reached.  During  the  week  that  the  body  lay  in  the 
Mechanics'  Institute,  endless  thousands  of  ardent  ones,  in  continu- 
ous lines  filed  passed,  praying  for  a  patriot  who  lived  and  who  died 
true  to  a  true  Irishman's  ideal.  x\nd  the  day  on  which  MacManus 
was  to  be  laid  under  the  earth  witnessed  such  a  funeral  demonstra- 
tion as  perhaps  Dublin  never  knew  before  or  since.  Following 
the  hearse,  through  lanes  of  people  numbering  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands, marched  fifty  thousand  men,  who  thereby  consecrated  them- 
selves to  live,  and  to  strive,  and  to  die  as  nobly  as  did  he  whose 
spirit  brooded  over  and  inspired  the  vast  throng.  And  the  great 
silent  resolve  of  the  marching  myriads  found  just  expression  in  a 
sentence  of  Captain  Smith's  oration  at  the  grave  side,  "  'Is  there 
any  hope?'  "  he  said,  quoting  a  question  often  asked  about  Ireland 
by  MacManus  in  his  last  illness,  "  'Is  there  any  hope?'  That  cof- 
fin speaks  of  more  than  hope  to-day,  for  it  gives  us  faith  and  firm 
resolve  to  do  the  work  for  which  MacManus  died."*^ 

^Archbishop  Cullen  of  Dublin  banned  the  body,  and  blamed  the  life,  of  him 
whom  Archbishop  Hughes  of  New  York  only  a   few  weeks  before  had  blessed. 

Once  Archbishop  Cullen,  eulogising  the  British  rule  to  which  he  commanded 
the  docility  of  the  Irish  people,  said  that  wherever  the  British  flag  floated  there 
were  to  be  found  Irishmen  lifting  the  standard  of  the  church  He  intimated  that 
England  deserved  blessing  rather  than  cursing  for  driving  forth  the  Irish  people 
over  every  country  of  the  globe  This  dispersal  of  the  race  was  a  dispensation 
of  God  for  spreading  the  Faith.  And  he  evidently  desired  it  to  be  understood 
that  England  as  the  chosen  instrument  for  the  dispersal,  was  deserving  of  high 
credit ! 

«  Thomas  Garke  Luby,  describing  the  funeral  procession  (in  O'^eary's  Recol- 
lections) says: 

"But  I  had  myself  as  yet  no  adequate  notion  of  the  magnitude  of  this  un- 
paralleled demonstration.  It  was  only  when  about  to  turn  into  Britain  Street  that 
I  first  ventured  to  look  back.  Then,  indeed,  I  was  over-awed  I  saw  the  whole 
oi  Gardiner  Street  filled  with  dense  masses  of  men,  and  fresh  masses,  endlessly 
as  it  seemed  still  defiling  intc  it  from  the  direction  of  Abbey  Street.  I  speak  the 
truth  when  I  u'.i  you  that  I  gasped  for  breath  and  felt  my  chest  heave;  I  could 
have  sobbed  and  cried.  I  felt  as  I  never  felt  before  or  since  the  grandeur,  the 
magnetism,  of  an  immense  crowd  of  human  beings,  when  all  are,  for  the  time 
being,  gloriously  animated  with  one  and  the  same  noble  aspiration  and  convic- 
tion. ...  At  length  the  head  of  the  procession  reached  Thomas  Street ;  and  now 
something  truly  impressive  took  place  Spontaneously  as  the  foremost  files  passed 
by  Catherine's  Church  (where  Robert  Emmet  died  on  the  scafltold)  every  man 
uncovered  his  head.  As  slowly  the  dense  black  column  moves  along  in  funeral 
pomp  the  generous  impulse  runs  down  the  entire  line.  Not  a  man  but  passes  the 
sacred  spot  bare-headed.  .  .  I  think  it  is  no  exaggeration  to  say  that  the  funeral 
seems  to  me  something  in  its  kind  unparalleled,  or,  at  least,  only  to  be  conrpared 
with  the  second  burial  of  the  great  Napoleon.  But,  in  the  last  named  pageant, 
the  power  and  resources  of  a  great  nation  were  called  into  action,  while  the 
MacManus  funeral  was  the  unaided  effort  of  a  populace  trampled  on  or  ex- 
patriated." 

O'Leary  himself  says  that  the  funeral  of  Gambetta  organised  by  a  great 
nation,  was  probably  the  only  funeral  which  in  point  of  numbers  and  impressiA-e- 
ness  surpassed  MacManus's 


6i6  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

That  November  day  in  '6i,  when  MacManus  made  his  last 
journey,  was  the  greatest  day  for  young  Fenianism,  conquering  for 
it  the  hearts  of  hundreds  of  thousands  of  Irishmen  whom,  erst- 
while it  had  not  won. 

Unfortunately,  the  great  body  of  the  Irish  Bishops,  and,  in  gen- 
eral, of  the  church  in  Ireland,  conservatively  following  the  CuUen 
lead  denounced  Fenians  and  Fenianism,  and  strove  to  stifle  a  move- 
ment which  was  sweeping  Ireland  like  wildfire,  and  putting  new 
hope  in  the  hearts  of  the  men  of  the  country/ 

The  Irish  People,  the  Fenian  organ,  was  founded  in  '63  with 
John  O'Leary  as  editor — assisted  by  Charles  Kickham  and  Luby. 
Kickham,  by  far  the  finest  and  ablest  writer  of  them  all,  did  a  Kon's 
share  of  the  virile  writing  which  quickly  popularised  the  paper. 

The  Irish  People  obtained  a  large  circulation — but  not  so  great 
as  did  The  Nation  of  Young  Ireland  days.  Its  coming,  every  week, 
was  longingly  looked  forward  to  by  the  folk  in  remote  corners  of 
the  country,  who  eagerly  bought  and  avidly  read  and  digested  it. 
And  by  its  brightness  and  its  virility  the  spread  of  the  movement 
was  vastly  accelerated. 

In  autumn  '6^  the  Government  suddenly  delivered  a  great  coup 
— seizing  The  Irish  People,  its  editors,  Stephens,  and  many  of  the 
leading  figures  in  the  movement  in  various  parts  of  the  country.^ 

This  was  truly  a  disaster,  removing  as  it  did  from  the  direction 
of  the  movement  some  of  the  wisest  heads  that  guided  it.  And 
every  one  of  the  hundreds  of  thousands  of  the  rank  and  file  severely 
felt  the  sad  blow — from  which  indeed  the  movement  never  recov- 
ered— even  though  Stephens  was  given  back  to  them. 

For  Stephens  was  given  back.  After  defying  the  court  before 
which  he  was  arraigned — announcing  to  it,  "I  deliberately  and 
conscientiously  repudiate  the  existence  of  British  law  in  Ireland, 
and  I  defy  and  despise  any  punishment  it  may  inflict  on  me" — he 
was,  with  other  leading  prisoners,  confined  in  Richmond  jail — un- 
der special  and  careful  guard.  On  an  evening  in  November,  the 
warders,  going  their  rounds,  saw  that  every  man  of  the  Fenian 
prisoners  was  safe  in  his  cell — locked  and  double-locked.     And 

7  It  would  be  painful  to  set  down  here  the  intemperate,  unpatriotic  denunciations 
of  Fenianism,  by  several  Bishops  and  pastors  who  strove  to  array  both  heaven 
and  hell  on  the  side  of  Britain,  against  Fenianism  and  Ireland.  Enough  to  record 
Bishop  Moriarty's  thundering  against  the  Fenian  organisers  that  Hell  was  not  hot 
enough  nor  Eternity  long  enough  to  mete  adequate  punishment  to  such  miscreants  1 

8  After  most  of  the  other  leaders  were  arrested  Stephens,  while  the  country 
was  being  searched  for  him,  continued  for  more  than  a  month  living  an  easy 
and  quiet  existence,  watering  his  flowers,  and  tending  his  garden,  in  the  outskirts 
of  Dublin. 


THE  FENIANS  617 

early  next  morning  the  prison  was  in  uproar.  James  Stephens'  cell 
was  open — and  empty ! 

There  were  two  tables,  one  on  top  of  the  other,  against  the 
yard-wall  of  the  prison — and  everything  else  was  mystery  absolute 
and  complete!  Locks  had  been  opened,  gates  unbarred,  walls  sur- 
mounted— by  a  poor  prisoner  who  had  no  instrument  or  implement 
left  to  him  in  his  barred  and  bolted  double-locked  cell.  The  bird 
had  flown.  His  jailers  were  dazed.  The  Government  was  fren- 
zied. England  was  infuriated.  The  world  was  sensated.  The 
extraordinary  and  mysterious  escape  of  Stephens  was  the  sensa- 
tion of  the  decade." 

After  remaining  quiet  for  several  weeks  in  a  Dublin  home, 
while  almost  every  nook  and  cranny  in  England,  Ireland,  Scotland 
and  Wales  was  being  searched  for  him,  every  railway  train  and 
every  ship  and  boat,  Stephens  one  day  entered  a  magnificent  coach 
drawn  by  four  spanking  horses,  a  liveried  driver  on  the  seat  and 
liveried  foot-men  behind  (each  "flunkey"  being  an  armed  Fenian), 
and  drove  through  the  streets  of  Dublin  to  the  sea-coast  near  Bal- 
briggan,  where  he  entered  a  boat  that  took  him  to  a  lugger  in  the 
offing,  which  in  turn  bore  him  safely  to  France.  From  thence  the 
Chief  made  his  way  easily  to  America. 

The  other  Fenian  leaders  were  tried  in  December  on  a  charge 
of  high  treason — by  the  usual  bitterly  biased  judges  and  packed 
juries — found  guilty,  of  course,  and  sentenced — -O'Donovan  Rossa 
for  life,  Kickham,  Luby,  O'Leary,  and  the  others,  to  twenty  years' 
penal  servitude. ^° 

^  Like  many  mysteries,  that  of  Stephens'  escape  was,  after  all,  one  of  the 
simplest.  Fenianism  had  permeated  not  only  every  part  of  the  country  but  also 
every  class  and  every  calling — including  Government  cohorts.  The  Government 
without  knowing  it,  was  placing  Fenian  prisoners  in  the  hands  of  Fenian  jailers. 
In  Richmond  jail,  a  hospitable  superintendent,  Jno.  J.  Breslin,  and  a  night  watch- 
man, Joseph  Byrne,  two  trusty  Fenians,  procured  duplicate  keys  and  made  the 
other  arrangements  to  convey  their  distinguished  prisoner  and  Chief  outside  the 
walls.  A  decade  later,  Breslin,  abroad  in  America,  was  a  chief  man  in  freeing 
from  their  Australian  penal  servitude  the  Fenian  prisoners  there. 

The  army  in  Ireland  was  honey-combed  with  Fenianism — and  the  police  force 
likewise.  The  army  was  so  Fenian  that  many  regiments  were  entirely  unreliable 
from  the  British  point  of  view.  Thousands  of  the  men  had  taken  the  Fenian  oath. 
The  work  was  begun  by  O'Donovan  Rossa  who  swore  in  a  soldier  named  Sullivan, 
a  native  of  his  own  Roscarbcry — and  this  soldier  swore  in  another,  and  so  on. 
But  it  was  the  remarkable  character.  Pagan  O'Leary,  who,  tackling  the  work 
some  months  after  Rossa  had  begun  it,  made  the  big  success  of  it.  John  Devoy 
and  William  Rowantrce  stepped  into  the  gap  and  continued  the  work,  when 
O'Leary,  betrayed  by  a  soldier  at  .Athlone,  was  sent  into  penal  servitude. 

^°  O'Donovan  Rossa  got  a  life  sentence  becaxise  it  was  his  second  conviction. 
In  '58  he  was  convicted  of  treasonable  conspiracy  in  his  native  Skibbereen.  But, 
anyhow,  probably  his  judges  would  have  considered  him  deserving  of  a  double 
do.se,  by  reason  that,  having  insisted  upon  conducting  his  own  defence,  he  gave 
judges,   jury,   and    prosecutors    many   weary   hours.     As   extracts    from    The   Irish 


6i8  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

The  movement  had  received  a  staggering  blow — from  which, 
however,  it  would  have  recovered  were  not  further  and  greater 
misfortunes  to  follow.  The  country,  eager  for  action,  was  disap- 
pointed that  Stephens  did  not  give  the  word  in  this  year.  They 
were  infinitely  more  disappointed,  discouraged,  and  embittered 
when,  having  solemnly  pledged  himself  to  give  the  word  next  year, 
he  failed  them  again.  Among  their  brethren  in  America — upon 
whose  help  great  reliance  had  been  placed — impatience  gave  way 
to  criticism,  and  criticism  to  dissension.     The  great  majority  there 

People  were  put  in  evidence  against  the  prisoners,  O'Donovan  Rossa  insisted 
that  if  any  portion  of  the  papers  was  placed  before  the  Court,  every  word  in 
every  paper,  for  every  week  of  the  paper's  existence,  must  be  read.  When  the 
judges  and  prosecutors  gasped  at  the  fearful  prospect,  he  sought  to  comfort  them 
by  a  generous  leniency — he  would  not  insist  upon  reading  the  advertisements. 
Before  he  lifted  from  their  hearts  the  load  of  dread  he  had  placed  tliere,  he  gave 
them  upwards  of  eight  hours'  straight  reading  beginning  with  the  first  word  at 
the  top  of  the  left-hand  corner  of  the  first  number  and  continuing  straight  forward, 
conscientiously,  without  the  omission  of  article  or  particle! 

Fearful  indeed  was  the  life — the  living  death,  rather — that  Irish  political 
prisoners  had  to  face  in  English  jails.  O'Donovan  Rossa,  with  hands  chained  be- 
hind his  back  for  weeks  together,  had  to  feed  himself  as  a  dog  would,  by  lapping 
it  up.  Michael  Davitt  tells  how,  when  the  keeper  was  not  looking,  prisoners 
would  snatch  a  candle  end  out  of  the  garbage,  and  save  it  to  feast  upon — also, 
how,  to  get  a  mouthful  of  air  for  which  in  their  vile  dungeons  they  were  perishing, 
they  would  lie  down  upon  the  floor  and  through  the  crack  at  the  bottom  of  the 
door,  greedily  suck  in  the  already  vitiated  air  of  the  corridor.  In  '77  O'Connor 
Power,  in  the  House  of  Commons,  demanding  inquiry  into  the  horrors  to  which 
Irish  political  prisoners  were  subjected,  read  a  letter  from  Michael  Davitt  in 
Dartmoor  prison,  describing  the  sufferings  of  some  of  his  fellow-prisoners  there — 
from  which  is  extracted  a  portion,  about  one  of  them :  "In  June  or  July  1868, 
Chambers  received  'no  grounds'  as  an  answer  to  a  petition  that  he  had  sent  to 
the  Secretary  of  State,  begging  to  be  allowed  to  attend  his  religious  obligations, 
a  privilege  of  which  he  was  deprived,  by  a  'moral  and  religious'  director  for  six 
months.  At  present  he  is  daily  driven  in  and  out  of  chapel  by  officers  brandish- 
ing bludgeons  and  shouting  like  cattle  drovers.  Even  in  chapel  he  is  not  free 
from  their  rudeness.  Dozens  of  times  those  officers  have  stripped  him  naked  in 
presence  of  thieves  and  subjected  him  to  insults  too  disgusting  to  describe.  He 
is  made  to  open  his  clothes  five  times  a  day  while  an  officer  feels  over  his  body. 
He  has  been  several  times  separated  from  other  political  prisoners — although  our 
being  together  was  within  the  rules — and  forced  to  associate  with  picked  ruffians. 
He  has  been  for  six  months  in  constant  contact  with  lunatics.  He  has  been 
forced  to  mop  up  filthy  dens  of  dirt  with  a  small  piece  of  rag,  to  carry  a  portable 
water-closet  on  the  public  road  and  across  the  fields  for  the  use  of  common  male- 
factors. He  has  often  been  sick,  but,  except  on  a  few  occasions,  was  not  taken 
to  hospital.  On  one  occasion  he  was  sent  to  the  dungeons  for  applying  for  re- 
lief after  he  had  met  with  a  severe  hurt  by  falling  from  the  gangway  of  a  build- 
ing. Last  year  while  laid  up  with  rheumatism,  they  kept  him  sixteen  days  on 
ten  ounces  of  food  daily,  two  months  on  half  diet,  and  then  put  him  out  of  hos- 
pital far  worse  than  when  he  was  taken  in.  He  is  weekly  forced  to  act  as  char- 
woman to  a  lot  of  dirty  creatures.  He  has  had  punishment  diet  (16  ounces  of 
bread  and  water),  penal  class  diet,  and  dungeons— dark,  wet,  cold  and  dirty  in 
abundance.  A  smile,  a  movement  of  the  lips— ay,  even  a  glance  of  the  eye — is 
often  deemed  a  crime  in  Dartmoor.  We  have  been  frequently  insulted  by  thieves 
and  even  struck  by  them.  Chambers  has  been  held  by  one  jailer  while  another 
jailer  was  ill-using  him.  Worthy  sons  of  worthy  sires  who  once  shot  down  the 
poor  prisoners  of  war  here!" 


THE  FENIANS  619 

set  aside  O'Mahony  and  Stephens,  and  their  too  long  delayed  (im- 
possible) plan  of  invading  Ireland,  and  chose  Colonel  Roberts  for 
their  leader,  and  an  invasion  of  Canada  for  their  plan. 

The  invasion  of  Canada,  which  would  undoubtedly  have  been 
a  successful  move,  and  a  severe  blow  to  England,  was  stopped  by 
the  unexpected  action  of  the  American  Government,  which,  having 
tacitly  encouraged  the  scheme,  and  permitted  the  plans  to  be  ripened, 
stepped  in  at  the  last  moment  to  prevent  it. 

The  American  Government  sold  to  the  Fenians  vast  quantities 
of  ammunition  and  other  military  supplies,  winked  at  the  gather- 
ing of  the  Fenian  hosts  from  all  corners  of  the  country,  and  even 
permitted  the  crossing  of  the  border  (near  Buffalo)  by  General 
John  O'Neill  at  the  head  of  the  first  body  of  Fenian  soldiers. 
From  over  the  British  Fort  Erie  O'Neill  hauled  down  the  English 
colours  and  ran  up  the  Irish,  on  the  31st  May,  '66. 

And  next  morning,  at  Ridgeway,  he  encountered  the  enemy  in 
numbers  far  superior  to  his  own  force,  disastrously  routed  them, 
capturing  standards  and  large  supplies — to  the  frantic  joy  of  the 
Irish  race  throughout  the  world.  It  was  then  that  America  stepped 
in,  forbidding  the  passage  of  any  more  Fenian  forces  over  the  bor- 
der, and  completely  cutting  off  O'Neill's  supplies — thus  stopping 
his  victorious  career,  and  compelling  him  to  fall  back  upon  Amer- 
ican soil — where  he  and  his  forces  were  placed  under  technical  ar- 
rest— and  the  ambitious  scheme  ended. 

In  Ireland,  where  Stephens  had  been  superseded  by  Colonel 
John  Kelly,  the  Rising,  arranged  for  March  5th,  '67,  was  frus- 
trated by  a  combination  of  circumstances.  The  Informer,  Cory- 
don,  betrayed  the  plans;  and,  strangely,  a  great  snow  storm,  one 
of  the  wildest  and  most  protracted,  with  which  the  country  was 
ever  visited,  beginning  on  the  night  of  March  6th  and  abating  not 
for  twelve  days  and  twelve  nights,  made  absolutely  impossible  not 
only  all  communications,  but  all  movements  of  men. 

One  of  the  greatest  Irish  movements  of  the  century  ended  ap- 
parently In  complete  failure.  Apparently  only,  for  though  there 
was  not  success  of  arms,  other  kinds  of  success  began  to  show  Im- 
mediately. Within  two  years  after,  that  terrible  Incubus  upon  Ire- 
land, the  Established  (English)  Church  was  disestablished,  and 
within  three  years  the  first  Land  Act  of  the  century,  the  Act  of 
'70,  was  made  law.  And  Prime  Minister  Gladstone  afterwards 
confessed  that  It  v\^as  the  healthy  fear  Instilled  in  him  by  the  aston- 
ishing spirit  of  the  Fenian  movement,  which  forced  him  to  these 
actions. 


620  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

Moreover,  the  spirit  begotten  by  Fenianism  went  forward,  for 
future  triumph. 

John  O'Leary,  Recollections  of  Fenians  and  Fenianism. 
Joseph  Deneiffe,  Personal  Narrative. 
A,  M.  Sullivan's  New  Ireland. 


CIIAPTl  R    lAXIl 

CIIARLF.S   bllAVAKI     i'AKM.I.L 

From  i 865-1 870  the  English  Courts  in  Ireland  were  kept  busy 
with  the  trial  of  the  Fenian  Prisoners.  Courts-martial  were  also 
working  at  high  pressure  dealing  with  alleged  sedition  on  the  part 
of  Irish  soldiers.  The  barrack  yards  of  Dublin  ran  red  with  the 
blood,  and  re-echoed  the  shrieks,  of  soldiers  condemned  to  the  lash. 
In  many  cases  with  all  the  breath  left  in  their  mangled  bodies,  these 
soldiers,  after  their  inhuman  torture  raised  a  cheer  for  Ireland. 
The  leading  counsel  for  the  defence  of  the  prisoners  was  Isaac 
Butt,  Q.  C,  one  of  the  most  able  and  eloquent  lawyers  at  the  Bar. 
In  this  capacity  Butt  had  exceptional  opportunities  of  learning  a 
great  deal  about  the  ideals  of  the  Fenians.  He  saw  that  they  were 
men  who  had  taken  risks,  and  who  were  prepared  to  take  punish- 
ment, be  it  the  scaffold  or  the  cell.  He  found  none  of  them  pre- 
pared for  compromise,  cowardice  or  surrender.  The  result  was 
that  the  Tory  M.  P.  for  Trinity  College,  honest  man  that  he  was, 
became  an  advocate  of  the  cause  of  Irish  Independence. 

True,  Butt's  definition  of  independence  was  not  that  of  the 
Fenians.  He  invented  a  new  term  "Home  Rule."  The  first  meet- 
ing of  the  "Home  Government  Association,"  afterwards  re-named 
the  "Home  Rule  League,"  was  held  in  a  Dublin  hotel  in  1870.  A 
resolution  was  passed  "that  the  true  remedy  for  the  evils  of  Ire- 
land is  the  establishment  of  an  Irish  Parliament  with  full  control 
over  our  domestic  affairs."  Vague  enough,  in  sooth,  but  probably 
as  strong  as  Butt  dared  to  make  it  in  an  assemblage  comprised  of 
landlords,  Tories,  "moderate"  Nationalists,  and  some  Fenians. — 
the  latter  being  present  chiefly  to  take  notes.  The  old  demand  for 
Repeal  of  the  Union  was  dropped,  and  the  demand  for  "Home 
Rule" — which  might  mean  anything — took  its  place.  Probably 
Butt  could  not  have  done  better  in  the  circumstances,  and  his  action 
must  be  judged  by  his  circumstances.  It  was  not  then  as  clear  as 
it  now  is  that  one  of  the  chief  devices  for  the  consolidation  of  Brit- 
ish power  in  Ireland  is  the  exploitation  of  what  is  known  as  "mod- 
erate opinion." 

621 


622  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

In  1874  came  a  General  Election,  and  to  the  surprise  of  the 
'nation  the  Home  Rulers  carried  thirty-nine  seats,  and  later  four 
Fenians  were  returned.  The  bulk  of  the  members  of  "the  Party," 
however,  were  Home  Rulers  in  name,  using  their  position  for  their 
own  ends,  pledged  to  vote  right  on  Home  Rule  motions,  but  other- 
wise free  to  follow  their  own  sweet  will. 

Charles  Stewart  Parnell  was  the  squire  of  Avondale,  County 
Wicklow.  He  was,  on  the  paternal  side,  of  English  descent,  one 
of  his  ancestors  having  purchased  the  Avondale  property  in  the 
reign  of  Charles  the  Second.  His  great-grandfather  was  Sir 
John  Parnell,  Chancellor  of  the  Irish  Exchequer,  who  forfeited  his 
position  rather  than  vote  for  the  Union.  The  poet,  Thomas  Par- 
nell, was  of  his  family.  His  mother  was  the  daughter  of  Commo- 
dore Stewart  of  the  U.  S.  Navy.  During  the  war  with  England 
in  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century  the  Commodore  mar- 
ried, and  almost  immediately  was  detailed  for  active  service. 
"What  present  shall  I  bring  you  home?"  he  asked  his  bride.  Her 
reply  was,  "A  British  Frigate."  "I  shall  bring  you  two,"  he  said, 
— and  he  did.  The  mother  of  Charles  Stewart  Parnell  hated  Eng- 
land and  the  English  and  was  probably  a  potent  influence  in  de- 
termining his  career  and  outlook  on  life. 

Parnell  was  educated  in  English  schools,  finishing  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  Cambridge.  He  gained  some  repute  as  a  mathemati- 
cian, but,  generally  speaking,  he  was  neither  very  brilliant  nor  very 
assiduous.  He  left  Cambridge  without  a  degree,  and  not  of  his 
own  volition.  His  biographers  pass  over  the  matter  lightly — they 
generally  refer  to  it  as  an  ordinary  Town  and  Gown  row.  His 
sister,  Mrs.  Monroe  Dickinson,  is  more  explicit.  In  "A  Patriot's 
Mistake"  she  clearly  brings  out  that  Parnell,  aged  nineteen,  had 
engaged  the  affections  of  a  young  girl  in  the  neighbourhood,  who 
was  subsequently  found  drowned.  Parnell  was  distracted  over  the 
affair,  and  only  the  care  of  his  estate  and  his  hunting  saved  him 
from  a  nervous  collapse.  His  father,  by  his  will,  had  made  him 
master  of  Avondale,  excluding  his  elder  brother,  John  Howard, 
who  was  given  the  portion  of  a  younger  son.  The  explanation  of 
this  seems  to  be  that  Parnell's  father  was  under  the  impression  that 
John  Howard  was  to  be  his  uncle's  heir,  and,  therefore,  had  al- 
lotted Avondale  to  Charles  Stewart.  John  went  to  America,  and 
was  there  visited  by  Charles  Stewart,  who  promptly  fell  in  love 
with  a  reigning  beauty  who  had  society  at  her  feet.  Tiring  of 
American  life  she  left  for  Rome.  Parnell  followed  her,  proposed 
and  was  accepted.  Then  one  day  she  told  him  she  could  not  marry 
him  as  "he  had  no  name."     "No  name,"  exclaimed  Parnell,  "why 


CHARLES  STEWART  PARNELL  623 

I  have  one  of  the  oldest  in  Ireland."  The  beauty  explained  that 
she  wanted  to  marry  a  self-made  man  who  had  made  his  mark — 
"not  a  rusty  old  Irish  name."  Parnell  promised  to  make  a  name, 
on  condition  that  she  married  him  when  he  had  done  so.  He  made 
his  name,  laid  it  at  the  feet  of  his  beloved;  in  a  short  space  she  was 
married  to  another. 

"He  came  forth,"  says  his  sister,  "strengthened  and  ennobled 
by  the  fiery  ordeal.  .  .  .  Thus,  Ireland,  for  the  devotion  and  sac- 
rifice of  Charles's  life  .  .  .  had  to  thank  the  faithlessness  and 
fickleness  of  a  woman."  "The  work,"  continues  Mrs.  Dickinson, 
"which  he  had  first  undertaken  for  love  of  a  woman  he  afterwards 
continued  with  unabated  ardour  from  patriotic  feeling." 

To  get  elected  to  Parliament,  he  made  two  trials — one  in  Wick- 
low,  another  in  Dublin,  and  was  on  both  occasions  defeated.  Then 
in  1875  he  replaced  John  Martin  in  Meath.  He  was  regarded  as 
a  nice,  gentlemanly  fellow,  who  would  create  no  sensation  in  the 
House  of  Commons, — who  might  make  one  speech,  but  never  an- 
other. 

The  night  that  P»amell  took  his  seat  at  Westminster  he  noted 
that  there  were  two  policies  operating.  One  was  that  of  Butt,  who 
addressed  the  House  of  Commons  as  he  might  an  impartial  jury  in 
the  Four  Courts,  Dublin.  Parnell  missed  the  impartial  jury. 
There  was  no  such  thing  in  the  House  of  Commons,  where  every- 
thing seemed  to  be  regulated  by  party  interests.  The  other  was 
that  of  Joseph  Giles  Biggar — called  "Joe" — and  this  was  to  out- 
rage the  House  of  Commons  in  every  possible  way.  It  so  hap- 
pened that  on  the  very  night  of  Parnell's  entry  "Joe"  had  been  told 
off  to  obstruct  a  coercion  bill.  He  did.  He  was  not  a  man  of 
words,  but  he  had  provided  himself  with  a  copious  stock  of  litera- 
ture— Government  Blue-books,  newspapers  and  documents  of  all 
kinds  from  which  he  read  extracts  until  he  had  thoroughly  ex- 
hausted the  patience  of  the  House.  The  Speaker  at  his  wit's  end, 
at  length  declared  that  the  orator  was  no  longer  heard  at  the  chair. 
"Joe"  declared  that  he  was  sorry  that  his  ordinary  position  in  the 
House  placed  him  at  a  disadvantage,  but,  with  permission,  he  would 
move  up  nearer  to  the  chair.  He  then  moved  his  file  of  documents 
up  to  the  table  and  read  from  them  for  four  hours  in  a  tone  and 
accent  that  might  possibly  be  intelligible,  even  attractive  in  Belfast, 
but  certainly  not  elsewhere. 

Parnell  remained  a  while  a  spectator,  not  quite  sure  which 
course  to  pursue.  After  consideration  he  decided  to  adopt  Big- 
gar's.  But  Parnell's  obstruction  was  of  a  new  brand.  It  was  not 
just  wanton  like  Biggar's;  it  was  scientific.     The  system  was  this: 


624  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

propose  an  amendment  to  practically  every  clause  of  every  measure 
introduced  by  the  Government,  and  then  discuss  each  amendment 
fully,  his  friends  forming  relays  to  keep  the  discussion  going.  But 
Parnell  could  hardly  ever  be  accused  of  deliberate  obstruction. 
His  amendments  were  generally  worth  consideration  on  their  merits. 
Thus,  he  put  an  end  to  flogging  in  the  British  Army.  He  gained 
his  end  of  obstructing  the  business  of  the  House  of  Commons  by 
amendments  admittedly  reasonable.  In  1877  Isaac  Butt  was  called 
into  the  House  to  reprove  Parnell.  He  did  so.  Parnell  disposed 
of  him  in  one  short  sentence.  Parnell  and  Butt  were  obviously 
coming  to  blows. 

And  the  blows  were  going  to  be  hard  ones  for  Butt.  Parnell 
intimated  to  his  adherents  that  if  he  was  to  be  of  any  use  in  Parlia- 
ment something  striking  should  be  done.  The  hint  was  promptly 
taken.  On  September  ist,  1877,  the  Home  Rule  Federation  of 
Great  Britain  held  their  annual  meeting  at  Liverpool.  Parnell  was 
elected  president  instead  of  Butt.  Butt  was  annoyed  and  made  no 
secret  of  the  fact.  Everybody  felt  for  him  but  in  politics  sym- 
pathy has  no  place.  Parnell,  an  onlooker  says,  was  there  "looking 
like  a  piece  of  granite." 

To  understand  the  rise  of  Parnell  to  power  and  fame,  certain 
popular  misconceptions  have  to  be  removed.  From  the  literature 
which  has  grown  up  about  him  it  might  be  inferred  that  he  was  a 
poor  speaker.  While  he  was  never  an  orator  in  the  accepted  sense 
of  the  word,  while  he  was  not  a  ready  speaker,  and  often  had 
trouble  in  finding  the  word  that  exactly  expressed  his  meaning,  he 
waited  till  he  had  found  it,  and  then  it  was  evident  to  his  hearers 
that  his  hesitation  was  justified.  He  was  never  very  keen  on  speak- 
ing, but  when  he  had  to  speak  he  spoke  in  telling,  and  often  in 
memorable  phrases  which  sunk  into  the  public  mind  and  which  are 
still  on  men's  lips  as  part  of  the  gospel  of  nationality.  He  was  not 
a  very  original  man;  he  often  borrowed  the  ideas  of  others  after 
due  consideration;  but  once  started  on  a  certain  line  of  action  he 
worked  to  his  goal  with  dogged  persistence.  Thus,  the  idea  of 
obstruction  did  not  originate  in  the  brain  of  the  most  skilful  of  all 
the  obstructionists;  it  was  the  suggestion  of  Joseph  Ronayne  of 
Cork  and  was  already  being  operated  by  Biggar,  when  Parnell  en- 
tered Parliament.  He  was  a  thoughtful  rather  than  a  learned  man. 
But  he  was  not  ignorant  and  had  a  good  knowledge  of  what  inter- 
ested him.  His  biographer,  Mr.  Barry  O'Brien,  records  the  opin- 
ion formed  of  him  by  careful  and  critical  observers.  The  most 
remarkable  thing  about  him  was  his  silence.  He  let  others  do 
the  talking.     His  main  object  was  to  unite  all  elements — Fenians, 


CHARLES  STEWART  PARNELL  625 

Constitutionalists,  Clerics — all,  in  one  ^rand  rally  for  Ireland.  He 
did  not  think  that  the  strup^le  on  constitutional,  lines  could  be  a 
lonp;  one.  It  was  to  be  "short,  sharp  and  decisive."  "Ireland," 
he  said,  "cannot  afford  to  lose  the  services  of  a  single  man." 

In  1880 — after  Mr.  Shaw  had  temporarily  succeeded  Butt — 
he  was  elected  leader  of  the  Irish  Party.  I'.xplanations  of  his  rise 
to  power  are  somewhat  contradictory.  Ihere  were  clever  men  in 
the  Party — orators  like  A.  M.  Sullivan,  business-men  like  Thomas 
Sexton,  literary  men  like  Justin  McCarthy.  There  are  two  words 
common  to  all  explanations  of  his  selection — character  and  per- 
sonality. 

Pariicll  had  only  a  limited  belief  in  the  efficiency  of  parliamen- 
tarianism.  He  was  of  opinion  that  without  a  well  organised  pub- 
lic opinion  in  Ireland  his  power  in  Parliament  would  be  slight.  He 
publicly  advised  the  Irish  people  to  keep  a  keen  watch  on  the  con- 
duct of  their  representatives  in  the  House  of  Commons.  He  pub- 
licly stated  that  long  association  with  the  House  of  Commons  would 
destroy  the  integrity  of  any  Irish  Party.  He  saw  nothing  but  dis- 
aster in  the  policy  of  conciliating  the  English.  "We  will  never  gain 
anything  from  England,"  he  said,  "unless  we  tread  on  her  toes;  we 
will  never  gain  a  sixpenny  worth  from  her  by  conciliation." 

Parnell's  wish  for  an  energetic  movement  at  home  was  gratified 
in  an  unexpected  manner.  Michael  Davitt  was  released  from 
prison  on  the  19th  December,  1877,  on  "ticket  of  leave"  after  serv- 
ing seven  years  and  seven  months  of  a  fifteen  year  sentence  for 
Fenianism.  Parnell  and  others  met  Davitt  and  his  .fellow-pris- 
oners. Sergeant  McCarthy,  Chambers  and  O'Brien,  at  Kingstown, 
and  on  a  later  date  entertained  them  to  breakfast  at  Morrison's 
Hotel,  Dublin.  The  rejoicing  natural  to  such  an  occasion  came 
to  a  tragic  termination.  Poor  McCarthy  had  a  wife  and  children 
down  south  to  whom  he  was  passionately  attached  and  from  whom 
he  had  been  separated  by  an  informer  who  had  gained  his  con- 
fidence while  enjoying  his  hospitality  and  playing  with  his  little  chil- 
dren. He  was  never  to  enjoy  their  embraces  again.  His  heart 
collapsed  and  he  died  in  Davitt's  arms.  He  had  taken  the  patriot's 
risk  and  consummated  the  patriot's  sacrifice. 

The  name  of  Michael  Davitt  brings  up  the  Land  Question. 
Even  in  Ireland,  to-day,  it  is  difficult  to  understand  the  condition 
of  affairs  in  bygone  days.  The  Landlord  was  "the  master."  He 
could  raise  rents  at  will,  he  could  ev^ict,  whether  rent  was  paid  or 
not;  if  the  tenant  improved  his  holding  he  could  be  taxed  for  doing 
so — the  rent  went  up — if  he  defended  the  chastity  of. his  daughters, 
or  they  did  so,  he  was  liable  to  eviction.     The  landlord  owned  his 


626  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

tenant,  and  his  tenant's  land,  and  his  tenant's  vote,  and,  as  he 
thought,  sometimes  even  his  tenant's  women-folk.*  Michael  Davitt 
had  good  reason  to  know  the  conditions  of  land  tenure  in  Ireland. 
At  the  age  of  five  years  he  was  thrown  with  his  father,  mother  and 
two  sisters  on  the  roadside,  and  their  little  home,  before  their  eyes, 
razed  to  the  ground.  The  father  was  a  hard-working,  intelligent 
man  who,  having  somehow  survived  the  famine,  and  was  hoping 
for  a  little  comfort,  was  flung  with  his  wife  and  babes  on  the 
world's  highway  while  the  landlord  took  over  the  fruit  of  years  of 
toil  without  a  cent  of  compensation.  In  time  he  crossed  with  his 
family  to  Lancashire  and  obtained  employment  as  an  Insurance 
Agent.  Michael,  while  only  a  child,  was  sent  to  work  in  a  mill. 
One  day,  when  he  was  about  twelve,  he  was  told  off  to  work  on  a 
machine  which  he  was  too  young  and  inexperienced  to  manage. 
He  protested,  but  in  vain.  His  overseer  thought  more  of  output 
than  of  the  danger  to  life  or  limb  of  an  operative,  and  young 
Davitt  was  roughly  hurled  to  his  task.  Soon  his  right  arm  got  en- 
tangled in  the  machinery  and  was  so  severely  injured  that  it  had 
to  be  amputated.  It  can  be  imagined  that  he  had  very  little  school- 
ing, but  he  was  a  bright,  industrious  lad,  who,  though  self-taught, 
developed  into  an  able  writer,  and  an  acute  thinker  with  a  good 
store  of  ready  information.  At  an  early  age  he  joined  the  Irish 
Republican  Brotherhood,  but  escaped  the  fate  of  so  many  of  his 
comrades  in  the  "Black  Assize"  of  the  later  .sixties.  His  turn 
came  in  1870.  He  was  an  arms  agent  for  the  Irish  Republican 
Brotherhood  in  the  guise  of  a  commercial  traveller,  and  was  caught 
in  the  toils  by  the  too  great  secrecy  of  a  fellow  conspirator.  A 
"centre"  in  Waterford  was  apprised  of  a  consignment  of  arms  to 
his  order,  and  he  alone  knew  the  way  the  material  was  to  be  sent. 
He  took  fever  and  died.  In  the  goods  depot  at  Waterford  was  a 
box  which  was  "to  be  kept  till  called  for,"  but  as  time  passed  and 
no  call  was  coming,  the  baggage-master,  an  ex-policeman,  opened 
the  box  and  informed  the  British  Government  of  its  contents.  The 
arms  were  traced  to  a  Birmingham  manufacturer,  Mr.  Wilson. 
Davitt  and  Wilson  were  arrested.  Davitt  was  sentenced  to  fifteen 
years'  penal  servitude,  Wilson  to  seven  years.     Davitt,  with  true 

1  An  old  neighbour  of  my  own  told  me  that  he  was  evicted  from  the  land  he 
and  his  fathers  held,  in  return  for  which  was  given  a  piece  of  bog-land ;  that 
often  when  he  opened  the  door  of  the  cabin  in  which  I  found  him  the  snipe  and 
wild  duck  took  wing  from  before  his  door.  When,  by  the  sweat  of  his  brow,  he 
had  made  something  like  land  of  the  bog-holding,  the  landlord  made  him  pay  rent 
for  it.  He  was  fool  enough  to  do  so — with  money  obtained  from  relatives  in 
America.  One  Christmas  night,  after  paying  the  landlord,  with  money  earned  in 
another  continent,  his  wife  and  children  and  himself  sat  hungry  by  the  fireside. 


CHARLES  STEWART  PARNELL  627 

Irish  pluck,  asked  to  be  allowed  to  serve  both  sentences.  The  re- 
quest was  not  unnaturally  refused,  Wilson  must  have  known  where 
the  arms  were  going.  He  was  an  Englishman  and  should  have 
been  as  loyal  to  his  country  as  Davitt  to  his  own.  But  note  the 
difference  in  the  sentences!  If  Wilson  was  a  traitor  to  England 
his  crime  was  greater  than  that  of  Davitt.  If  not,  he  should  have 
been  acquitted.  When  Davitt  emerged  from  prison  there  were 
various  conjectures  as  to  his  future  course  of  action.  Of  course, 
he  rejoined  the  Fenians,  but  his  object  now  was  the  conjunction  of 
all  bodies,  Fenian  and  Home  Ruler  in  a  struggle  to  assert  that  the 
land  of  Ireland  belonged  to  the  Irish  people.  Landlordism  should 
go  for  ever. 

"But,"  said  the  extremist  group,  "make  the  farmers  secure  and 
they  will  throw  over  the  National  Movement  altogether."  "No!" 
said  Davitt,  and  time  has  proved  him  right.  The  farmers  of  Ire- 
land, fortunately,  under  better  conditions,  have  not  grown  selfish. 
They  were  selfish  only  when  they  were  fighting  for  their  lives.  In 
1878  Davitt  sailed  for  America  where  his  mother  now  resided. 
He  took  up  the  Irish  problem  with  the  leaders  of  the  advanced 
party.  John  Devoy,  the  Fenian  leader,  agreed  with  his  policy, 
while  Kickham  and  the  great  majority  of  the  leaders  opposed  what 
had  come  to  be  called  "the  new  departure."  Finally,  however,  in- 
dividual officers  of  the  advanced  organisation  were  left  free  to  use 
their  discretion.  Devoy  and  Davitt  came  to  Ireland,  they  met 
Parnell,  who  characteristically  came  to  no  terms,  neither  praised 
nor  dispraised  the  revolutionary  movement,  but  asked  to  be  let 
alone  to  see  what  he  could  get  out  of  the  parliamentary  machine, 
while  admitting  that  the  advanced  party  had  a  right  to  try  out  their 
own  devices. 

During  the  years  '76-'79  the  distress  of  the  Irish  tenantry 
touched  the  line  of  famine.  The  rents  were  not  reduced.  The 
landlord  demanded  payment  for  land  which  the  land  never  earned. 
England's  Parliament  would  do  nothing  to  remedy  matters.  Every 
motion  in  that  direction  was  rejected  with  scorn.  Between  1870 
and  1876  fourteen  attempts  to  amend  the  Land  Laws  failed. 
What  wonder  that  the  Irish  people  got  restive.  By  1876  their 
patience  was  giving  out.  That  year  a  land  agent  was  shot  at  in 
County  Cork.  The  shot,  unfortunately,  hit  his  driver.  Joe  Big- 
gar  afterwards  remarked  that  he  disapproved  of  shooting  at  land- 
lords because  innocent  people  were  sometimes  shot  by  accident. 
In  1878  Lord  Leitrim,  whose  reputation  for  rack-renting — and 
worse — was  notorious,  was  shot  in  Donegal.  Donegal  men  were 
jealous  of  their  women's  honour.     His   slayers   were   never  dis- 


628  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

covered,  though  the  whole  population  was  supposed  to  know  who 
they  were. 

Rack-renting,  however,  went  on,  even  for  land  that  was  literally 
the  product  of  the  tenant's  labour.  The  evicted  tenant  who  made 
his  home  on  a  strip  of  waste  bog  was  rented,  when  with  the  sweat 
of  his  bones,  he  had  converted  it  into  land  so  called. 

Mayo  was  one  of  the  worst  counties  in  respect  of  rack-rent  and 
evictions.  In  Mayo,  therefore,  it  was  proper  that  the  first  organ- 
ised assault  on  landlordism  should  be  made.  One  Walter  Burke 
bought  a  small  estate,  doubled  the  rent  and  put  a  fine  of  half  a 
year's  rent  on  the  tenants.  The  terms  were :  pay  or  quit.  Mr. 
Burke  died,  and  his  executor  was  the  Reverend  Canon  Burke.  The 
exaction  of  the  last  farthing  of  rent  and  arrears  from  the  unfor- 
tunate tenants  was  insisted  on.  This  was  the  case  with  which 
Michael  Davitt  chose  to  open  his  campaign.  A  great  public  meet- 
ing was  held  at  Irishtown,  organised  by  P.  W.  Nally  and  other 
Mayo  men,  and  addressed  by  Thomas  Brennan  of  Dublin,  O'Con- 
nor Power,  John  Ferguson  of  Glasgow  and  others. 

The  keynote  of  the  speech  was  "the  land  for  the  people."  The 
speakers  in  advocating  peasant  proprietary  broke  away  notably 
from  the  more  moderate  land  policy  of  Butt,  "the  three  F's,"  viz. : 
Fixity  of  Tenure,  Fair  Rents,  and  Free  Sale.  A  land  revolution 
was  in  progress.  The  meeting  was  unprecedented.  Seven  thou- 
sand people  were  present;  five  hundred  men  on  horseback  acted 
as  the  bodyguard  of  the  speakers.  An  immediate  sequel  was  that 
the  rents  were  reduced  by  twenty-five  per  cent.  The  Land  Act  of 
1 88 1  reduced  them  by  a  further  forty  per  cent.  What  must  they 
have  been  before  1879! 

Parnell  was,  naturally,  interested  in  this  new  movement.  Here 
was  a  purely  social  revolution  independent  of  parliamentary  effort. 
He  foresaw  great  risks.  If  he  identified  himself  with  the  new 
agitation  certain  things  would  happen  for  which  he  would  be  held 
responsible.  Butt  had  already  warned  him  against  the  dangers 
latent  in  widespread  organisations.  He  decided,  however,  to  take 
the  risk.  He  agreed  to  speak  at  a  meeting  in  Westport.  The  risk 
was  even  greater  than  he  had  foreseen.  The  meeting — and  the 
movement  generally — were  condemned  by  no  less  a  man  than  John 
MacHale,  Archbishop  of  Tuam,  whose  patriotism  and  public  spirit 
none  dared  question.  Parnell  was  not  abashed.  He  had  prom- 
ised to  attend  and  attend  he  would.  That  personal  pride,  which 
had  such  a  part  in  his  making  and  his  undoing,  sustained  him.  He 
attended.  He  spoke  a  few  memorable  sentences  in  his  own  pecu- 
liarly lucid  style. 


CHARLES  STEWART  PARNELL  629 

"A  fair  rent  Is  a  rent  the  tenant  can  pay  according  to  the  times, 
hut  in  bad  times  a  tenant  cannot  he  expected  to  pay  as  much  as  he 
did  in  good  times.  ...  If  such  rents  are  insisted  on  .  .  .  what 
must  wc  do  in  order  to  induce  the  landlords  to  see  the  position  .•' 
Vou  must  show  them  that  you  intend  lo  hold  a  firm  grip  of  your 
Iwmfstcads  and  lauds.   .   .   ." 

That  phrase  stuck.  "Mold  a  firm  grip  of  your  homesteads" 
became  a  rallying  cry.  Mayo  was  ablaze.  The  year  1879  vi- 
talised the  tenants.  I  he  crop  of  1879  was  a  failure.  Parnell's 
declaration  was  translated  into  "No  Rent."  Meeting  succeeded 
meeting.  There  was  a  particularly  successful  one  at  Milltown, 
County  Gahvay.  1  he  speeches  were  fairly  violent.  A  question  in 
regard  to  tiiem  was  asked  in  the  London  House  of  Commons. 
Mr.  James  Lowther,  then  Tory  Chief  Secretary  for  Ireland,  re- 
plied. He  was  inclined  to  be  facetious.  This  is  part  of  his  reply: 
"One  of  the  resolutions  proposed  at  the  meeting  was  moved  by  a 
clerk  in  a  commercial  house  in  Dublin  (Mr.  Brennan),  and  sec- 
onded by  a  person  who  was  described  as  a  discharged  school-master 
(Mr.  ]\L  O'Sullivan).  Another  resolution  was  moved  by  a  con- 
vict at  large  on  ticket-of-leave  (Mr.  Davitt),  (loud  laughter  and 
cheers),  and  the  same  resolution  was  seconded  by  a  person  who 
was  stated  to  be  the  representative  of  a  local  newspaper."  (Mr. 
James  Daly.) 

That  was  the  spirit  in  which  the  English  Government  of  the 
day  regarded  the  land  agitation  in  Ireland.  The  insinuation  is 
obvious.  The  farmers  were  not  in  the  movement  at  all:  the  whole 
thing  was  the  work  of  landless  agitators,  criminals,  and  journalists. 
Mr.  Lowther's  jibes  soon  came  home  to  roost.  The  "National 
Land  League"  was  established  at  Castlebar.  The  imminent  dan- 
ger of  famine  supplied  the  movement  with  momentum.  Two 
American  journals,  the  Irish  Jf'orld  edited  by  Patrick  Ford,  and 
the  Boston  Pilot  edited  by  John  Boyle  O'Reilly,  enlisted  American 
sympathy  and  financial  support.  John  Devoy  granted  aid  from 
what  was  known  as  the  "skirmishing  fund,"  a  collection  in  aid  of 
revolutionary  action  against  England,  but  Davitt  paid  all  the  money 
back  when  it  had  served  its  purpose. 

Parnell  finally  agreed  to  recognise  the  "National  Land  League," 
and  to  become  its  president.  Mr.  Davitt,  A.  J.  Kettle  and  Thomas 
Brennan  were  appointed  honorary  secretaries.  Mr.  Biggar,  Pat- 
rick Egan  and  W.  H.  Sullivan  were  appointed  treasurers.  Parnell 
entered  into  no  compact.  He  did  not  interfere  in  the  plans  of  the 
Irish  Republican  Brotherhood,  neither  did  he  give  himself  away. 
He  had  espoused  Parliamentarianism  and  was  determined  to  see 


630  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

what  could  be  got  out  of  it.  Any  outside  help  was  all  to  the  good. 
On  Sunday,  November  2nd,  a  great  meeting  was  held  at  Gur- 
teen,  County  Sligo.  Davitt  was  there  and  John  Dillon,  Mr.  Daly 
of  Castlebar,  Mr.  Killeen,  a  Belfast  Barrister,  and  others.  There 
was  also  a  Government  reporter.  Davitt,  Daly,  and  Killeen  were 
immediately  lodged  in  Sligo  jail,  Parnell  at  once  got  active.  He 
organised  a  great  meeting  of  protest  for  the  Rotunda,  Dublin.  He 
went  down  himself  to  Balla  in  the  County  Mayo,  and  addressed  a 
great  meeting  there  in  connection  with  a  threatened  eviction,  and 
was  certainly  as  seditious  as  the  others.  Meanwhile,  Davitt  and 
his  companions  were  returned  for  trial  in  Sligo. 


CHAPTFR  LXXTII 

Tin:   LAM)  SIRUCJGLE  BEGINS 

Davitt  and  his  compatriots  were  duly  arraigned  in  Sligo.  The 
trial  was  a  prolonged  political  meeting,  with  brass  bands,  fiery 
speeches,  processions,  and  every  manner  of  demonstration.  The 
traversers  were  ordered  to  attend  the  Assizes  in  Carrick-on- 
Shannon.  They  turned  up  the  day  before  their  trial  and  held  a 
public  meeting  at  which  they  repeated  all  the  language  for  which 
they  were  indicted.  The  trials  were  removed  to  Dublin,  and  sub- 
sequently dropped.      For  the  moment  the  League  had  won. 

Parnell  and  Dillon,  having  postponed  their  visit  for  the  trials, 
set  sail  for  America  from  Cove  on  the  27th  December,  1879. 
They  had  a  fine  reception  everywhere,  and  Parnell  had  the  unusual 
distinction  of  addressing  Congress,  and  delivered  a  cogent  and 
striking  address.  Meanwhile  relief  money  was  coming  from 
America  and  from  other  sources.  The  landlords  ignored  the  dis- 
tress. They  wanted  their  rents,  whether  the  land  earned  them  or 
not.  The  League  was  just  as  determined.  No  process-server 
could  travel  without  drawing  a  crowd;  evicted  families  were  a 
charge  on  the  funds  of  the  League;  if  a  farm  was  evicted  nobody 
dared  to  take  it;  if  anybody  did  he  was  unfit  for  social  intercourse; 
finally  the  League  decided  to  defend  cases  in  the  English  courts, 
thus  piling  expense  on  the  landlord. 

The  first  big  battle  with  the  process-server  occurred  at  Car- 
raroe.  County  Galway,  on  January  ist,  1880.  The  processes  for 
the  forthcoming  sessions  should  be  served  before  January  6th. 
The  parties  affected  and  their  neighbours  had  made  up  their  minds 
that  they  should  not.  Carraroe  is  in  the  heart  of  South  Conne- 
mara  where  from  any  point  of  vantage  nothing  but  moor  and 
granite  strikes  the  eye.  Cuan  an  Fhir  Mhoir  (Great  Man's  Bay) 
divides  this  region  into  a  number  of  islands  now  joined  by  the  road, 
the  creeks  being  so  narrow  that  it  is  only  gradually  the  traveller 
becomes  aware  of  the  fact  that  he  is  crossing  from  island  to  island. 
Not  a  tree  or  shrub  relieves  the  desolation  which  is  emphasised  by 
the  gaunt  telegraph  poles  along  the  white  winding  road  which  links 
up  the  islands.  As  might  be  expected,  the  bulk  of  the  populace — 
mostly  the  descendants  of  people  who  in  former  days  took  refuge 

631 


632  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

from  British  extermination  in  this  remote  hinterland — are  miser- 
ably poor.  Their  plight  is  a  blot  on  the  administration  of  any 
government  of  a  civilised  country. 

A  tenant's  son  in  Carraroe  made  up  his  mind  to  marry  without 
consulting  the  landlord  or  his  agent.  The  rent  of  the  holding  was 
raised  five  pounds  as  a  fine.  Two  sons  of  another  tenant  got  mar- 
ried and  were  allotted  an  outhouse  to  live  in.  With  perfect  con- 
sistency the  fine  in  this  case  was  ten  pounds.  Another  tenant — 
Andrew  Conneely — paying  five  pounds  a  year  had  his  rent  doubled. 
His  brother  who  had  an  adjoining  holding  was,  through  adverse 
circumstances,  a  defaulter  for  one  year's  rent;  Andrew  got  the  op- 
tion of  paying  his  brother's  ten  pounds  in  addition  to  his  own  or 
of  being  evicted.  These  and  many  other  hardships,  combined  with 
bad  harvests,  maddened  the  flannel-coated  men  and  women  of  Con- 
nemara  to  revolt. 

Roads  were  cut  up,  barricades  raised,  and  men,  women  and 
children  massed.  The  process-server  emerged  from  the  barrack 
and  the  first  intended  victim  was  a  Mrs.  Maickle.  As  the  official 
approached  her  house  with  his  escort  he  was  assailed  by  the  women 
and  children,  his  "process"  was  torn  up,  and  he  was  in  danger  of 
bodily  hurt.  The  "force"  approached  Mrs.  Maickle's,  who  had 
prepared  for  them  a  big  burning  turf  with  which  she  hit  the  Dis- 
trict Inspector  of  PoHce.  A  bayonet  charge  followed;  many 
women  and  children  were  wounded;  the  men,  who  had  up  to  now 
been  spectators,  joined  in  the  fray,  and  the  police  were  routed. 
This  was  on  Friday.  Extra  forces  were  called  in,  totalling  finally 
about  two  hundred  and  fifty.  The  people  also  exerted  themselves, 
and  on  Monday  some  two  thousand  men  were  assembled,  with 
others  near  by  in  reserve.  The  police  were  in  a  trap.  Had  they 
persisted  in  their  effort  to  enable  the  process-server  to  deliver  his 
notices  the  bridges  would  have  been  cut  and  return  to  their  head- 
quarters would  have  been  impossible.  Armed  with  weapons  of 
precision,  they  might  have  done  considerable  slaughter  of  the  un- 
armed peasantry  before  being  annihilated,  but,  fortunately,  matters 
were  not  forced  to  a  bloody  issue.  While  the  "force"  remained 
they  had  a  hungry  time  of  it.  Needy  as  were  the  people,  no  sum 
of  money  could  purchase  food  or  service  for  the  police. 

Legal  methods  were  adopted  in  other  cases.  The  League  sup- 
plied the  funds  for  the  defence  of  the  tenants:  the  whole  facts  of 
the  case — rent,  valuation  and  other  circumstances  were  brought  out 
in  public,  and  very  often  the  landlord  lost  in  law  more  than  he  could 
possibly  gain  in  rent.  The  League  saw  to  it  that  after  an  eviction 
took  place  the  land  would  remain  tenantless  and  profitless.     The 


THE  LAND  STRUGGLE  BEGINS  633 

policy  was  to  pay  the  rent  for  one  holding  in  a  district  and  on  this 
consolidate  the  evicted,  who  would,  thus,  have  some  scanty  sub- 
sistence and  be  near  at  hand  to  repel  any  attempt  to  grab  their 
holdings. 

An  interesting  meeting  was  held  at  Straide,  County  Mayo,  on 
February  ist,  1880.  The  platform  was  erected  on  the  very  site 
of  Davitt's  home  from  which  he  was  cast  on  the  roadside  at  the 
age  of  five.  In  the  course  of  a  powerful  address,  Davitt  said: 
"Can  a  more  eloquent  denunciation  of  an  accursed  land  code  be 
found  than  what  is  witnessed  here  in  this  depopulated  district?  In 
the  memory  of  many  now  listening  to  my  words  that  peaceful  little 
stream  which  meanders  by  the  outskirts  of  this  multitude  sang  back 
the  merry  voices  of  happy  children  and  wended  its  way  through 
a  once  populous  and  prosperous  village.  Now,  however,  the  merry 
sounds  are  gone,  the  busy  hum  of  hamlet  life  is  hushed  in  sad  deso- 
lation, for  the  hands  of  the  home-destroyers  have  been  here  and 
performed  their  hellish  work,  leaving  Straide  but  a  name  to  mark 
the  place  where  happy  homesteads  once  stood,  and  whence  an  in- 
offensive people  were  driven  to  the  four  corners  of  the  earth  by  the 
ruthless  decree  of  landlordism.  How  often  in  a  strange  land  has 
my  boyhood's  ear  drunk  in  the  tale  of  outrage  and  wrong  and  in- 
famy perpetrated  here  in  the  name  of  English  laws,  and  in  the 
interest  of  territorial  greed;  in  listening  to  the  accounts  of  famine 
and  sorrow,  of  deaths  by  starvation,  of  coffinless  graves,  of  scenes 

"On  highway  side,  where  oft  was  seen 
The  wild  dog  and  the  vulture  keen 
Tug  for  the  limbs  and  gnaw  the  face 
Of  some  starved  child  of  our  Irish  race. 

.  .  .  "It  is  no  little  consolation  to  know,  however,  that  we  are  here 
to-day  doing  battle  against  a  doomed  monopoly,  and  that  the  power 
which  has  so  long  domineered  over  Ireland  and  its  people  is 
brought  to  its  knees  at  last,  and  on  the  point  of  being  crushed  for 
ever,  and  if  I  am  standing  to-day  upon  a  platform  erected  over  the 
ruins  of  my  levelled  home,  I  may  yet  have  the  satisfaction  of  tram- 
pling on  the  ruins  of  Irish  landlordism." 

English  statesmanship  has  never  regarded  any  Irish  question 
other  than  as  a  possible  electioneering  device.     Disraeli  wrote  in 

"Neither  liberty  of  the  press  nor  liberty  of  the  person  exists  in 
Ireland.  Arrests  are  at  all  times  liable.  It  is  a  fact  that  at  any 
time  in  Ireland  the  police  may  enter  into  your  house,  examine  your 
papers  to  see  if  there  is  any  resemblance  between  the  writing  and 


634  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

that  of  some  anonymous  letter  that  has  been  sent  to  a  third  person. 
In  Ireland,  if  a  man  writes  an  article  in  a  newspaper,  and  it  offends 
the  Government,  he  has  a  warning,  and  if  he  repeats  the  offence  his 
paper  may  be  suppressed.  They  say  Ireland  is  peaceful.  Yes,  but 
she  is  so,  not  because  she  is  contented,  but  because  she  is  held  under 
by  coercive  laws.  These  laws  may  be  necessary.  I  am  not  here 
objecting  to  them.  I  am  a  Tory,  and  as  such  I  might  favour 
severer  laws  myself.  But  I  say  it  isn't  honest  in  the  Liberals,  while 
denouncing  us,  to  imitate  our  ways." 

Already  he  had  written  in  1844: 

"I  want  to  see  a  public  man  come  forward  and  say  what  the 
Irish  question  is.  One  says  it  is  a  physical  question;  another  a 
spiritual.  Now  It  is  the  absence  of  the  aristocracy;  now  the  absence 
of  railways.  It  is  the  Pope  one  day  and  potatoes  the  next.  A 
dense  population  in  extreme  distress  inhabit  an  island  where  there 
is  an  established  church  which  is  not  their  church;  and  a  territorial 
aristocracy,  the  richest  of  whom  live  in  a  distant  capital.  Thus 
they  have  a  starving  population,  an  absentee  aristocracy,  an  alien 
church,  and  in  addition  the  weakest  executive  in  the  world.  Well, 
what  then  would  honourable  gentlemen  say  if  they  were  reading  of  a 
country  in  that  position?  They  would  say  at  once,  'The  remedy  is 
revolution.'  But  the  Irish  could  not  have  a  revolution,  and  why? 
Because  Ireland  is  connected  with  another  and  more  powerful  coun- 
try. Then  what  is  the  consequence?  The  connection  with  Eng- 
land became  the  cause  of  the  present  state  of  Ireland.  If  the  con- 
nection with  England  prevented  a  revolution,  and  a  revolution  was 
the  only  remedy,  England  logically  is  in  the  odious  position  of  be- 
ing the  cause  of  all  the  misery  of  Ireland.  What,  then,  is  the  duty 
of  an  Enghsh  minister?  To  effect  by  his  policy  all  those  changes 
which  a  revolution  would  do  by  force.  That  is  the  Irish  question 
In  its  entirety." 

Disraeli  was  twice  premier  in  the  meantime.  In  1880  as  Lord 
Beaconsfield  he  made  Ireland,  then  more  unsettled  than  ever,  the 
basis  of  his  appeal  to  the  electorate.  "The  arts  of  agitators,"  he 
wrote,  "which  represented  that  England  Instead  of  being  the  gen- 
erous and  sympathising  friend,  was  indifferent  to  the  dangers  and 
sufferings  of  Ireland,  have  been  defeated  by  the  measures,  at  once 
liberal  and  prudent,  which  Parliament  have  almost  unanimously 
sanctioned." 

Of  a  thousand  answers  to  this  manifesto  we  just  pause  to  give 
one.  Mulhall's  Dictionary  of  Statistics  gives  the  details  year  by 
year  (taken  from  official  British  sources)  of  the  number  of  Irish 
families  evicted   from    1849  to    1882;   and  the  thirty-three  years' 


THE  LAND  STRUGGLE  BEGINS 


^^35 


total  of  officially  reported  evictions  (which  fall  far  short  of  the 
full  number)  is  482,000  families.  Since  a  low  average  for  each 
family  in  the  mountain  d'stricts  of  Ireland  would  be  father,  mother 
and  six  children,  this  represents  the  appalling  total  of  3,856,000 
creatures  cast  out  to  starve  or  die  in  a  third  of  a  century. 

And  the  measures  "at  once  liberal  and  prudent"  during  the  half 
century  from  Catholic  Emancipation  1829  to  1879  (the  year  be- 
fore that  in  which  Lord  Beaconsfield  spoke)  are  detailed  in  Michael 
Davitt's  "Fall  of  Feudalism  in  Ireland."  First  are  given  the 
ameliorative  measures  offered  in  the  British  Parliament  in  Ireland's 
behalf — and  next  the  measures  that  she  received.  Summing  up 
the  first  it  is  shown  that  of  the  forty-nine  ameliorative  measures 
put  forward  in  the  fifty  years,  five  were  withdrawn,  seven  were  re- 
jected, twenty-one  were  dropped,  fifteen  proved  abortive — and  the 
grand  total  of  one  of  the  forty-nine  was  passed ! 

Then,  the  following  is  a  list  of  acts  "at  once  liberal  and  pru- 
dent" which  the  British  Parliament,  with  "almost  unanimous  sanc- 
tion," did  bestow  upon  Ireland  in  those  years: 


1830  Importation  of  Arms  Act.  1848 

1831  WHiiteboy  Act.  1849 

1831  Stanley's  Arms  Act.  1850 

1832  Arms  and  Gunpowder  Act.  1851 

1833  Suppression  of  Disturbance.  1853 

1833  Change  of  Venue  Act.  1854 

1834  Disturbances  Amendment  1855 

and  Continuance.  1856 

1834  Arms  and  Gunpowder  Act.  1858 

1835  Public  Peace  Act.  1860 

1836  Another  Arms  Act.  1862 

1838  Another  Arms  Act.  1862 

1839  Unlawful  Oaths  Act.  1865 

1 840  Another  Arms  Act.  1 866 

1841  Outrages  Act. 

1841  Another  Arms  Act.  1866 

1843  Another  Arms  Act.  1867 

1843  Act  Consolidating  all  Previ-  1868 

ous  Coercion  Acts.  1870 

1844  Unlawful  Oaths  Act.  1871 

1845  Unla^vrful  Oaths  Act. 

1846  Constabulary'  Enlargement.  1871 

1847  Crime  and  Outrage  Act.  1873 

1848  Treason  Amendment  Act.  1875 
1848  Removal  of  Arms  Act.  1875 
1848  Suspension  of  Habeas  Corpus. 


Another  Oaths  Act. 

Suspension  of  Habeas  Corpus. 

Crime  and  Outrage  Act. 

Unlawful  Oaths  Act. 

Crime  and  Outrage  Act 

Crime  and  Outrage  Act. 

Crime  and  Outrage  Act. 

Peace  Preservation  Act. 

Peace  Preservation  Act. 

Peace  Preservation  Act. 

Peace  Preservation  Act. 

Unlawful  Oaths  Act. 

Peace  Preservation  Act. 

Suspension  of  Habeas  Corpus 
Act  (August). 

Suspension  of  Habeas  Corpus- 
Suspension  of  Habeas  Corpus. 

Suspension  of  Habeas  Corpus. 

Peace  Preservation  Act. 

Protection  of  Life  and  Prop- 
erty. 

Peace  Preservation  Con. 

Peace  Preser\'ation  Act. 

Peace  Preservation  Act. 

Unlawful  Oaths  Act  (lasting 
until  1879). 


CHAPTER  LXXIV 

THE    LAND    LEAGUE 

The  funds  of  the  Land  League  and  of  other  organisations  enabled 
the  Western  people  to  put  in  good  seed  in  1880,  and  there  was 
every  prospect  of  a  good  harvest.  Suddenly,  in  March,  the  Tory 
Government  resigned.  Parnell  hurried  from  America  where  he 
had  founded  the  American  Land  League,  leaving  Dillon  behind  to 
attend  to  details.  No  man  could  have  worked  harder  than  Parnell 
during  the  elections.  He  was  ubiquitous.  The  constituencies, 
Meath,  Mayo  and  Cork  City,  vied  for  the  honour  of  having  him  as 
representative.  His  nomination  for  Cork  City  was  a  piece  of 
"poHtical  strategy."  Parnell  was  wired  to  in  the  name  of  a  friend 
asking  him  to  accept  nomination.  Two  hundred  and  fifty  pounds 
was  handed  to  his  friend,  Mr.  Horgan,  for  expenses,  and  this  sum 
was  supposed  to  have  been  sent  by  Parnell.  Mr.  Horgan  promptly 
paid  fifty  pounds  of  this  sum  to  the  sheriff.  Parnell  arrived  in 
Cork.  Then  the  plot  was  made  manifest.  The  Tories  wished  to 
defeat  the  Whigs  by  a  split  vote.  The  tables  were  turned  on  them 
when  Mr.  T.  M.  Healy  suggested  that  the  two  hundred  pounds 
would  go  some  way  towards  Parnell's  election  expenses.  To  the 
great  disgust  of  the  Tories  Parnell  was  elected,  and  his  election  ex- 
penses defrayed  in  great  part  by  their  own  money.  He  then  got 
Mr.  A.  J.  Kettle  elected  for  Cork  County,  and  followed  up  this 
triumph  by  success  all  over  Ireland.  Sixty-four  Nationalists  were 
elected.  Of  these  Parnell  was  leader  of  thirty-six,  who  instead  of 
joining  the  Liberals  took  their  seats  on  the  Opposition  Benches.  A 
Bill  was  introduced  by  Mr.  O'Connor  Power  to  compel  landlords 
to  compensate  tenants  for  disturbance.  This  was  taken  up  by  Mr. 
Gladstone's  new  Liberal  Chief  Secretary,  Mr.  Forster,  was  watered 
down,  made  a  Government  measure,  passed  through  the  House  of 
Commons,  and  contemptuously  rejected  by  the  Lords.  Mean- 
while, things  had  been  moving  in  Ireland.  ''Hold  the  Harvest^' 
had  become  a  rallying  cry.  Mr.  James  Redpath,  an  American 
journalist,  who  had  already  risked  life  and  fortune  in  the  cause  of 
human  freedom,  outlined  at  Claremorrls  the  system   afterwards 

636 


THK  LAND  LEAGUE  637 

known  as  Boycotting.  Tlic  landlord  who  oppressed  his  tenants, 
the  man  who  took  a  farm  from  which  another  tenant  had  been 
evicted,  and  all  who  had  intercourse  with  the  like,  were  to  be  made 
social  outcasts.  A  little  later  Parnell  preached  the  same  doctrine. 
His  sister,  Fanny  Parnell,  sent  a  ringing  song  from  America.  A 
few  verses  will  suffice  to  show  its  import: 

"Keep  the  law,  oh,  keep  it  well — keep  it  as  jour  rulers  do! 

Be  not  ri{2;hteous  overmuch — when  they  break  it  so  can  you! 

As  they  rend  their  pledge  and  bond,  rend  you,  too,  their  legal  thongs; 

AVhcn  they  crush  your  chartered  rights,  tread  you  down  your  char- 
tered wrongs. 

Help  them  on,  and  help  them  aye,  help  them  as  true  brethren  should, 
boys ; 

All  that's  right  and  good  for  them,  sure  for  you  is  right  and  good, 
boys. 

"Hold  the  rent  and  hold  the  crops,  boys. 
Pass  the  word  from  town  to  town, 
Pull  away  the  props,  boys. 
So  you'll  pull  coercion  down." 

Mr.  Forster,  a  well  intentioned  man,  was  entering  on  the  ordeal 
of  every  Chief  Secretary  for  Ireland.  He  felt  that  things  were 
getting  out  of  hand.  An  indictment  of  most  of  the  prominent 
members  of  the  League  w^as  prepared.  The  charge  was  that  of 
conspiracy,  under  which  any  member  could  be  found  guilty  of  any 
utterance  if  any  man  definitely  proved  to  be  associated  with  the 
League.  Meanwhile,  the  policy  advocated  by  Redpath  and  Par- 
nell was  being  carried  out.  The  first  victim  was  one  Captain  Boy- 
cott, agent  for  Lord  Erne,  who  lived  at  Lough  Mask  House  in 
County  Mayo.  He  had  dismissed  his  labourers  owing  to  a  dispute 
over  wages.  No  others  appeared  to  take  their  places.  The  Cap- 
tain waxed  angry.  Thereafter  he  would  grant  no  abatements  of 
rent.  Processes  were  duly  obtained — there  was  no  one  to  serve 
them.  The  blacksmith  was  too  busy  to  shoe  the  Captain's  horses. 
The  herds  found  the  climate  unhealthy.  The  baker  ran  out  of 
flour.  The  postman  was  liable  to  overlook  Lough  Mask  House, 
unless  his  missives  for  the  Captain  were  unmistakably  bills.  The 
Captain's  crops  were  ripening  with  no  one  to  reap  them.  But  re- 
lief was  coming. 

Fifty  northern  Orangemen  escorted  by  two  thousand  soldiers 
arrived  in  Mayo  to  assist  Captain  Boycott.  There  was  not  a  car 
in  Claremorris  fit  for  the  job  of  transporting  any  of  them.     There 


638  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

was  not  a  horse  that  had  not  a  loose  shoe,  spavins,  rickets  or  house- 
maid's knee.  The  labourers  and  their  escort  had  to  walk  from 
Claremorris — fifteen  miles — and  it  rained.  Somehow  and  some- 
time they  reached  Lough  Mask  House.  The  formidable  force  en- 
camped on  the  Captain's  lawn.  They  had  not  made  provision  for 
their  subsistence;  if  they  were  doing  the  Captain's  work  they  pre- 
sumed that  they  were  to  be  fed  at  the  Captain's  expense.  They 
ate  his  turkeys,  geese,  piglings,  goslings,  ducklings  and  all  other  of 
the  most  succulent  part  of  his  possessions.  It  was  estimated  that 
— apart  from  the  Captain's  losses — it  cost  the  country  ten  pounds 
for  ever}'  pound's  worth  of  crop  reaped  on  his  land. 

At  last  they  departed.  An  interested  spectator  of  the  scene 
was  Father  John  O'Malley  of  the  Xeale.  There  was  another, 
an  old  woman.  She  wished,  as  woman  will,  to  see  the  passage  of 
troops.  Father  John  advanced  on  her  with  menace;  "Did  I  not 
warn  you  to  let  the  British  Army  alone?  How  dare  you  come 
here  to  intimidate  Her  Majestv^'s  troops?" 

Mr.  Forster  was  on  the  whole  about  as  unfortunate  as  any 
other  Chief  Secretary'  for  Ireland.  He  meant  well,  so  do  they  all. 
Mr.  Forster  on  the  second  reading  of  O'Connor  Power's  Bill  gave 
some  interesting  figures.  In  the  West  Riding  of  Galway  alone  he 
had  employed  the  following  forces  for  protecting  process-servers 
and  carrying  out  evictions  4,049  soldiers — all,  in  a  single  district, 
paid  by  the  Irish  people  for  their  own  extermination. 

The  Land  League  went  ahead.  Huts  were  erected  for  evicted 
tenants.  Relief  works  were  started.  We  cannot  well  say  how 
many  emigrated,  and  how  many  died  on  their  way  to  a  foreign 
shore;  the  dead  do  not  talk.  We  know  that  there  was  a  big  toll 
of  lives. ^ 

A  debate  took  place  m  1880  on  the  conduct  of  the  Royal  Irish 
Constabulary  at  evictions.  Mr.  Forster  v/as  their  champion.  He 
admitted  that  ball  cartridges  should  not  be  supplied  to  police  in 
close  contact  with  excited  people — hence  they  should  get  buckshot. 
Even  if  loaded  with  only  snipe-shot,  a  shotgun  is  more  treacherous 

*  John  Mitchel  in  talking  of  the  evicting  horror,  gives  a  terse  and  terrible  sum- 
mary of  the  happenings  upon  one  estate  as  the  result  of  one  eviction  crop : 

"At  an  eviction  in  1854,  on  a  property  under  the  management  of  Marcus  Keane, 
James  O'Gorman,  one  of  the  tenants  evicted,  died  on  the  roadside.  His  wife  and 
children  were  sent  to  the  workhouse,  where  they  died  shortly  afterwards. 

"John  Corbet,  a  tenant  on  another  townland,  was  evicted  by  the  same  agent. 
He  died  on  the  roadside.  His  wife  had  died  previous  to  the  eviction;  his  ten 
children  were  sent  into  the  workhouse  and  there  died. 

"Michael  McMahon,  evicted  at  the  same  time,  was  dragged  out  of  bed,  to  the 
roadside,  where  he  died  of  want  the  next  day.  His  wife  died  of  want  previous 
to  the  eviction,  and  his  children,  eight  in  number,  died  in  a  few  years  in  the  work- 
house." 


THE  LAND  LEAGUE  639 

when  discharged  on  a  crowd  than  a  rifle.  His  name  in  Ireland, 
first  shouted  across  the  floor  of  the  House,  has  ever  since  been 
"Buckshot  Forster." 

Forster  proceeded  in  the  traditional  way  to  pacify  Ireland. 
All  the  leaders  and  organisers  were  arrested.  The  whole  Irish  na- 
tion was  constituted  by  statute  an  illegal  assembly.  A  conspiracy 
act  was  framed  under  which  every  individual  in  the  League  could 
be  held  accountable  for  the  action  or  speech  of  any  one. 

The  state  trial  opened  in  Dublin  in  December,  1880.  There 
were  three  judges  and  a  formidable  array  of  counsel;  seven  for 
the  Crown,  nine  for  the  traversers,  exclusive  of  solicitors.  One  of 
the  most  interesting  interludes  was  the  production  by  Mr.  Tom 
Brennan,  the  League's  secretary,  of  some  hundred  evicted  tenants 
from  the  Castlebar  workhouse,  who,  however,  were  not  heard,  be- 
cause of  a  change  in  tactics  of  the  prosecution.  They  were  seen, 
however,  and  were  quite  sufficient  evidence  of  the  necessity  of  the 
Land  League  organisation.  Meanwhile  Parnell  and  his  colleagues 
crossed  to  London  for  the  opening  of  the  session  of  Parliament, 
letting  the  court  do  what  it  pleased.  The  jury  disagreed  after  a 
trial  of  thirty  days.  There  was  a  touch  of  farce  about  the  whole 
proceeding.  The  Crown  case  broke  down.  Davitt's  ticket-of- 
leave  was  immediately  cancelled.  He  was  sent  back  to  prison. 
He  had,  however,  laid  his  lines  well.  He  had  established  the 
"Ladies'  Land  League."  He  had  relied  on  the  women  of  Ireland 
to  carry  on,  even  if  all  the  leaders  were  in  prison. - 

-  The  following  verses  from  a  poem  of  Miss  Fanny  Parnell  show  the  spirit 
of  the  women : 

"Now,  are  you  men,  or  are  you  Idne.  ye  tillers  of  the  soil? 
Would  you  be  free,  or  evermore  the  rich  man's  cattle  toil? 
The  shadow  on  the  dial  hangs  that  points  the  fatal  hour — 
Now  hold  your  own !  or  branded  sla\'es,  for  ever  cringe  and  cower. 

"The  serpent's  curse  upon  you  lies — ye  writhe  within  the  dust, 
Ye  fill  your  mouths  with  beggars'  swill,  ye  grovel  for  a  crust ; 
Your  lords  have  set  their  blood-stained  heels  upon  your  shameful  heads. 
Yet  they  are  kind — they  leave  you  still  their  ditches  for  your  beds  ! 

"Oh,  by  the  God  who  made  us  all — the  seignior  and  the  serf — 
Rise  up  and  swear  this  day  to  hold  your  own  green  Irish  turf: 
Rise  up  and  plant  your  feet  as  men  where  now  you  crawl  as  slaves. 
And  make  your  harvest-fields  your  camps,  or  make  of  them  your  graves. 

"Three  hundred  j'cars  your  crops  have  sprung,  by  murdered  corpses  fed : 
Your  butchered  sires,  your  famished  sires,  your  ghastly  compost  spread : 
Their  bones  have  fertilised  your  fields,  their  blood  has   fall'n  like  rain: 
They  died  that  ye  might  eat  and  live — God!  have  they  died  in  vain? 

"The  hour  has  struck.  Fate  holds  the  dice,  we  stand  with  bated  breath  : 
Now  who  shall  have  your  harvests  fair— 'tis  Life  that  plays  with  Death ; 


'640  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

Miss  Anna  Parnell  was  president  of  the  Ladies'  Land  League. 
When  Miss  Parnell  and  her  associates  took  up  work  they  did  it 
in  no  half-hearted  fashion.  They  were  all  that  Davitt  expected  of 
them — and  more.  They  were  not  very  restrained  or  very  scrupu- 
lous. There  was  no  reason  why  they  should.  Davitt  had  been 
sent  back  to  penal  servitude  on  the  3rd  February,  1881.  Next  day 
Parnell  and  all  his  followers  were  suspended,  and  forcibly  ejected 
out  of  the  London  House  of  Commons.  Gladstone  introduced  a 
measure  which  made,  practically,  an  end  of  obstruction.  But  home 
in  Ireland  Parnell  was  a  much  more  dangerous  force  than  he  had 
been  in  Westminster.  Land  League  Courts  were  held  before  which 
offenders  were  arraigned.  Boycotting  went  on  effectually.  How 
effectually  is  shown  by  the  case  of  Jones  of  Clonakilty.  He  tried 
to  sell  grain  at  Bandon.  The  League  picketted  his  produce.  He 
tried  to  send  cattle  to  England — no  ship  at  a  southern  port  would 
carry  them.  He  sent  them  by  rail  to  Dublin :  the  mariners  would 
not  sail  with  them ;  they  were  ultimately  got  to  Liverpool  in  Liver- 
pool boats:  no  Irish  salesman  would  offer  them  for  sale.  At  the 
end,  a  private  sale  of  them,  at  a  loss,  was  all  Jones  could  effect. 

Arrests  were  frequent.  This  fact  intensified  the  agitation.  A 
grabber  was  shot  occasionally — showing  Mr.  Forster  that  two 
parties  could  operate  outside  the  common  law.  The  landlords  wel- 
comed coercion,  and  under  its  shield  process-serving  for  rent  went 
forward  with  a  bound.  Then,  as  now,  forty  years  later,  the  idea 
was  to  rush  matters,  and  have  all  the  trouble  over  in  a  couple  of 
months.  Then,  as  now,  an  extension  of  time  for  the  subjugation 
of  the  Irish  was  necessary.  A  bad  conflict  between  civilians  and 
police,  guarding  a  process-server,  occurred  at  Monasteraden, 
County  Sligo,  in  April.  The  police  fired  on  a  crowd  of  people 
who  blocked  the  way  to  the  houses  of  those  on  whom  the  notices 
were  to  be  served.  Two  men  were  slain.  Sergeant  Armstrong, 
who  gave  the  order  to  fire,  was  Immediately  steeped  in  gore  and 
died.     His  men  escaped  a  like  fate  by  flight. 

Then,  at  last,  it  began  to  dawn  on  the  English  Liberal  Govern- 
ment that  there  must  be  something  wrong  in  Ireland.  There  are 
two  things  that  always  go  hand  in  hand  in  Ireland,  coercion  and 
benevolent  legislation.     Coercion  is  strong,  harsh,  ineffective.     All 

Now  who  shall  have  our  Motherland?  'tis  Right  that  plays  with  Might; 
The  peasant's  arms  were  weak,  indeed,  in  such  unequal  fight! 

"But  God  is  on  the  peafant's  side,  the  God  that  loves  the  poor; 
His  angels  stand  with  flaming  swords  on  every  mount  and  moor. 
They  guard  the  poor  man's  flocks  and  herds,  they  guard  his  ripening  grain; 
The  robber  sinks  beneath  their  curse  beside  his  ill-got  gain." 


THE  LAND  LEAGUE  641 

English  Governments — Liberal  and   Tory  alike — come  to  us  with  a 
whip  in  one  hand  and  a  "concession"  in  the  other. 

Gladstone  had  to  face  facts  and  bring  in  a  Land  Bill  for  Ire- 
land, it  was  considered  at  a  convention  of  the  Land  League  in 
Dublin  in  April,  1881.  ParncU  was  for  its  acceptance  with  such 
amendments  as  might  be  possible;  John  Dillon  and  Secretary  Bren- 
nan  were  opposed.  The  majority  supported  ParncU.  Dillon  was 
arrested  on  the  30th  April  and  lodged  in  Kilmainham  jail.  Bren- 
nan  was  arrested  soon  after.  It  was  hoped  that  this  would  create 
an  atmosphere  for  the  new  Land  Bill.  It  did.  There  were  men 
forthcoming  to  fill  all  vacancies  that  Gladstone  and  Forster  might 
create.     And  then  there  were  the  women. 

Coercion  bore  its  usual  fruits:  arrests,  evictions,  outrages. 
The  people  defied  a  law  that  defied  the  people.  The  Irish  have 
never  been  willing  slaves. 

The  Gladstone  Land  Act  of  1881  was  the  usual  compromise. 
The  tenants  were  allowed  for  their  improvements — ;/  they  could 
prove  them  in  court  of  law.  It  was  well  known  that  the  landlords 
made  no  improvements.  If  a  man  bought  a  farm  he  had  to  pay 
for  it  as  it  stood,  drains,  fences  and  all.  If  a  man  inherited  a 
farm  he  had  to  prove  what  improvements  were  made,  and  by  whom, 
and  when,  and  if  he  could  not  procure  witnesses  he  was  non-suited 
in  claiming  a  fair  rent.  If  the  farm  was  at  the  seaside,  the  tenant 
was  considered  not  to  be  entitled  to  normal  reduction  of  rent  be- 
cause he  could  cut  seaweed  at  the  risk  of  his  life;  if  he  set  up  a 
mill,  grew  fruit  or  otherwise  improved  the  holding,  at  his  own  ex- 
pense, that  was  set  against  him.  If  he  built  "too  good  a  house," 
again  at  his  own  expense,  that  prejudiced  his  claim  to  a  fair  rent. 
If  he  set  up  a  shop,  that  also,  in  practice,  went  against  him;  the 
value  of  the  holding  went  up. 

The  tenant  was  discouraged  from  doing  anything  to  improve 
his  place.  The  worse  it  looked  the  safer  he  was.  Even  though 
the  Act  was  good  in  principle  it  proved  to  be  what  Dillon  prophe- 
sied it  would  be:  "a  milch  cow  for  the  lawyers." 

Forster  succeeded  in  making  Ireland  what  is  called  in  official 
documents  to-day  "an  appropriate  hell"  for  those  who  disagreed 
with  him.  Men  were  imprisoned  without  trial,  grabbers  and  other 
offenders  were  severely  dealt  with;  men  were  shot  dead:  Priests 
were  arrested,  including  Father  Eugene  Sheehy  of  Limerick,  a 
veteran  who  lived  to  be  present  at  the  inauguration  of  the  Irish 
Volunteers  in  1913. 

Parnell  denounced  the  conduct  of  the  English  Government 
in  Parliament.     He  was  suspended  for  a  vigorous  attack  on  Glad- 


642  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

stone,  and  immediately  crossed  to  Ireland  where  his  operations 
made  the  Government  bitterly  regret  his  suspension.  He  and  his 
followers  had  shown  that  they  had  no  responsibility  for  the  Land 
Act,  by  leaving  the  House  of  Commons  before  the  division  on  both 
the  Second  and  Third  Readings.  He  endeavoured  to  get  the  best 
Bill  he  could,  but  was  anxious  to  make  it  clear  that  it  was  not  his 
Bill,  or  one  he  approved  of.  One  of  his  first  actions  in  Ireland 
was  to  propose  and  carry  at  a  Land  League  convention  in  Dublin 
a  resolution  that  the  Land  Act  be  tested  in  Court  by  specially 
selected  cases,  and  that  other  tenants  should  wait  to  see  how  things 
would  go  in  these  cases.  This  adroit  move  simply  meant  that  the 
Land  Act  would  be  held  up  indefinitely,  and  that  a  chance,  based  on 
the  results  of  proceedings  in  the  courts  might  arise  for  its  radical 
emendation.  It  was  one  of  the  most  politic  moves  of  Parnell's 
whole  career.  But  it  was  foiled.  Let  Michael  Davitt  tell  the 
story : 

"A  class  of  Ulster  tenants  who  had  given  no  help  to  the  Land 
League  movement  rushed  into  the  land  courts  and  set  an  example, 
baited  with  an  average  twenty  per  cent  reduction  of  old  rents.  .  .  . 
Those  tenants,  however,  who  acted  thus  precipitately  and  unwisely 
were  to  live  to  regret  that  they  had  not  followed  Mr.  Parnell's 
advice." 

Then  came  another  of  these  little  incidents  which  play  such  a 
part  in  the  relations  of  the  English  Government  with  Ireland.  A 
Parnellite  candidate  was  beaten  by  a  Liberal  in  Tyrone.  Glad- 
stone was  delighted.  He  wrote  Mr.  Forster :  "The  unexpected 
victory  in  Tyrone  is  an  event  of  importance,  and  I  own  it  increases 
my  desire  to  meet  the  remarkable  Irish  manifestation  and  discom- 
fiture both  of  Parnell  and  the  Tories  with  some  initial  act  of 
clemency,  in  view  especially  of  the  coming  election  for  Monaghan. 
I  do  not  know  whether  the  release  of  the  priest  (Father  Sheehy) 
would  be  a  reasonable  beginning.  .  .  .  To  reduce  the  following  of 
Parnell  by  drawing  away  from  him  all  well  inclined  men  seems  to 
me  the  key  of  Irish  politics  for  the  moment.   .   .   ." 

But  Mr.  Forster  was  adamant.  Instead  of  inclining  to  an  "act 
of  clemency"  he  advised  Gladstone,  in  a  forthcoming  speech  at 
Leeds,  to  denounce  Parnell's  "action  and  policy."  "Parnell's  re- 
ply to  you,"  he  said,  "may  be  a  treasonable  outburst."  Mr.  Glad- 
stone took  his  secretary's  advice.  He  denounced  Parnell.  He 
declared  that  "the  resources  of  civilisation  were  not  exhausted." 
Parnell's  reply  at  Wexford,  whether  treasonable  or  not,  was  cor- 
rosive. He  dissected  the  "Grand  Old  Man"  mercilessly.  He 
compared  him  to  a  schoolboy  going  past  a  graveyard,  whistling 


THK  LAND  LEAGUE  643 

to   keep    up    his   courage.     And   he    concluded   with    the    stinging 
phrases : 

"1  trust  as  the  result  of  this  great  movement  we  shall  see  that, 
just  as  Gladstone  by  the  Ac^  of  1881  has  eaten  all  his  own  words, 
has  departed  from  all  his  formerly  declared  principles,  now  we 
shall  see  that  these  brave  words  of  the  English  Prime  Minister  will 
be  scattered  like  chatt  before  the  united  and  advancing  determina- 
tion of  the  Irish  people  to  regain  for  themselves  their  lost  land 
and  their  legislative  independence."  His  friends  rightly  felt  that 
now  his  arrest  was  certain.  At  length  one  of  them  plucked  up 
courage  to  ask  him:  "Suppose  they  arrest  you,  Mr.  Parnell  .  .  . 
who  will  take  your  place?"  "Captain  Moonlight,"^  replied 
ParneU. 

*The  resolute  ones  who  took  guns  and  went  after  tyrannical  landlords — 
and   tyrants — were  known  as   Moonlighters. 


CHAPTER  LXXV 

THE    ladies'    land    LEAGUE 

Meanwhile,  United  Ireland  was  founded  on  the  ruins  of  a  paper 
called  the  Fla^  of  Ireland  bought  from  one  Richard  Piggott,  of 
which  more  will  be  heard  later.  William  O'Brien  became  its  edi- 
tor and  gave  admirable  service  to  the  cause.  The  No  Rent 
manifesto  was  issued,  signed  by  Parnell,  Kettle,  Davitt,  Brennan, 
Dillon,  Sexton,  Patrick  Egan — all  in  prison  except  Egan  who 
was  in  Paris  to  safeguard  the  funds.  The  purport  was  that  no 
rents  were  to  be  paid  under  any  circumstances  until  the  Govern- 
ment abandoned  terrorism  and  restored  the  constitutional  rights 
of  the  people. 

This  was  a  bold  and  dangerous  policy.  Had  It  been  tried 
earlier,  as  Davitt  had  suggested,  it  might  have  shaken  the  Govern- 
ment and  secured  a  better  Land  Act.  But  now  the  leaders  were 
all  in  prison.  The  Land  Act  would  soon  be  law,  and  the  harassed 
tenants  were  likely  to  accept  any  relief  that  it  offered.  The  mani- 
festo was  written  by  William  O'Brien,  and  only  with  much  dif- 
fidence signed  by  Parnell,  Dillon,  and  the  others.  Forster's  coun- 
ter-move was  not  delayed.  Two  days  later  the  Land  League  was 
proclaimed  an  illegal  association,  and  it  was  announced  that  all  its 
meetings  would  be,  if  necessary,  dispersed  by  force. 

The  Ladles'  Land  League  took  matters  in  hand  and  Mr.  For- 
ster  began  to  realise  that  he  had  possibly  blundered.  He  had  some 
1,083  ^^^  i"  prison,^  including  the  most  upright  and  sensible  men 
in  the  movement,  and  how  was  he  to  rule  a  country  directed  by  a 
few  women  In  Dublin?  They  had  plenty  of  money,  partly  supplied 
from  America,  partly  from  Paris  by  Mr.  Patrick  Egan.  Relief 
and  help  were  given  according  to  the  amount  of  activity  displayed 
in  a  district.  Boycotting  increased.  Any  agrarian  crime  was  de- 
fended from  the  funds  of  the  Ladles'  Land  League.  If  a  grabber 
was  left  in  quiet  possession  of  a  farm  there  was  not  a  farthing  avail- 

^  These  men  were  never  faced  with  any  charges.  They  were  "suspects." 
Habeas  corpus  then — as  often  before  and  since — was  suspended. 

644 


riJE  LADIES'  Li\ND  LEAGUE  645 

able  for  the  district  in  which  he  lived.  Anybody  going  into  the 
Land  Courts  was  condemned  and  intimidated.  Hunting  by  the 
"gentry"  was  stopped.  Lhc  situation  day  by  day  became  more 
and  more  chaotic. 

Mr.  Eorster  thought  the  matter  over,  and  hoped  that  if  he  had 
some  of  these  women  arrested  it  might  ease  the  situation,  lie  had 
about  half  a  dozen  arrested  and  was  not  pleased  with  the  result. 
He  found  he  was  only  lashing  public  opinion  into  fury.  He  found 
that  there  was  hardly  a  girl  in  Ireland  who  would  not  joyfully  go 
to  prison  for  the  cause.     In  fact  they  were  inviting  arrest. 

Needless  to  say,  the  "outrages"  were  not  all  on  one  side.  For- 
ster's  Buckshot  Brigade  loyally  and  zealously  carried  out  their  mas- 
ter's orders.  In  addition  to  the  buckshot,  the  peelers  were  pro- 
vided with  a  more*  deadly  type  of  bayonet.  A  few  examples  will 
suffice  to  show  how  the  orders  to  break  the  spirit  of  the  people 
were  carried  out.  At  Grawhill,  near  Belmullet  in  October  1881, 
a  crowd  assembled,  chieHy  composed  of  women  and  children.  The 
officer  in  charge  of  the  crown  forces  gave  orders  to  fire  a  volley  of 
buckshot  into  the  crowd  and  then  charge  with  the  bayonet.  Num- 
bers were  wounded;  the  crowd  rushed  away  in  shrieking  panic,  the 
police  freely  using  their  bayonets  indiscriminately  on  all  they  came 
up  with.  Mrs.  Mary  Deane,  a  widowed  mother,  was  shot  dead; 
a  young  girl,  Ellen  McDonagh,  was  stabbed  to  death.  On  May 
5th,  1882,  a  band  of  lads  of  twelve  years  and  under  paraded  in 
BalHna,  County  Mayo,  with  tin  whistles  and  cans  to  celebrate  Par- 
nell's  release.  They  were  assailed  with  a  hail  of  buckshot,  chased 
and  stabbed.  One  poor  lad,  Patrick  Melody,  fell  dead  at  his 
father's  feet  on  the  threshold  of  his  home. 

Poor  Mr.  Forster  stuck  it  out  bravely.  He  asked  Gladstone 
for  further  powers,  but  Gladstone  was  getting  nervous.  Money 
was  pouring  in  from  America,  where  T.  P.  O'Connor,  T.  M.  Healy 
and  Father  Sheehy  were  now  operating,  and  the  "Grand  Old  Man" 
was  becoming  alarmed.  In  his  alarm  he  had  recourse  to  Rome, 
conveniently  forgetting  a  pamphlet  he  had  written  a  short  time 
previously  on  Vaticanism.  He  was  successful — to  a  certain  extent. 
Through  diplomacy — which  could  also  be  called  another  name — 
he  secured  a  condemnation  of  the  Land  League  and  Its  policy  in 
January,  1882,  though  the  League  had  passed  out  of  legal  exist- 
ence by  Mr.  Forster's  edict  in  October,  1881.  This  condemnation 
had  no  effect  on  the  struggle. 

The  Ladles'  Land  League  became  daily  more  active  in  relieving 
distress  and  keeping  up  the  agitation.  Forster  was  being  worsted. 
He  was  prepared  to  propose  a  system  of  provincial  councils  for 


646  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

Ireland  with  limited  autonomy,  hoping  that  a  bribe  might  weaken 
the  opposition.  However,  a  dramatic  change  in  the  situation  soon 
took  place. 

Parnell  was  released  on  parole  to  attend  the  funeral  of  a 
nephew  in  Paris.  On  his  way  through  London  he  saw  Justin  Mc- 
Carthy and  explained  to  him  a  project  he  had  in  his  mind  for  the 
amendment  of  the  Land  Act  by  the  cancellation  of  arrears  thereby 
bringing  under  its  provisions  a  vast  number  of  tenants  who  were  at 
present  excluded.  The  prisoners  should  be  released,  the  No-Rent 
manifesto  withdrawn,  and  the  agitation,  generally,  slowed  down. 
Captain  O'Shea  was  selected  as  his  envoy  to  break  this  to  Glad- 
stone and  Chamberlain.  The  message  was  delivered.  Gladstone 
was  delighted.  "On  the  whole,"  he  wrote  to  Forster,  "Parnell's 
letter  is  the  most  extraordinary  I  ever  read.  I  cannot  help  feeling 
indebted  to  O'Shea." 

Parnell  returned  to  prison,  but  his  release  was  now  only  a  mat- 
ter of  time.  Gladstone  was  sick  of  coercion.  Chamberlain,  on 
his  own  admission,  would  have  liked  to  succeed  Forster  as  Chief 
Secretary  for  Ireland.  Rather  than  consent  to  Parnell's  release, 
Earl  Cowper  and  Forster  resigned.  The  very  day  before  Parnell's 
proposals  reached  Gladstone  the  latter  had  written  to  Forster  giv- 
ing dim  outlines  for  Land  reform  and  self-government.  "It  is  lib- 
erty," he  said,  "that  makes  men  lit  for  liberty.  This  proposition 
has  its  bounds  but  it  is  far  safer  than  the  counter-doctrine — wait 
till  they  are  fit."  Parnell's  proposals  contained  no  mention  of  self- 
government.  Neither  had  he  consulted  his  colleagues  concerning 
them.    A  new  and  different  Parnell  was  developing. 

On  May  4th,  1882,  Forster  was  explaining  his  position  to  the 
House  of  Commons.  He  had  had  a  bad  time  of  it  in  Ireland;  he 
had  shown  himself  a  plucky  fighter  and  he  had  been  beaten,  beaten 
by  the  Irish,  and  that  was  sufficient  to  win  him  the  sympathy  of 
the  house.  He  was  in  the  middle  of  his  speech,  denouncing  the 
League,  denouncing  Parnell,  when  suddenly  he  was  interrupted  by 
a  storm  of  cheers  from  the  Irish  benches.  Parnell,  dignified  and 
haughty  as  of  old,  triumph  depicted  on  his  handsome  features,  had 
entered  the  House.  He  went  to  his  seat,  folded  his  arms,  and 
gazed  with  cold  scorn  at  his  jailer,  now  in  disgrace.  He  could  not 
but  rejoice  that  he  had  done  to  England  what  English  Governments 
have  always  sought  to  do  in  Ireland — divide  the  forces  of  the  oppo- 
sition. Here  were  Gladstone  and  Forster  at  log^rheads:  Glad- 
stone on  his  feet  to  answer  his  ex-Chief-Secretary  at  whose  bidding 
he  had  invoked  the  "resources  of  civilisation,"  and  defending  the 
man   against  whom  they   had  been   invoked.       Gladstone   replied 


THE  LADIES'  LAND  LEAGUE  647 

quietly  that  the  circumstances  wliich  warranted  the  arrest  no  longer 
existed,  and  that  he  was  assured  that,  if  the  Government  settled 
the  question  of  arrears,  the  three  released  members  would  be  on 
the  side  of  law  and  order. 

This  was  open  to  the  interpretation  that  Farnell  had  stipulated 
for  the  release  as  part  of  the  treaty.  Parnell,  who  next  spoke,  de- 
clared that  never  in  speech  or  writing  had  he  made  the  release  of 
himself  and  his  colleagues  a  condition  of  their  action,  but  that  the 
settlement  of  the  arrears  question — arrears  through  three  bad  sea- 
sons— would  have  a  great  eftcct  on  the  restoration  of  law  and  order. 
He  was  not  going  to  be  fettered. 

Davitt  was  released  on  the  6th  May.     He  was  met  by  Parnell, 
Dillon  and  O'Kelly  and  escorted  to  London.     It  was  evident  from 
Parnell's   talk  and  demeanour  that   he   meant   to   slow  down   the 
agitation,  and  was  already  making  a  beginning.     He  spoke  of  the 
amount  of  crime  and   outrage  that  had  occurred  during  his  im- 
prisonment, and  of  the  amount  of  money  expended  by  the  Ladies' 
Land  League;  Davitt  drew  his  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  Ladies 
had  broken  F'orster,  killed  coercion  and  released  Parnell  and  his 
colleagues.     However,  expectations  and  discussions  of  policy  faded 
into  the  background  when  the  news  came  that  night  from  Dublin 
that  Lord  Cavendish,  who  had  only  arrived  that  day,  had  been 
slain  that  evening  in  the  Phoenix  Park  by  members  of  a  secret  so- 
ciety called  the  "Invinclbles."     Parnell,  ever  so  helpful  in  a  crisis, 
collapsed.     He  wished  to  resign  at  once.     He  told  his  friends  of 
his  resolve  to  retire  from  public  life  for  ever,  and  wrote  to  Glad- 
stone and  asking  his  opinion  in  relation  to  his  leadership.     All  of 
them  advised  him  to  stay  on.     The  Arrears  Act  was  passed  and 
Parnell  was  bent  more  than  ever  on  slowing  down  the  agitation. 
It  transpired  from  O'Shea's  evidence  at  the   Times   Commission 
that  he  was  thinking  of  this  as  early  as  June  1881.     The  Ladies' 
Land  League  languished  for  lack  of  funds  w'hich  Parnell  refused 
to  supply.     On  the  other  hand  the  landlords  were  as  greedy  for 
their  pound  of  flesh  as  ever.     Mr.  George  Trevelyan,  the  new  Chief 
Secretary,  admitted  in  Parliament  that  in  three  days  one  hundred 
and  fifty  families,  numbering  seven  hundred  and  fifty  persons,  were 
e\'icted  in  one  district  alone,  for  arrears  of  the  bad  years — which 
they  were  no  more  able  to  pay  than  they  were  to  pay  the  National 
Debt. 

There  was  now  no  National  Organisation,  and  so  the  "Na- 
tional League"  was  foundad,  wich  Home  Rule,  land  reform,  local 
self-government,  parliamentary  and  municipal  reform  as  the  planks 
in  its  platform.    As  the  nefw  League  was  to  pursue  a  parliamentary 


648  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

poliq^  it  followed  that  It  would  be  under  Parnell's  control.  The 
party  could  not  quarrel  with  its  leader  in  face  of  the  enemy,  and 
there  was  no  question  of  any  other  leader.  His  dictatorship,  about 
which  so  much  ink  has  been  spilled,  was  forced  on  him  by  his  per- 
sonahty,  by  the  admiration  of  his  followers,  and  the  circumstances 
of  the  fight.  And  until  1881,  at  least,  he  acted  in  consultation 
with  his  colleagues  on  matters  of  importance,  and  of  his  own 
initiative  in  matters  of  emergency,  when  none  other  could  so  thor- 
oughly grasp  the  facts  of  a  situation  and  act  so  promptly  and 
effectively  as  himself. 

The  Phoenix  Park  tragedy  led  to  further  coercion.  A  Crimes 
Bill  was  introduced.  Trial  by  Jury  in  certain  specified  cases  was 
abolished.  In  proclaimed  districts  any  dwelling  might  be  entered 
and  searched  at  any  hour  of  day  or  night.  Secret  courts  of  en- 
quiry were  Instituted,  newspapers  might  be  suppressed,  meetings 
banned  and  dispersed  by  force. 

There  were  many  murders  and  other  outrages  in  1882,  an 
exceptionally  bad  one  at  Maamtrasna  on  the  borders  of  Mayo  and 
Galway  where  a  whole  family,  with  the  exception  of  one  son,  was 
destroyed.  One  of  those  accused  of  complicity  in  this  crime, 
Myles  Joyce,  died  protesting  his  innocence,  and  later  the  informer 
who  swore  his  life  away  admitted  to  Doctor  MacEvilly,  Arch- 
bishop of  Tuam,  that  Joyce  was  innocent.  The  Government, 
however,  was  deaf  to  all  requests  to  grant  an  enquiry  to  clear  the 
memory  of  an  Innocent  man. 

The  arrest  and  trial,  in  the  beginning  of  1883,  of  .persons  sup- 
posed to  have  been  implicated  in  the  Phoenix  Park  murders  gave 
Forster  what  he  considered  a  fine  opportunity  of  turning  the  tables 
on  Parnell.  They  were  arrested  in  January  and  the  enquiry  began 
in  February.  One  of  them,  James  Carey,  was  wiled  by  detective 
Mallon  Into  turning  Queen's  evidence.  He  was  given  to  think 
that  others  had  given  information.  His  wife  helped  to  entrap 
him  by  some  facts  she  communicated  to  Mallon  In  order  to  secure 
his  release.  Five  of  the  conspirators  were  hanged  and  others 
sent  into  penal  servitude.  Carey  was  sent  abroad,  was  Identified 
on  the  high  seas  by  a  fellow-passenger,  Patrick  O'Donnell  of  Done- 
gal, and  shot  dead.    O'Donnell  was  taken  to  England  and  hanged. 

Various  details  of  the  evidence  gave  hope  that  a  case  might 
be  made  convicting  Parnell  of  complicity  in  the  crime.  Carey  was 
a  Home  Ruler.  An  official  of  the  National  League  of  England, 
was  implicated.  The  knives  with  which  the  deed  was  done  had 
been  secreted  in  the  London  office  of  the  National  League  and 
brought  to  Dublin  by  this  man's  wife.     These  "revelations,"  ex- 


THE  LADIES'  LAND  LEAGUE  649 

ploited  in  the  London  press,  gave  Forstcr  his  chance  which  he 
was  not  slow  to  take. 

In  February,  '83,  there  was  a  debate  on  Irish  poHcy.  Mr. 
Forster  made  an  able  speech  showing  that  crime  had  followed 
the  footsteps  of  the  Land  League  and  holding  Parnell  responsible 
for  them,  not  for  having  personally  planned  or  perpetrated  out- 
rage or  murder  but  for  having  connived  at  them  or  at  least  for  not 
having  used  his  influence  to  stop  them. 

The  House  was  agog  with  excitement  to  hear  Parnell's  reply 
to  this  terrible  indictment.  There  was  no  reply,  Parnell  held 
his  scat  as  if  nothing  had  happened;  he  was  the  one  unexcited  man 
in  the  Assembly.  He  was  called  on  loudly  from  all  parts  of  the 
House;  his  own  colleagues  were  amazed;  and  begged  him  to  re- 
ply. Parnell  refused.  The  debate  was  kept  going  by  an  English 
member's  intervention.  Grudgingly  Parnell  yielded  at  length  to 
the  entreaties  of  his  followers  and  moved  the  adjournment. 

The  following  day  he  replied  to  Forster  in  a  memorable  speech 
in  which  he  scorned  to  defend  himself  to  England  and  an  English 
Parliament.  In  the  course  of  it  he  said:  "I  have  been  accustomed 
during  my  political  life  to  rely  upon  the  public  opinion  of  those 
whom  I  have  desired  to  help,  and  with  whose  aid  I  have  worked 
for  the  cause  of  prosperity  and  freedom  in  Ireland,  and  the  utmost 
I  desire  to  do  in  the  very  few  words  I  shall  address  to  the  House 
is  to  make  my  position  clear  to  the  Irish  people  at  home  and 
abroad." 

There  spoke  the  real  Parnell.  He  scorned  to  defend  himself 
before  an  English  tribunal.  The  Irish  people  and  they  alone 
should  be  the  judges  of  his  policy  and  of  his  actions.  His  sole 
power  as  leader  was  based  on  the  driving  force  of  organised  Irish 
opinion.  With  that  behind  him  he  could  deal  independently  with 
either  Liberals  or  Tories. 

From  1882  Parnell  was  frequently  absent  for  long  periods 
from  the  House  of  Commons,  so  much  so  as  to  mystify  his  fol- 
lowers who  at  times  of  great  stress  did  not  know  where  to  find 
him.  There  were  many  reasons  for  this.  One — the  least  power- 
ful, perhaps — was  failing  health.  Another  was  that  events  in  Ire- 
land and  the  increase  in  the  number  of  outrages  and  the  growth  of 
secret  societies  made  him  feel  that  It  was  necessary  that  Ireland 
after  her  fierce  struggle  should  be  allowed  to  settle  down.  He 
was  true  to  his  plighted  word  given  in  the  Kilmainham  Treaty 
that  he  would  help  to  "slow  down"  the  agitation.  But  there  was 
a  third  and  incomparably  more  potent  cause  than  either  of  these; 
the  unhappy  love  entanglement  which  was  to  work  the  ruin  of  his 


6so  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

career  when  he  had  attained  the  zenith  of  his  power  and  triumphed 
over  enemies  who  had  used  every  endeavour  open  and  occult  to 
undermine  his  influence. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  go  into  the  details  of  this  intrigue  except 
in  so  far  as  is  necessary  to  illuminate  some  otherwise  dark  corners 
in  Parnell's  public  life.  Captain  O'Shea,  elected  for  Clare  in 
1880,  had  in  that  same  year  been  introduced  to  Parnell.  Soon 
after,  Parnell  met  Mrs.  O'Shea  under  circumstances  about  which 
accounts  differ.  A  love  affair  soon  developed  between  them  which 
was  sensed  by  O'Shea  in  '81.  A  challenge  came  from  O'Shea 
and  was  accepted  by  Parnell,  but  Mrs.  O'Shea  intervened,  and 
persuaded  her  husband  that  all  was  right,  and  the  incident  was 
apparently  amicably  settled. 

In  the  beginning  of  '83  it  became  known  that  Parnell's  prop- 
erty was  heavily  mortgaged.  A  subscription  list  was  opened,  and 
a  grateful  country  subscribed  generously.  Once  again  English 
intrigue  became  busy  at  Rome.  A  letter  was  issued  forbidding 
ecclesiastics  to  promote  the  Parnell  Testimonial  Fund.  The  testi- 
monial, however,  was  a  great  success  and  reached  a  total  of  close 
on  forty  thousand  pounds. 

A  Bill  amending  the  Land  Act  of  1881  was  introduced  by 
Parnell  soon  after  his  duel  with  Forster,  but  was  rejected  by  two 
hundred  and  fifty  Liberal  and  Tory  votes  to  sixty-three. 

Invited  to  attend  a  convention  in  Philadelphia  to  establish  the 
National  League  in  America,  he  replied  that  his  presence  in  the 
House  of  Commons  was  necessary  just  then,  and  respectfully 
asked  that  the  platform  of  the  American  League  should  be  so 
formed  that  help  might  be  received  from  America  without  giving 
the  English  Government  a  pretext  to  suppress  the  League  in  Ire- 
land. 

The  contest  in  Monaghan  at  which  Gladstone  had  hoped  a 
blow  would  be  struck  at  Parnell's  prestige  took  place  in  the  sum- 
mer of  '83.  Parnell  put  T.  M.  Healy  forward  for  the  seat.  Mr. 
Healy  won.  It  was  not  a  tame  election.  The  Orangemen  arose 
in  their  might,  there  was  much  marching  and  drumming  and  the 
Orange  leaders  advised  their  followers  to  drive  the  rebel  con- 
spirators across  the  Boyne.  "We  are  not  an  aggressive  party," 
said  Mr.  Murray  Ker,  D.L.  "Let  there  be  no  revolver  practice. 
My  advice  to  you  about  revolvers  is,  never  use  a  revolver  except 
you  are  firing  at  someone.'' 

At  this  time  Parnell  was  much  annoyed  by  the  policy  pro- 
claimed in  Patrick  Ford's  Irish  JVorld  advocating  the  use  of  dyna- 


THE  LADILS'  LAND  LEAGUE  651 

mite.  Several  public  buildings,  bridges,  and  railway  stations  were 
attacked.  The  Government  and  the  English  people  were  seriously 
alarmed.  A  less  courageous  leader,  would,  to  save  his  reputation 
with  the  English,  have  dissociated  himself  from  a  policy  he  de- 
tested. He  did  nothing  of  the  kind.  lie  cared  nothing  about 
English  opinion.  Said  Lord  Randolph  Churchill  to  him  on  one 
occasion,  "I  suppose  you  would  object  to  having  a  bomb  thrown 
into  the  House  of  Commons;  you  would  not  like  to  be  blown  up 
even  by  an  Irishman."  "I  am  not  so  sure  of  that,"  replied  Par- 
nell,  *';'/  iherc  zvcre  a  call  of  the  Housed 

In  1884  Parnell  began  to  show  occasional  signs  of  his  former 
activity  and  influence.  After  the  Monaghan  election  he  was  in 
practical  retirement  until  in  April  1884  he  attended  a  meeting  at 
Drogheda  where,  without  the  slightest  discourtesy  to  Davitt,  he 
denounced  his  policy  of  Land  Nationalisation,  and  disposed  of 
any  chance  it  might  have  of  gaining  a  following. 

In  1885  the  General  Election  was  imminent.  Parnell  became 
mildly  active.  At  Cork  in  January  he  made  the  famous  declara- 
tion which  is  inseparably  connected  with  his  name,  and  in  part 
inscribed  on  his  monument  in  O'Connell  Street,  Dublin: 

"We  cannot  ask  for  less  than  the  restitution  of  Grattan's  Par- 
liament, with  its  important  privileges  and  wide,  far-reaching  con- 
stitution. We  cannot,  under  the  British  constitution,  ask  for  more 
than  the  restitution  of  Grattan's  Parliament.  But  no  man  has  a 
right  to  fix  a  boundary  to  the  march  of  a  nation.  No  man  has  a 
right  to  say,  'Thus  far  shalt  thou  go,  and  no  further.'  We  have 
never  attempted  to  fix  the  ne  plus  ultra  to  the  progress  of  Ireland's 
nationhood,  and  we  never  shall." 

He  visited  Cork,  Ennis  and  a  few  other  places  in  Ireland.  In 
April  the  Prince  and  Princess  of  Wales  were  to  visit  Ireland. 
Parnell  defined  in  United  Ireland  the  duty  of  Nationalists  with 
regard  to  the  reception  they  should  receive.  It  was  to  let  them 
come  and  go  without  allowing  the  hospitable  nature  and  cordial 
disposition  of  the  Irish  people  to  carry  them  into  any  attitude 
which  might  be  taken  as  one  of  condonation  for  the  past,  or  satis- 
faction for  the  present  state,  of  Irish  affairs.  Nor  did  he  fail  to 
point  out  the  indecency  of  using  royalty  as  an  electioneering  dodge, 
not  against  a  party  but  against  the  Irish  nation.  By  sending  over 
Wales  it  was  sought  to  free  whichever  English  party  was  returned 
to  power  from  their  obligations  to  Ireland.  If  Wales  got  an  en- 
thusiastic reception,  then  Ireland,  apart  from  a  icw  anarchists 
here  and  there,  was  contented;  if  a  hostile,  then  the  Irish  were 


652  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

a  people  whom  no  measure  would  content;  who  after  the  settle- 
ment of  the  land  question  would  dare  to  insult  the  future  king,  who, 
of  course,  is  above  politics.     And  so  forth. 

Parnell  in  1885  had  his  powers  as  a  politician  taxed  to  the 
utmost.  He  decided  to  play  three  men  against  one  another — 
Gladstone,  Lord  Randolph  Churchill — a  free-lance  Tory — and 
Chamberlain — a  free-lance  Liberal.  He  hoped  nothing  from  any 
English  party  or  politician,  except  in  so  far  as  there  was  an  axe 
to  grind  which  could  be  ground  only  on  the  Irish  question.  He 
decided  to  beat  the  Liberals  with  the  Irish  vote  and  succeeded  on 
a  taxation  question.  Gladstone  resigned.  Without  a  dissolution 
of  Parliament  the  Tories  came  into  power,  Lord  Salisbury  as 
Prime  Minister. 

The  Tories,  in  their  ticklish  position,  were  like  cooing  doves 
toward  the  Irish  question.  The  Crimes  Act  which  was  due  for 
renewal,  and  which  Gladstone  had  intended  to  renew,  was  dropped. 
A  new  Land  Act  was  introduced  by  Lord  Ashbourne  in  the  House 
of  Lords.  It  was  a  fairly  good  Act,  providing  £5,000,000  for 
advances  to  tenants  to  buy  their  holdings,  principal  and  interest 
at  4%  to  be  paid  in  forty-nine  years.  Lord  Carnarvon,  the  newly 
appointed  Lord  Lieutenant,  had  private  interviews  with  Parnell 
and  Sir  Charles  Gavan  Duffy  in  which  he  declared  himself  per- 
sonally in  favour  of  Irish  self-government.  Parnell  assumed  that 
this  was  the  feeling,  also,  of  the  Tory  Cabinet.  In  that,  it  trans- 
pired later,  he  was  mistaken.  While  Carnarvon,  personally,  may 
have  been  sincere,  he  was  the  envoy  of  an  English  party  with  an 
election  pending.     The  dissolution  was  fixed  for  November  1885. 

On  July  29th  Lord  Salisbury  made  overtures  for  the  Irish 
vote.  There  was  no  further  reason  for  coercion  in  Ireland.  The 
voice  of  the  people  should  be  heard. 

A  week  later  Parnell  opened  his  campaign  In  statesmanlike 
fashion,  declaring  for  Home  Rule  and  it  alone.  On  August  24th 
at  Dublin  he  said: 

"I  say  that  each  and  all  of  us  have  only  looked  upon  the  Acts 
we  have  been  able  to  wring  from  an  unwilling  Parliament  as  a 
means  to  an  end  ...  I  hope  that  it  may  not  be  necessary  for  us 
m  the  new  Parliament  to  devote  our  attention  to  subsidiary  meas- 
ures, and  that  it  may  be  possible  for  us  to  have  a  programme  and 
a  platform  with  only  one  plank,  and  that  one  plank  National  In- 
dependence." 

It  was  a  clever  stroke.  Now  the  rival  statesmen  must  declare 
their  colours.  The  first  to  do  so  was  Lord  Hartington,  the  Liberal. 
He  declared  that  all  England  would  unite  to  resist  "so  fatal  and 


THE  LADIES'  LAND  LEAGUE  653 

mischievous  a  proposal."  Parncll  replied  that  many  similar  mis- 
chievous proposals  had  become  law,  and  that  Ireland  would  have 
self-government  or  I\ngland  would  have  to  govern  her  as  a  Crown 
Colony.  Lord  Kantlolph  Churciiill  spoke  soon  after.  He  was 
mute  regarding  Parnell's  ultimatum.  Next  came  Chamberlain, 
*'Speaking  for  myself,"  he  said,  "if  these  and  these  alone  are  the 
terms  on  which  Mr.  Parnell's  support  is  to  be  obtained,  I  will  not 
enter  into  competition  for  it."  John  Morley  followed  with  a  sug- 
gestion of  Home  Rule  on  the  Canadian  system.  Gladstone  then 
came  along  with  the  Hawarden  manifesto: 

"In  my  opinion,  not  now  for  the  first  time  delivered,  the  limit 
is  clear  within  which  the  desires  of  Ireland,  constitutionally  ascer- 
tained, may,  and  beyond  which  they  cannot,  receive  the  assent  of 
Parliament.  To  maintain  the  supremacy  of  the  Crown,  the  unity 
of  the  Empire,  and  all  the  authority  of  Parliament  necessary  for 
the  conservation  of  that  unity,  is  the  first  duty  of  every  representa- 
tive of  the  people.  Subject  to  this  governing  principle,  every  grant 
to  portions  of  the  country  of  enlarged  powers  for  the  manage- 
ment of  their  own  affairs  is,  in  my  view,  not  a  source  of  danger, 
but  a  means  of  averting  it,  and  is  in  the  nature  of  a  new  guarantee 
for  increased  cohesion,  happiness  and  strength.  I  believe  history 
and  posterity  will  consign  to  disgrace  the  memory  of  every  man, 
be  he  who  he  may,  on  whichever  side  of  the  channel  he  may  dwell, 
that,  having  the  power  to  aid  in  an  equitable  arrangement  between 
Ireland  and  Great  Britain,  shall  use  the  power,  not  to  aid,  but 
to  prevent  or  retard  it." 

Lord  Salisbury  was  next  with  an  ambiguous  statement  which 
left  one  wondering  what  his  attitude  was.  Then  Mr.  Childers, 
Gladstone's  friend,  gave  his  views : 

"He  was  ready,  he  said,  to  give  Ireland  a  large  measure  of 
local  self-government.  Lie  would  have  her  to  legislate  for  herself, 
reserving  Imperial  rights  over  foreign  policy,  military  organisa- 
tion, external  trade  (including  customs  duties),  the  post  office, 
the  currency,  the  national  debt,  and  the  court  of  ultimate  appeal." 

Parnell  felt  that  this  last  statement  represented  Gladstone's 
views.  He  resolved  to  make  sure.  But  Gladstone  refused  to  be 
drawn.  So  Parnell,  having  listened  long  enough  to  the  bidding, 
brought  down  the  hammer  in  favour  of  the  Tories. 

The  result  of  the  election  was : 

Liberals   335 

Tories    249 

Liberal  Majority    86 


654  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

Parnell  had  a  following  of  86.  He  could  give  the  Liberals  a 
majority  of  172  if  they  did  his  bidding.  If  not  they  went  out  of 
power.     He  had  won. 

The  Parliament  of  1886  opened  with  the  Tories  still  in  power. 
The  Queen's  speech  showed  how  hollow  had  been  the  Tory  pro- 
fessions of  sympathy  with  Ireland's  aspirations.  There  was  not 
a  word  in  the  speech  about  Home  Rule,  but  there  was  a  promise 
of  further  coercion.  Lord  Salisbury  in  1885  sang  a  hymn  of  peace; 
now,  having  gained  Parnell's  support  at  the  recent  elections  he 
intoned  a  note  of  menace.  This  was  a  shortsighted  policy.  That 
very  night  Parnell  drove  him  from  office. 

Mr.  Gladstone  assumed  power  once  more.  Allied  with  the 
Irish  party  he  would  have  a  possible  one  hundred  and  seventy-two 
majority.  But  it  was  evident  also  that  there  would  be  dissension 
in  his  own  ranks  on  the  Home  Rule  question.  Hope  was  mingled 
with  doubt. 

John  Morley  became  Chief  Secretary  for  Ireland.  A  consist- 
ent opponent  of  coercion,  his  appointment  was  welcome,  and  he 
was  a  Home  Ruler  in  conviction,  the  Irish  demand  having  been 
made  overwhelmingly  clear. 

Gladstone  lost  no  time  in  framing  his  Home  Rule  Bill.  It 
was  anything  but  a  satisfactory  solution  of  the  Irish  question.  The 
financial  clauses  in  particular  were  unjust  to  Ireland.  There  were 
frequent  negotiations  between  Parnell  and  Gladstone  on  this  point, 
but  Gladstone  held  his  ground.  Chamberlain  was  a  possible  dan- 
ger. Gladstone  had  frequent  discussions  with  him  but  neither 
could  Chamberlain  convert  Gladstone  to  his  scheme  of  local  coun- 
cils nor  could  Gladstone  be  persuaded  to  depart  from  the  principle 
of  an  Irish  Government.  Parnell  was  not  enthusiastic  about  the 
measure,  but  finally  the  Irish  party  decided  to  support  it. 

While  the  negotiations  were  in  progress  an  event  occurred 
which  shows  us  the  might  of  Parnell's  personality  and  the  mean 
subterfuge  to  which  a  guilty  secret  may  reduce  a  proud  and  haughty 
character. 

At  the  election  of  1885  Parnell  had  taken  the  extraordinary 
step  of  running  candidates  for  three  seats  in  Liverpool.  Only  in 
one  could  he  hope  to  win,  in  the  Scotland  division  which  was  T.  P. 
O'Connor's  preserve.  He  nominated  John  Redmond  for  a  second 
division,  and  he,  himself,  offered  to  contest  a  third.  At  the  last 
moment  Parnell  retired,  and  so,  for  reasons  unexplained,  did  the 
Liberal  candidate.  Captain  O'Shea  was  nominated  for  the  seat, 
and  lost  by  a  few  votes.  Parnell  who  had  just  denounced  the  Lib- 
erals in  vitriolic  terms,  had  worked  might  and  main  for  this  par- 


THE  LADIES'  LAND  LEAGUE  655 

ticular  Liberal.  But  stranger  things  were  to  follow.  V.  P.  O'Con- 
nor had  been  elected  for  Galway,  as  well  as  for  the  Liverpool  seat, 
and  had  resigned  his  seat  in  Galway.  Parnell's  nominee  was  Cap- 
tain O'Shea ! 

A  Whig  for  an  Irish  constituency!  O'Connor,  whom  Parnell 
had  interviewed,  and  who  knew  of  his  intentions,  rushed  across 
to  Ireland  hoping  to  have  a  local  candidate  nominated  before  Par- 
nell had  taken  action.  On  reaching  Dublin  he  found  to  his  con- 
sternation that  Parnell  had  forestalled  him.  What  was  he  to  do? 
He  consulted  the  other  members  then  in  Dublin,  and  all  agreed 
with  him  that  it  would  be  treachery  to  Ireland,  at  that  moment  of 
crisis,  to  oppose  Parnell.  Healy  and  Biggar,  however,  believed 
in  straight  dealing,  and  had  taken  the  first  train  to  Galway.  A 
local  candidate  was  put  up — a  Mr.  Lynch — and  during  the  follow- 
ing week  the  two  members  lashed  the  temper  of  Galway  into  fury. 
With  Northern  directness,  and  in  the  plainest  of  language,  Biggar 
laid  bare  the  sordid  secret  supposed  to  underlie  Parnell's  action. 
Parnell  all  this  time  made  no  move.  Wires  to  his  parliamentary 
rooms  remained  unanswered.  Nobody  knew  his  private  address. 
When  it  pleased  him  he  came  over. 

Accompanied  by  O'Connor,  O'Kelly  and  Sexton  he  set  out  for 
Galway.  All  except  himself  were  in  a  fever  of  apprehension.  He 
showed  no  feeling.  Galway  elections  have  always  been  pretty  hot 
affairs,  and  this  occasion  was  exceptional.  The  scene  at  the  Gal- 
way station  exceeded  the  worst  anticipations.  A  howling,  groan- 
ing populace  crowded  all  the  approaches  to  the  Station.  Mr. 
Lynch  was  delivering  an  impassioned  address  from  the  steps  of 
the  Railway  Hotel.  Parnell  coolly  went  to  his  room,  w^ashed  and 
dressed.  Then  he  met  Healy,  Biggar  and  the  others.  Healy,  not 
without  passion,  explained  his  position.  Parnell  listened  quietly. 
Some  reference  to  Parnell's  leadership  had  been  raised.  "I  have 
no  intention  of  resigning  my  position,"  he  said.  "I  would  not  re- 
sign it  if  the  people  of  Galway  were  to  kick  me  through  the  streets 
to-day."  Healy  capitulated.  Biggar  then  felt  he  had  been  badly 
let  down.  Healy  had  deserted  him.  The  local  candidate  was 
called  in,  and  told  what  had  happened.  A  public  meeting  was  held. 
Parnell  faced  an  audience  whose  hostility  was  unmistakable.  In 
the  course  of  a  powerful  speech  he  said:  "I  have  a  parliament 
for  College  Green  within  the  hollow  of  my  hand."  He  referred 
to  the  possible  rejection  of  O'Shea :  "There  will  rise  a  shout," 
he  said,  "from  all  the  enemies  of  Ireland:  'Parnell  is  beaten,  Ire- 
land has  no  longer  a  leader.'  "  The  day  was  won;  O'Shea  was 
elected. 


656  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

Parnell,  however,  was  mistaken.  Gladstone's  Home  Rule  Bill 
was  defeated  by  three  hundred  and  forty-three  to  three  hundred 
and  thirteen  votes,  and  once  more  a  general  election  followed. 
Parnell  and  the  Liberals,  who  were  at  daggers  drawn  in  December, 
1885,  were  now  going  forward  hand  in  hand.  The  election  was 
soon  over  giving  the  Tories  a  majority  over  Irish  and  Liberals  of 
one  hundred  and  eighteen. 

Lord  Salisbury  was  again  in  power  and  would  like  to  score  over 
the  Liberals  by  showing  that  where  Gladstone  had  failed  he  could 
rule  Ireland  without  coercion. 

In  the  end  of  1886  the  Plan  of  Campaign  was  launched  by 
William  O'Brien  and  John  Dillon.  Parnell  was  ill,  and  was  not 
consulted  about  it;  when  it  was  expounded  to  him  he  did  not  like 
it.  The  basis  of  the  plan  was  as  follows:  A  Managing  Commit- 
tee was  to  be  elected  for  each  district.  The  tenants  should  offer 
the  landlord  a  fair  rent:  if  this  was  refused  the  total  fair  rents 
should  be  banked  with  the  Committee,  and  the  Committee  should 
deal  with  the  landlords.  If  the  landlords  refused  to  come  to  terms 
the  money  should  be  used  to  support  evicted  tenants,  and  for  gen- 
eral purposes  of  the  agitation. 

AH  the  turmoil  of  the  early  'eighties  was  renewed  and  continued 
during  1887,  1888,  1889.  Lord  Salisbury  was  convinced  in  1886 
that  revision  of  judicial  rents  fixed  under  the  Act  of  1881  would 
be  "neither  honest  nor  expedient."  In  1887  he  passed  a  Land 
Act  allowing  the  revision  of  these  judicial  rents.  Parnell  was  pres- 
ent and  enjoyed  this  somersault  of  the  Tory  party.  His  own  Bill 
on  similar  lines  had  been  contemptuously  rejected  the  previous 
year.  His  sensible  and  moderate  measure  had  been  rejected;  then 
came  the  Plan  of  Campaign;  and  then  the  Tories  began  to  take 
notice.  Herein  we  have  an  epitome  of  the  history  of  all  ameliora- 
tive legislation  by  England  for  Ireland. 

But,  of  course,  the  Land  Bill  only  came  after  a  stringent  Coer- 
cion Bill.  This  gave  Gladstone  and  the  Liberals  a  fine  opportunity 
of  poking  fun  at  Salisbury,  the  pacifist  of  1885.  Mr.  Arthur 
Balfour,  nephew  of  the  Prime  Minister,  had  by  this  time  become 
Chief  Secretary.  He  ably  supported  the  Bill  which  became  law, 
and  made  himself  responsible  for  carrying  it  out,  and  right  loyally 
did  he  execute  his  task.  He  proclaimed  the  National  League  a 
month  after  the  Act  was  passed.  League  rooms  were  entered, 
literature  and  accounts  carried  away,  meetings  and  newspapers 
suppressed.  Resident  Magistrates  alone  sat  on  the  bench,  political 
prisoners  were  treated  as  ordinary  criminals,  police  and  military 
in  enormous  numbers  were  disposed  through  the  country,   with 


THi:  LADIJ;S'  LAND  LEAGUE  657 

orders  "not  to  hesitate  to  shoot."  Priests  identified  with  the  move- 
ment could  not  go  on  a  sick  call  without  being  tracked  by  police 
spies.  Collisions  occurred  in  all  parts  of  the  country,  with  casual- 
ties on  both  sides,  but  naturally  the  unarmed  people  were  at  a 
disadvantage,  and  there  were  several  civilian  deaths  from  stabbing 
and  gunshot,  A  boy  was  sent  to  prison  for  grinning  at  a  police- 
man; a  girl  of  twelve  for  conspiracy  to  obstruct  the  sheriff's 
officers;  a  man  for  winking  in  the  market  place,  at  the  pig  of  a  boy- 
cotted one.  The  worst  case  was  that  of  Alitchelstown  in  Septem- 
ber, 1887.  A  public  meeting  was  held.  English  as  well  as  Irish 
speakers,  including  Mr.  Dillon,  were  present.  A  Government  re- 
porter arriving  late,  with  a  police  escort,  tried  to  force  his  way 
through  the  crowd.  The  peaceful  people  were  jostled  about,  and 
exasperated  by  this  attack  on  free  speech,  attacked  their  assailants 
with  sticks.  The  latter  retired  to  barracks  and  from  this  vantage 
ground  deliberately  fired  on  the  multitude.  Three  men  were  killed 
and  a  verdict  of  wilful  murder  was  returned  against  the  police  at 
the  coroner's  inquest,  but  no  action  was  taken.  John  Mandeville 
of  Mitchelstown  died  as  a  result  of  brutal  treatment  in  prison. 
Thus,  in  Ireland,  was  celebrated  the  Jubilee  Year  of  the  Queen 
of  England's  reign. 

United  Ireland  in  those  days  was  spicy  reading.  Those  of  us 
who  were  children  at  the  time  enjoyed  weekly  the  cartoons  of  Bal- 
four, who  was  presented  to  us  spider-legged,  malevolent,  and 
waspish  in  appearance.  It  came  as  a  surprise  to  us  in  later  years 
to  learn  that  Balfour,  brutal  as  he  proved  himself  in  practice,  was 
a  philosopher  of  parts  and  had  written  books! 

Balfour,  having  imprisoned  at  least  three  distinguished  priests 
— Canon  Keller  of  Youghal,  Father  Matt  Ryan  of  Tipperary, 
and  Father  McFadden  of  Gweedore,  appealed  for  assistance  to 
the  Pope.  Cardinal  Persico  was  sent  to  Ireland.  In  1888  was 
issued  a  Papal  Rescript  condemning  the  Plan  of  Campaign.  Car- 
dinal Persico  was,  of  course,  blamed  for  this;  but  truth  will  out. 
The  Persico  letters  have  been  since  published,  and  it  is  now  known 
that  he  was  blameless.  The  Rescript  was  the  result  of  English 
diplomacy  at  Rome. 

But  worse  things  were  coming.  A  sinister  plot  to  ruin  Parnell 
was  started  in  England.  In  the  spring  of  1887  a  series  of  articles 
in  the  London  Times  appeared  under  the  heading  ParnclUsm  and 
Crime.  Alleged  letters  of  Parnell  were  used  for  the  purpose  of 
connecting  him  witb  the  Phoenix  Park  murders,  and  the  physical 
force  movement  generally.  Parnell  at  last  demanded  a  select 
committee  of  the  House  of  Commons  to  inquire  into  the  matter. 


6s 8  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

Instead,  the  Government  appointed  a  special  commission  of  three 
judges  to  make  the  enquiry.  The  commission  was  given  cartt- 
blanche  to  open  up  the  whole  conduct  of  the  agitation  in  Ireland. 
Not  Parnell  alone  but  all  Ireland  was  in  the  dock. 

Witnesses  came  in  droves.  Spies,  policemen,  officials,  farmers, 
agents,  informers — all  were  baited  with  gold  into  the  net  of  the 
Times. 

Time  dragged  wearily  on  until  in  February  1889  Richard  Pig- 
gott  entered  the  witness  chair.  He  was  well  known  as  an  impecu- 
nious journalist,  always  "on  the  make."  In  1888  he  appHed  to 
Forster  offering  to  assist  the  Government  for  a  trifle  of  £1,500 
down,  and  then  to  Patrick  Egan  offering  to  assist  the  League  on 
similar  terms.  But  let  his  variegated  career  pass.  He  went  into 
the  witness-box,  gave  his  evidence,  and  then  Sir  Charles  Russell, 
Parnell's  Counsel,  took  him  in  hands.  Handing  him  pen  and  paper 
Russell  put  him  through  a  spelling  exercise.  The  last  word  dic- 
tated was  "hesitancy."  Piggott  spelled  it  "hesitency,"  So  was  it 
spelled  in  one  of  the  alleged  facsimile  letters!  But  Russell  had 
another  rod  in  pickle.  Four  days  before  the  letters  appeared  in 
the  Times  Piggott  had  written  to  Doctor  Walsh,  Archbishop  of 
Dublin,  saying  that  a  plot  was  laid  for  Parnell,  that  certain  in- 
criminatory letters  were  to  be  published,  and  how  should  he  warn 
the  National  leaders?  Piggott  fell  to  pieces.  He  contradicted 
himself  hopelessly.  Everything  was  clear.  Copies  of  Archbishop 
Walsh's  replies  to  him  were  produced  in  Court. 

The  unfortunate  man  cleared  the  country  at  once  and  was  traced 
to  Madrid.  Here  at  his  hotel  a  Spanish  Inspector  of  Police  called. 
Piggott  retired  to  his  room,  took  up  a  pistol  and  blew  out  his 
brains.  Interest  in  the  commission  was  now  at  an  end.  When 
it  resumed  its  adjourned  session  Mr.  Biggar  addressed  the  judges. 
He  spoke  for  some  twenty  minutes,  not  wishing  to  occupy  their 
time  as  his  friend,  Mr.  Davitt,  wished  to  make  a  few  observations. 
Mr.  Davitt's  remarks  only  occupied  five  days! 

One  interesting  question  remains.  It  is  this.  Who  paid  for 
Piggott's  passage  and  expenses  to  Madrid? 


CHAPTER  LXXVI 

FALL  OF  PARNELL  AND  OF  PARLIAMENTARIANISM 

Parnell  v/as  now  the  man  of  the  hour.  He  had  triumphed  over 
all  who  had  crossed  his  path.  He  had  broken  Forster;  he  had 
humbled  even  Gladstone.  He  had  beaten  the  most  elaborate  con- 
spiracy ever  launched  against  a  politician  and  supported  by  one 
of  the  greatest  newspaper  syndicates  in  the  world.  Again  and 
again  he  had  changed  the  tune  of  the  Government  from  "the  Gov- 
ernment will''  to  "the  Government  must."  He  was  feted  and 
lionised;  he  was  entertained  by  exclusive  clubs,  and  was  the  guest 
of  honour  at  such  society  functions  as  he  would  attend.  He  was 
presented  with  the  freedom  of  the  city  of  Edinburgh.  His  recep- 
tion in  the  House  of  Commons  was  flattering  in  the  extreme,  and 
on  one  occasion  when  some  murmurs  arose  from  the  Tory  benches 
against  the  assertion  of  a  member  that  the  case  against  him  was 
based  on  forgery,  he  rose  in  his  place  and  dared  any  member  of 
that  body  in  the  House  to  indicate  by  word,  or  nod,  or  gesture 
that  he  did  not  believe  this  to  be  the  case.  There  was  no  response. 
He  seemed  absolutely  master  of  the  situation,  the  dictator  of  pol- 
icy, the  ruling  force  in  the  House  of  Commons,  unquestioned  chief 
of  his  own  party  by  dint  of  his  personality,  and  master  of  other 
parties  by  reason  of  his  magnificent  and  seemingly  instinctive  di- 
plomacy.    And  then  the  blow  fell ! 

Captain  O'Shea,  who  had  given  what  was  meant  to  be  damag- 
ing proof  against  him  at  the  Times  Commission,  filed  a  petition  for 
divorce  against  his  wife,  naming  Parnell  as  co-respondent.  There 
was  no  defence,  and  no  appearance  for  the  defence.  Parnell 
ignored  the  whole  business  as  if  it  were  of  no  importance,  what- 
ever. When  the  decree  was  made  absolute  he  promptly  married 
Mrs.  O'Shea. 

If  others  had  taken  matters  as  coolly  as  Parnell,  it  might  have 
been  better.^  But  a  meeting  of  the  party  was  called  at  the  Leinster 
Hall,  Dublin,  and  a  resolution  of  confidence  in  Parnell's  leader- 
ship was  passed.  The  delegates  at  the  time  in  America — O'Con- 
nor, O' Kelly,  O'Brien,  Dillon  and  others  were  asked  to  cable  a 

659 


66o  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

resolution  of  confidence  in  Parnell,  and  this  was  in  due  course 
done.  Mr.  T.  D.  Sullivan  alone,  of  those  in  contact  with  each 
other,  reserved  judgment.  He  was  sharply  criticised  for  his  reti- 
cence, but  he  had  this  consolation :  that  while  the  others  went  back 
on  their  words  later,  he  had  nothing  to  retract. 

A  meeting  of  the  Irish  Party  was  held,  and  Parnell  was  re- 
elected sessional  chairman  without  a  dissentient  voice.  It  was 
known  to  Justin  McCarthy,  and  must  also  have  been  known  to 
Parnell,  that  Gladstone  had  prepared  a  letter  in  which  he  stated 
that  Parnell's  continuance  in  the  leadership  of  the  Irish  Party  would 
be  productive  of  consequences  disastrous  in  the  highest  degree  to 
the  cause  of  Ireland  and  would  render  his  retention  of  the  leader- 
ship of  the  Liberal  party  almost  a  nullity. 

This  was  the  letter  of  a  political  strategist.  Gladstone  did  not 
say  that  he  would  resign  his  leadership.  Pie  did  not  say  that  he 
would  wash  his  hands  of  legislation  for  Ireland.  In  plain  fact  he 
said  nothing  tangible  at  all,  except  that  Parnell's  leadership  pleased 
him  no  longer. 

Parnell  replied  In  a  long  manifesto  which  he  submitted  to  a 
number  of  members  of  his  party — the  Redmonds,  O' Kelly,  Leamy, 
Col.  Nolan,  Justin  McCarthy.  He  asked  not  to  be  thrown  to  the 
"English  wolves,"  now  howling  for  his  destruction.  He  disclosed 
all  his  negotiations  with  the  Liberals,  and  showed  that  his  chair- 
manship from  the  Liberal  point  of  view  did  not  matter  in  the  least; 
that  Liberals  would  proceed  on  their  pre-arranged  plans  whether 
he  was  leader  or  not,  but  that  as  leader  he  might  be  able  to  counter 
them.  Bribes  offered  him  by  the  Liberals  he  disclosed:  the  Chief 
Secretaryship  for  himself;  one  of  the  law-officerships  of  the  Crown 
for  a  colleague,  and  so  forth.  He  had  rejected  all  these  offers 
valuing  the  independence  of  his  party  m.ore  than  anything  else. 
He  lifted  a  corner  of  the  veil  which  had  screened  his  negotiations 
with  the  Liberals,  and  pointed  out  that  his  leadership  had  nothing 
to  do  with  Liberal  policy  which  was  settled  and  in  gear,  though 
possibly  It  might  interfere  with  Its  smooth  working  if  he  was  con- 
tinued in  power. 

There  was  a  moment  of  tension.  Then  Justin  McCarthy  spoke. 
He  disapproved  of  the  manifesto  from  beginning  to  end.  Par- 
nell urged  him  for  particulars.  He  objected  to  It  all  especially 
the  words  "English  wolves."  "I  will  not  change  them,"  Parnell 
said,  "whatever  goes  out,  these  zuords  shall  not  go  out"  The 
"split"  was  thenceforward  in  being. 

In  the  heart  of  the  controversy  which  followed  the  truth  was 
submerged  under  ex-parte  pleadings  on  either  side.    Gladstone  was 


FALL  OF  PARNELL  66i 

accused  of  sacrificing  Parnell,  though  for  years  he  had  been  well 
aware  of  the  relations  between  Parnell  and  Mrs.  O'Shea.  Mrs. 
O'Shca  had  in  fact  acted  as  envoy  to  him,  again  and  again,  from 
Parnell.  But  in  fair  play  it  must  be  said  that  whatever  Gladstone 
suspected  lie  had  no  proof.  When  the  matter  became  public  he  had 
to  consider  the  attitude  of  his  party  and  electorate  and  was  not 
really  one  of  the  "English  wolves,"  though  for  aught  we  know  he 
may  have  been  glad  of  Parnell's  downfall.  Morley  was  asked  if 
Parnell  would  retire  if  found  guilty.  "He  will  not,"  said  Morley, 
"he  will  remain  where  he  is,  and  he  is  quite  right." 

The  Irish  Party  met.  Parnell  simply  asked  them  not  to  sell 
him  without  getting  his  value.  "Gentlemen,"  said  Parnell,  "it  is 
not  for  you  to  act  in  this  matter.  You  are  dealing  with  a  man  who 
is  an  unrivalled  sophist.  You  are  dealing  with  a  man  to  whom  it 
is  as  impossible  to  give  a  direct  answer  to  a  plain  and  simple  ques- 
tion, as  it  is  for  me  impossible  to  give  an  Indirect  answer  to  a  piam 
and  simple  question.  You  are  dealing  with  a  man  who  is  capable 
of  appealing  to  the  constituencies  for  a  majority  which  would 
make  him  independent  of  the  Irish  Party.  And  if  I  surrender  to 
him,  if  I  give  up  my  position  to  him — if  you  throw  me  to  him,  I 
say,  gentlemen,  that  it  is  your  bounden  duty  to  see  that  you  secure 
value  for  the  sacrifice.  How  can  you  secure  this  value?  You  can 
secure  this  value  by  making  up  your  minds  as  to  what  these  provi- 
sions in  the  next  Home  Rule  Bill  should  be." 

Envoys  of  the  party  called  on  Mr.  Gladstone  and  they  learned 
the  nothing  which  deputations  learn  of  Cabmet  Ministers.  It  was 
a  duel  between  Parnell  and  Gladstone.  The  latter  Vv^on.  On  De- 
cember 6th,  1890,  Mr.  Justin  McCarthy  withdrew  with  forty-four 
followers;  Parnell  w^as  left  with  twenty-six. 

Then  came  the  Kilkenny  election  and  Parnell  crossed  over  to 
Ireland.  But  before  going  to  Kilkenny  there  was  work  to  be  done 
in  Dublin.  United  Ireland  bought  by  Parnell,  and  for  long  bril- 
liantly edited  by  William  O'Brien,  had,  under  the  direction  of 
Mathias  McD.  Bodkin,  gone  over  to  the  enemy!  On  the  morning 
of  December  i8th,  1890,  a  call  was  made  at  the  office.  A  Fenian, 
a  follower  of  Parnell,  approached  the  acting  editor  and  said: 
"Matty,  w'lll  you  walk  out,  or  would  you  like  to  be  thrown  out?" 
Matty  decided  for  the  less  exciting  manner  of  exit. 

That  night,  at  a  w'onderful  meeting  In  the  Rotunda,  Parnell 
spoke  a  sentence  that  lived  for  ever  In  the  hearts  of  those  who 
heard  it,  and  ought  to  live  in  the  hearts  of  their  descendants.  He 
said: 

"I  don't  pretend  that  I  had  not  moments  of  trial  and  of  tempta- 


662  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

tion,  but  I  do  claim  that  never  in  thought,  word,  or  deed,  have  I 
been  false  to  the  trust  which  Irishmen  have  confided  in  me." 

Next  morning  before  setting  out  for  Cork  he  had  to  re-conquer 
United  Ireland  which  had  been  re-captured  by  the  enemy.  With 
the  assistance  of  a  vast  crowd  he  did  so,  and  then  drove  to  Kings- 
bridge  and  took  his  train  for  Cork.  An  immense  crowd  followed 
him  to  the  terminus  at  Kingsbridge  and  Parnell  made  a  royal  de- 
parture declaring  that  what  Dublin  said  to-day  all  Ireland  would 
say  to-morrow. 

There  were  disappointments  ahead,  however.  His  candidate 
for  a  by-election  in  Kilkenny  was  beaten  by  two  to  one,  and  a 
little  later  in  North  Sligo  the  Parnellite  candidate  met  with  a  simi- 
lar fate.  Later  his  candidate  was  defeated  in  Carlow.  It  was 
obvious  that  Parnell  either  miscalculated  the  forces  against  him, 
or  was  determined  to  fight  to  the  last  even  if  he  fought  alone. 

By  the  end  of  the  year  Mr.  William  O'Brien  had  returned  from 
America  to  France.  There  was  a  whitewashed  cell  awaiting  him 
In  Ireland,  and  he  decided  to  remain,  for  the  time  being,  in  Bou- 
logne. Here  Parnell,  in  the  Interests  of  peace,  agreed  to  meet 
him.  O'Brien,  however,  found  Parnell  unyielding.  This  is  not 
surprising,  inasmuch  as  the  terms  of  peace  suggested  by  Mr. 
O'Brien  were  such,  and  involved  so  many  people — the  Bishops, 
Gladstone,  and  both  sections  of  the  divided  Irish  Party — that  Par- 
nell saw  at  once  that  a  peace  by  negotiation  was  Impossible  and 
thenceforward  devoted  his  great  gifts  of  strategy  to  sowing  the 
seeds  of  dissension  among  his  opponents.  Ostensibly  he  was  try- 
ing to  get  his  opponents  and  the  peacemakers  to  extract  promises 
from  Gladstone  and  the  Liberals  regarding  details  relating  to  land 
and  the  police  in  any  forthcoming  Home  Rule  Bill — a  re-asser- 
tion of  his  attitude  that  he  should  not  be  sold  for  less  than  his 
price.  He  and  William  O'Brien  were  to  be  the  judges  of  the  value 
of  the  promises  made  by  the  Liberals.  As  was  to  be  expected, 
they  disagreed.  Mr.  O'Brien  seemed  to  be  satisfied  with  a  memo- 
randum containing  the  points  of  a  letter  which  Gladstone  was  pre- 
pared to  publish.  Parnell  was  not.  It  is  not  now,  and  it  was  not 
then,  an  easy  matter  to  decide  whether  Parnell  in  the  course  of 
these  negotiations  was  really  striving  for  peace,  or  waging  diplo- 
matic war.  In  either  case  he  was  forcing  O'Brien  and  the  others 
to  exact  conditions  from  the  Liberals.  In  the  midst  of  much  mis- 
chief he  was  to  this  extent  doing  good,  although  it  has  to  be  ad- 
mitted that  he  openly  mocked  at  the  chance  of  one  of  his  former 
colleagues  getting  any  reliable  guarantee  from  Gladstone,  the  un- 
rivalled sophist.     Still  he  said:     "Some  good  may  come  of  these 


FALL  OF  PARNELL  663 

negotiations.    We  may  pin  the  Liberals  to  something  definite  yet." 
O'Brien  and  Dillon  came  across  to  England  and  were  promptly 
dispatched  to  Galway  jail.     On  their  release,  some  months  later 
they  both  declared  against  Parncll.     On  this  account  they  came 
in  for  a  good  deal  oi"  criticism,  mostly  undeserved.     ParneU's  jibe 
at  them  summarised  and  concentrated  it.     "Some  of  the  seceders," 
he  said,  "the  majority  of  them — have  changed  only  twice.     Mr. 
Dillon  and  Mr.  O'Brien  have  changed  four  times."      It  was  not 
fair;  men  who  are  v/orking  for  peace  may  be  forced  by  circum- 
stances to  make  many  changes,  and  Parnell  himself  had  not  been 
as  consistent  as  he  pretended.     In  fact  it  was  only  after  "the  split" 
that  he  discovered  the  cloven  hoof  of  the  Liberal  party;  up  to 
the  date  of  his  "manifesto"  he  had  been  exploiting  Gladstone  and 
the  alliance  with  the  Liberals.    It  is  true  that  his  strictures  on  Glad- 
stone's propositions  had  reference  to  the  end  of  the  year   1889. 
But  it  is  fairly  evident  that  if  Gladstone's  letter  to  Morley  had  not 
been  published,  if  dissension  had  not  been  fomented  in  the  Irish 
party,  there  would  have  been  no  question  of  Gladstone's  sincerity. 
Parnell  w^orked  very  hard  during  these  few  years  of  strife. 
He  was  far  from  well;  his  medical  advisers  counselled  rest  and 
quiet;  but  Parnell  was  ubiquitous.      He  put  into  this  personal  con- 
flict more  energy  In  one  year  than  he  had  expended  in  the  House 
of  Commons  in  the  preceding  eight.     His  friends  told  him  that  he 
was  killing  himself — but  In  vain. 

In  the  meantime,  the  Tory  Government  was  giving,  along  with 
plenty  of  coercion,  some  "ameliorative"  legislation.  Measures 
were  adopted  to  cope  with  the  failure  of  the  potato  crop.  'Irish 
railway  development  was  taken  in  hand;  a  Bill  for  Land  Purchase 
was  introduced,  and  the  Congested  Districts  Act  was  an  enactment 
that  contained  a  good  deal  of  promise  which  has  been  realised 
only  in  part.  A  new  Board  wa-s  constituted,  but  Its  powers  of  trans- 
fer of  tenants  from  congested  areas  were  so  limited  that  even  to- 
day we  have  families  living  in  absolute  poverty  In  parts  of  Ireland 
while  over  the  rich  plains  of  the  midlands  the  low  of  the  bullock 
has  replaced  the  merry  prattle  of  children,  the  whistle  of  the 
ploughman  behind  his  team,  the  swish  of  the  caman  on  the  hurling 
field  and  the  song  of  the  girls  scutching  flax  or  feeding  the  quaint 
and  beautiful  little  tiiinie.^  Landlordism  had  claimed  the  land. 
The  law  allowed  it  and  the  courts  awarded  It.  The  people  had 
to  go,  and  the  palatial  bawn  represents  scores  of  vanished  home- 
steads.    On  the  outskirts  of  huge,  unpeooled  ranches  we  still  find 

1  Spinning  wheel. 


664  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

a  hardy  and  industrious  race  cultivating  marsh  and  moor,  hoping, 
often  in  vain,  to  take  out  a  crop  before  the  substance  of  the  soil 
is  again  claimed  for  the  support  of  the  rush  and  of  the  heather. 

Irishmen  are  kind  to  the  memory  of  Parnell.  He  sinned,  and 
he  was  punished.  No  other  man — not  even  O'Connell — always 
excepting  men  who  had  sealed  their  allegiance  to  Dark  Rosaleen 
with  their  blood — was  more  dearly  beloved  by  the  Irish  Catholic 
people  than  this  Protestant.  The  people  of  Ireland  were  all  Par- 
nellite  at  heart.  They  did  not  wish  to  opppse  him.  If  he  had 
only  bowed  for  a  time  before  the  storm  he  would  have  come  back 
in  triumph.  But  Parnell  was  too  proud  for  compromise.  He 
would  lead  or  break  the  Irish  Party.  He  tried  diplomacy.  But, 
in  Ireland,  at  least,  there  is  a  greater  force,  which  sometimes  be- 
comes powerful.     It  is  truth." 

Parnell's  last  meeting  was  at  Creggs,  County  Galway.  He  was 
warned  by  his  medical  advisers  not  to  go.  He  had  promised  to 
go,  and  he  went.  This  was  on  September  27th,  1891.  There  was 
death  in  his  face,  as  he  dehvered  his  speech.  On  October  6th,  he 
died  at  Brighton.  He  was  buried  in  Glasnevin  Cemetery,  Dublin, 
close  beside  O'Connell.  His  funeral  cortege  was  magnificent,  and 
on  the  Sunday  nearest  his  anniversary,  a  pilgrimage  is  made  an- 
nually to  his  grave,  which  is  always  adorned  by  flowers,  the  gift 
of  many  nameless  friends. 

Parnell  was  adored  by  the  Irish  and  feared  by  the  English. 
Nobody,  even  among  his  followers,  could  foretell  his  attitude  to- 
wards a  measure  in  Parliament.  He  often  seemed  to  make  up  his 
mind  in  a  moment.  He  seemed  to  have  what  we  may  call  political 
instinct,  an  Instinct  dangerous  to  the  stability  of  Governments. 
Gladstone,  the  one  statesman  who  could  be  compared  with  him, 
regarded  him  as  an  "Intellectual  phenomenon." 

And  now  Parnell  passes  from  the  scene  for  ever,  and  there 
is  a  vacancy  that  no  member  of  his  followers  is  able  or  willing  to 
fill.  Sexton  was  out  of  the  ordinary  in  many  ways;  but  he  had 
practically  retired.  Healy  was  brilliant,  "the  one  political  brain 
amongst  them,"  said  Parnell,  but  he  had  not  the  gifts  requisite  In 
a  leader.  Parnell  professed  to  be  willing  to  hand  over  his  leader- 
ship to  Healy,  but  the  sincerity  of  the  proposal  Is  open  to  doubt. 
The  rents  and  rifts  in  the  party  made  It  Impossi'ble  to  select  a 
leader  of  the  v^^hole. 

Shortly  after  Parnell's  death   there  was   a   General   Election. 

2  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  sincere  Irishmen  still  hold  opposite  opinions 
upon  the  right  or  wrong  of  Parnell's  stand. 


FALL  OF  PARNLLL  665 

Gladstone  had  a  working  majority  of  about  forty-two.  The  Home 
Rule  Bill  of  1893  was  passed  in  the  House  of  Commons  by  a  ma- 
jority of  forty-three.  It  was  rejected  by  the  House  of  Lords. 
Next  year  the  "Grand  Old  Man"  resigned  and  was  succeeded  by 
Lord  Roscbery. 

John  Redmond's  party  (the  Parnellitcs) ,  Dillon's  party, 
O'Brien's  party  and  Hcaly's  party,  floundered  rather  hopelessly 
for  years,  disputing  plenty,  achieving  little. 

In  1897  the  Report  of  a  Commission  temporarily  re-united 
the  various  shades  of  Irish  opinion.  The  Royal  Commission  on 
taxation  discovered,  among  other  things,  that  Ireland  was  being 
taxed  at  over  £3,000,000  a  year  beyond  her  obligations  under  the 
enforced  Act  of  Union.  The  report  of  the  Commission  was  put 
on  the  shelf  along  with  many  other  reports,  and  in  the  face  of  it, 
Mr.  Balfour  announced  in  the  House  of  Commons  that  Ireland 
was  really  a  financial  loss  to  the  Empire!  Restitution  to  Ireland 
of  the  vast  sum  of  which  she  had  been  robbed  (in  50  years  £150 
million)  was,  of  course,  point  blank  refused. 

A  Land  Act  had  been  introduced  in  1896.  It  gave  a  good  bribe 
to  the  landlords  and  substantial  relief  to  the  tenants.  The  Local 
Government  Act  of  1898  displaced  tlfe  Grand  Juries  and  trans- 
ferred control  of  local  affairs  to  popularly  elected  bodies.  In 
1899  the  Department  of  Agriculture  and  Technical  Instruction 
was  instituted  owing  chiefly  to  the  work  and  influence  of  Mr.  Horace 
Plunket. 

Meanwhile,  the  Parnellites,  led  by  Mr.  John  Redmond,  though 
a  poor  minority,  held  their  ground,  and  resisted  all  attempts  at 
compromise.  In  1898  Mr.  Dillon  effected  a  compromise  and 
agreed  to  resign  in  behalf  of  a  Parnellite  leader.  John  Redmond, 
supported  by  a  handful  of  followers,  accepted  the  office  and  be- 
came leader  of  the  united  party  in  1900.  The  United  Irish  League 
formed  by  Mr.  William  O'Brien  in  1898  gave  the  united  party 
an  organisation  at  their  back.  The  League  was  a  good  effort  to 
get  the  seat  of  agitation  transferred  from  Westminster  to  Ir'eland. 
But  its  new  heads,  hypnotised  by  Westminster,  did  not  develop  it 
in  its  natural  way.     And  it  never  became  a  great  force. 

During  the  Boer  war  which  broke  out  in  1899  the  sympathies 
of  the  Irish  people  were,  of  course,  on  the  side  of  the  Boers,  and 
no  attempt  was  made  to  dissemble  the  delight  in  Ireland  when  the 
Boers  scored  a  victory  over  the  English.  Major  John  MacBride 
held  command  of  an  Irish  Brigade  fighting  with  the  Boer  forces. 

In  1902  on  the  initiative  of  Captain  Shawe-Taylor,  a  Galway 
landlord,  representatives  of  landlords  and  tenants  met  in  confer- 


666  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

ence  to  investigate  the  possibility  of  an  agreed  solution  of  the  Land 
Question.  An  agreement  was  reached  on  the  basis  of  long  term 
purchase  which  would  secure  the  landlords  against  loss,  and  while 
making  the  purchase  money  of  their  farms  higher  to  the  tenants 
would  enable  them  to  secure  money  at  a  low  rate  of  interest,  and 
secure  them  their  land  at  a  fixed  annuity  which  would  be  lower 
than  the  actual  rent. 

Mr.  George  Wyndham,  Chief  Secretary,  proceeded  to  give 
effect  to  these  recommendations  and  the  result  was  the  Land  Act 
of  1903.  It  was  a  measure  welcomed  by  the  tenants  who  wished 
to  be  rid  of  the  landlords  at  all  costs,  and  by  the  landlords  who  got 
a  very  good  bargain  by  the  sale  of  their  estates  for  cash  that  in 
many  instances  was  very  urgently  needed. 

A  move  by  Lord  Dunraven  and  others  to  bring  about  by  con- 
ference a  solution  of  the  question  of  self-government  for  Ireland 
by  means  of  an  enlargement  of  local  government  was  not  so  suc- 
cessful. The  Orange  element  was  alarmed.  They  pointed  out 
that  a  Tory  government  had  placed  a  papist — Sir  Anthony  (now 
Lord)  McDonnell,  Under  Secretary,  in  virtual  control  of  Ireland. 

In  1906  Mr.  Davitt  passed  away.  He  lies  in  his  native  Straide 
close  to  the  home  from  which,  as  a  child,  English  aggression  drove 
him  in  support  of  the  landlordism  whose  power  it  was  his  man- 
hood's task  to  break.  He  succeeded;  and  dear  to  Irish  hearts  is 
that  grave  in  Mayo  which  encloses  the  mortal  remains  of  a  man 
whose  spirit  could  not  be  broken. 

In  1906,  also,  the  Liberals  returned  to  power.  Mr.  Birrell 
was  appointed  Chief  Secretary  for  Ireland.  His  first  legislative 
effort  was  an  Irish  Councils  Bill,  a  sort  of  enlargement  of  the 
Local  Government  Act.  Mr.  Redmond  favoured  the  measure; 
but  having  learned  the  temper  of  Ireland,  he  had  to  reject  it. 

In  19 14  a  so-called  "Home  Rule"  Act  was  passed — empower- 
ing the  Irish  people  to  play  at  a  "Parliament"  in  Dublin,  whose 
enactments  could  be  vetoed  by  either  the  British  Lord  Lieutenant 
or  the  British  Parliament — or  ruled  illegal  by  the  High  Court  of 
Justice!  Also  it  provided  that  Ireland's  finances  should  chiefly  re- 
main in  England's  hands!  The  Irish  Parliamentary  Party,  grasp- 
ing at  any  straw  that  might  save  it  from  being  finally  engulfed, 
begged  Ireland  to  believe  that  this  was  the  nation's  "great  charter 
of  liberty."  (Such  was  the  phrase  actually  in  daily  use  by  the 
Party.)  And  Mr.  John  Dillon  in  the  House  of  Commons  sol- 
emnly pledged,  for  Ireland  and  the  Irish  Parliamentary  Party, 
that  the  Act  would  be  accepted  as  a  full  and  final  settlement  of 


FALL  OF  PARNELL  667 

Ireland's  claims!^  When  the  "Home  Rule"  Bill  became  law,  it 
was  postponed  on  the  plea  that  the  war  was  on — in  reality  be- 
cause Sir  Edward  Carson  forbade  its  application.  The  British 
Government  kept  postponing  it  period  after  period,  till  eventually 
it  never  went  into  force.  The  Irish  people,  most  of  whom 
had  at  first  been  deceived  into  regarding  it  as  a  desirable  step  to- 
ward larger  liberty,  eventually  disillusioned,  would  not  in  the  end 
accept  it. 

The  dreary  years  from  1892  onwards,  characterised  by  strife 
and  bitterness  and  the  growth  of  dictatorial  management  of  Irish 
affairs  by  the  Parliamentarians,  were  not  without  some  good  re- 
sults. Honest  and  patriotic  men  and  women  in  Ireland  grew  tired 
of  the  squabbles  of  rival  politicians,  of  the  m»anipulation  of  par- 
liamentary and  local  elections,  of  the  general  corruption  of  public 
life,  and,  falling  back  on  first  principles,  endeavoured  to  plan  a 
future  for  Ireland  far  different  from  that  in  the  dreams  of  the  pro- 
vlncialist  politicians.  National  consciousness  was  awakening,  and 
the  intellect  of  Ireland  found  expression,  first  in  the  Sean  Bhean 
Bhocht  of  Belfast  edited  by  Ethna  Carbery  and  Alice  Milligan, 
and  afterwards  in  the  United  Irishman  of  Dublin  edited  by  Arthur 
Griffith  and  contributed  to  by  William  Rooney.  The  Gaelic  Leagije 
had  been  established,  and  by  slow  degrees  the  Irish  people  were 
taught  to  rely  on  themselves,  to  rebuild  their  ancient,  though  shat- 
tered civilisation,  to  rediscover  their  soul  as  a  people,  and  confront 
the  world  as  an  ancient,  cultured  and  dignified  race,  and  no  longer 
an  obscure  beggar  seeking  for  English  doles.  And  worthily  did 
the  best  of  the  Irish  race  respond  to  this  appeal.  No  greater 
sacrifice  of  personal  interests  can  be  recorded  in  the  world  than 
the  work  expended  in  Ireland  during  the  past  three  decades.  Father 
O'Growney  gave  his  life  for  the  language;  William  Rooney  for 
the  national  cause  generally;  Pearse,  McDonagh  and  their  com- 
rades have  faced  the  firing  squad;  and  among  the  host  of  those 

3  The  Party  had  been  rapidly  sinking-  in  self-respect  for  a  quarter  of  a  cen- 
tury— but  in  the  last  nine  years  of  this  time  had  gone  down  hill  with  accelerated 
velocity.  It  became  the  official  "tail"  of  the  British  Liberals,  and  obediently  wagged 
as  the  dog  willed.  For  the  older,  wise,  and  well  proved  maxim,  "England's  diffi- 
culty is  Ireland's  opportunity,"  the  Party  adopted  as  its  'slogan :  "Don't  embarrass 
the  Government!" — till  the  slogan  and  its  users  passed  into  a  joke.  In  reward  for 
the  unworthy  services  rendered  to  the  Liberals,  the  members  of  the  Party  were 
permitted  to  scramble  for  the  crumbs  that  fell  from  their  masters'  table.  For  al- 
though they  still  went  through  the  form  of  gravely  subscribing  to  the  pledge  that 
Parnell  had  seen  it  necessary  to  prescribe — the  solemn  pledge  that  no  one  of  them 
would  accept,  or  ask,  from  an  English  Government,  office  or  favour  for  himself  or 
friends — there  was  furious  scramble  among  them  for  the  offices  and  favours — often- 
times ludicrously  petty  ones — that  Dublin  Castle  had  in  its  gift. 


668  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RAGE 

who  have  given  up  their  lives  for  the  preservation  of  an  Irish  Ire- 
land are  numbers  of  unnamed  and  forgotten  men  and  women  who 
were  prepared  to  work  in  obscurity  and  neglect,  that  Ireland  might 
live. 

This  remarkable  resurgence  of  national  self-respect  was  looked 
on  askance  by  the  political  leaders  whose  vision  was  limited  to 
action  in  the  English  House  of  Commons.  The  intellectual  phase 
of  the  Irish  movement  they  heartily  disliked.  Criticism  of  "the 
Party"  was  speedily  suppressed.  The  Party  controlled  nearly  all 
the  newspapers  of  Ireland  and  woe  betide  the  journalist  who  took 
any  liberties  in  criticism  of  the  Kings.  They  would  not  trus,t  the 
intellect  of  Young  Ireland.  And  thus  for  thirty  years  and  more 
the  Party  sat  on  a  mine  which  was  certain  to  explode  some  day. 
They,  themselves,  provided  the  fuse.  In  the  English  House  of 
Commons  John  Redmond,  In  19 14,  uareservedly  offered  the  ser- 
vices of  the  manhood  of  Ireland  in  one  of  England's  wars.  Earl 
Grey  was  happy  to  announce  that  Ireland  was  "the  one  bright 
spot"  on  the  horizon.  Then,  Mr.  Redmond,  having  gone  so  far 
was  forced  to  go  further;  and  when  at  Woodenbridge,  County 
Wicklow,  he  advised  the  Irish  Volunteers  to  go  to  war  for  Eng- 
land, he,  fortunately,  sounded  the  final  knell  of  the  "Party." 

The  Parliamentary  leaders,  Redmond,  Dillon,  Davitt,  Devlin, 
O'Connor,  came  out  openly  as  England's  recruiting  sergeants — 
and  their  followers  in  the  country,  the  scales  at  length  fallen  from 
their  eyes,  began  a  wholesale  desertion — which  in  startlingly  short 
time  left  the  leaders  looking  In  vain  to  find  any  followers.  They 
were  to  be  formally  wip^ed  out  at  the  next  general  election.  The 
Irish  Parliamentary  Party,  having  compromised  Ireland's  every 
claim  to  nationhood,  and  touche^d  the  depths  of  disgrace,  then  dis- 
appeared from  history.  And  Ireland  severed  itself  from  the  bad 
tradition  of  British  Parliamentarianism. 

William  O'Brien's  Recollections  and  Evening  Memories. 
T.  P.  O'Connor's  Parnell  Movement. 
Michael  Davitt's  Fall  of  Feudalism. 
Mrs.  Dickenson's  A  Patriot's  Mistake. 
Barry  O'Brien's  Life  of  'Parnell. 


CHAPTER  LXXVII 

THE  MODERN  LITERATURE  OF  IRELAND 

I.    Modern  Gaelic  Literature 

The  last  writers  in  the  ancient  bardic  dialect,  the  three  O'Clerys 
and  O'Mulconry,  ^our  friars  who  have  been  immortalised  as  the 
Four  Masters,  in  the  early  17th  century  collected  all  the  old  manu- 
scripts they  could  find,  and  in  Donegal  Abbey  wrote  their  mighty 
Annals  that,  though  the  nation,  as  they  feared,  should  perish,  the 
names  of  the  great  ones  at  least  should  be  preserved.  They  praised 
and  dispraised  Gael  and  Englishman  with  perfect  impartiality — 
evidence  that  their  minds  were  still  untuned  to  the  new  world  of 
warring  sta.tes.  "They  belonged  to  the  old,  individual,  poetic  life, 
and  spoke  a  language  even,  in  which  it  was  all  but  impossible  to 
think  an  abstract  thought."  ^ 

1  THE  FOUR  MASTERS 

BY  THOMAS  d'aRCY  MC  GEE 

Many  altars  are  in  Banba,  many  chancels  hung  in  white, 

Many  schools  and  many  abbeys,  glorious  in  our  fathers'  sight; 

Yet  whene'er  I  go  a  pilgrim  back,  dear  Native  Isle,  to  thee, 

May  my  filial  footsteps  bear  me  to  that  Abbey  by  the  sea — 

To  that  Abbey — roofless,  doorless,  shrineless,  monkless,  though  it  be ! 

I  still  hear  them  in  my  musings,  still  see  them  as  I  gaze, — 
Four  meek  men  around  the  dresset,  reading  scrolls  of  other  days ; 
Four  unwearied  scribes  who  treasure  every  word  and  every  line — 
Saving  every  ancient  sentence  as  if  writ  by  hands  divine. 

Not  of  fame,  and  not  of  fortune,  do  these  eager  penmen  dream ; 
Darkness  shrouds  the  hills  of  Banba,  sorrow  sits  by  every  stream; 
One  by  one  the  lights  that  lead  her,  hour  by  hour,  are  quenched  in  gloom ; 
But  the  patient,  sad.  Four  Masters  toil  on  in  their  lonely  room — 
Duty  still  defj'ing  Doom. 

As  the  breathing  of  the  west  winds  over  bound  and  bearded  sheaves — 
As  the  murmur  in  the  bee-hives  softly  heard  on  summer  eves — 
So  the  rustle  of  the  vellum, — so  the  anxious  voices  sound ; — 
While  a  deep  expectant  silence  seems  to  listen  all  around. 

Brightly  on  the  Abbey  gable  shines  the  full  moon  thro'  the  night, 
While  afar  to  westward  glances  all  the  bay  in  waves  of  light: 

669 


6^0  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

After  the  disastrous  Elizabethan  wars,  Ireland  was  stripped  of 
her  forests.  Partly  this  was  done  for  plunder,  but  chiefly  to  de- 
stroy all  refuges  and  cover.  From  being  an  island  Lebanon,  Ire- 
land became  the  gaunt,  naked,  shelterless  expanse  that  it  is  to-day. 
"The  wandering  companies  that  keep  the  wood"  were  gone,  and 
the  modern  period  set  in.  With  the  sweeping  away  of  the  proud, 
aristocratic  order  of  Gaeldom,  Irish  literature  became  impover- 
ished, and  yet,  by  an  accident,  the  greatest  of  all  Irish  writers, 
Godfrey  Keating,  was  the  first  eminent  "popular"  writer. 

Returning  from  Spain  a  doctor  of  divinity,  Keating  won  fame 
as  a  preacher  in  County  Tipperary.  On  a  certain  occasion,  he 
preached  m  the  presence  of  a  lady  whose  name  was  associated  with 
that  of  Carew,  the  Lord  President  of  Munster,  a  sermon  calculated 
to  give  as  much  offence  as  John  the  Baptist's  reproof  of  Herod. 
The  anti-popery  laws  were  put  in  motion  through  Carew's  per- 
sonal spite,  and  Keating  had  to  fly.  Hiding  in  the  Glen  of  Aher- 
low,  he  composed  his  celebrated  Foriis  Feasa  ar  Eirinn,  or 
History  of  Ireland,  which  was  and  is  the  standard  work  of  Irish 
prose.  Hundreds  "of  manuscript  copies  were  made.  Several  Eng- 
lish translations  exist,  one  by  John  O'Mahony,  the  Fenian  Head 
Centre  in  America.  Keating  also  composed  religious  works,  one 
of  which,  the  Three  Shafts  of  Death,  is  full  of  spirited  moral  tales 
told  with  the  story-telling  zest  that  makes  the  History  so  readable. 
Thus  Keating  writes  of  a  wild  and  ignorant  kern  of  Munster  who 
went  exploring  and  landing  in  England,  was  sumptuously  enter- 
tained at  the  first  great  house  he  came  to.  When,  at  last,  sated 
with  good  living,  he  and  his  company  made  to  depart,  the  keeper 
of  the  house  cried  to  his  accountant:  Make  reckoning — English 
words  that  the  kern  did  not  understand.  The  accountant  there- 
Tufted  isle  and  spSinter'd  headland  smile  and  soften  in  her  ray; 
Yet  within  their  dusky  chamber  the  meek  Masters  toil  away, 
Finding  all  too  short  the  day. 

Now  they  kneel !  oh,  list  the  accents,  from  the  soul  of  mourners  wrung ; 
Hear  the  soaring  aspirations  in  the  old  ancestral  tongue; 
For  the  houseless  sons  of  chieftains,  for  their  brethren  near  and  far, 
For  the  mourning  Mother  Island  these  their  aspirations  are. 

And  they  say  before  up-rising:     "Father!  grant  one  other  pray'r. 
Bless  the  Lord  of  Moy — O'Gara!     Bless  his  lady  and  his  heir! 
Send  the  generous  Chief,  whose  bounty  cheers,  sustains  us,  in  our  task, 
Health,  success,  renown,  salvation :     Father !  grant  the  prayer  we  ask." 

Oh,  that  we,  who  now  inherit  the  great  bequest  of  their  toil, — 
Were  but  fit  to  trace  their  footsteps  through  the  annals  of  the  Isle; 
Oh,  that  the  same  angel.  Duty,  guardian  of  our  tasks  might  be; 
Teach  us,  as  she  taught  our  Masters,  faithful,  grateful,  just,  to  be: — 
As  she  taught  the  old  Four  Masters  in  the  Abbey  by  the  sea ! 


THE  MODERN  LITERATURE  OF  IRELAND     671 

with  stripped  the  visitors  of  their  goods,  sending  them  bare  away: 
for  the  house  was  an  Inn.  The  kern  was  much  puzzled,  for  never 
before  had  he  known  food  bought  or  sold.  Coming  home,  he  told 
his  friends  that  England  was  a  Vvonderful  country  for  food  and 
drink  and  hospitality,  only  when  strangers  were  leaving  their  en- 
tertainer, a  violent  fellow  called  MacRaicin  was  called  down  to 
despoil  them.  Keating  adds  that  "England  is  the  earth;  the  inn- 
keepers, the  world,  the  flesh  and  the  devil;  the  Kern,  people  in 
general,  and  MacRaicin — death!" 

Keating  attended  some  of  the  last  bardic  schools,  but  he  chose 
to  write  in  a  style  to  be  "understanded  of  the  people."  His  poetry 
is  in  the  new  lyrical  style  then  coming  in,  breaking  away  from  the 
severe  old  metres  that  only  the  learned  could  compose — or  per- 
haps enjoy.  He  was  a  genuine  poet,  too.  Witness  this  exile-song, 
of  the  typical  Gaelic  "catalogue''  order: 

MO  BHEANNACHT  LEAT  A  SGRIBHINN 

My  blessing  with  t'nee,  letter 
To  the  delightful  isie  of  Eire, 
My  pit)'  that  I  see  not  her  hilltops 
Though  oft  their  beacons  blaze ! 

Farewell  to  her  nobles  and  her  people, 
Fond,  fond  farewell  to  her  clergv', 
Farewell  to  her  gentle  womenkind, 
Farewell  to  her  learned  in  letters! 

Farewell  to  her  smooth  plains, 
A  thousand  farewells  to  her  hills, 
Hail  to  him  who  dwells  there, 
Farewell  to  her  pools  and  lakes! 

Farewell  to  her  fruity  woods, 
Farewell  to  her  fishing  weirs, 
Farewell  to  her  bogs  and  lawns, 
Farewell  to  her  raths  and  moors! 

Farewell  from  my  heart  to  her  harbours, 
Farewell,  too,  to  her  heavy  pastures, 
Good-bye  to  her  hillocks  of  fairs, 
Farewell  to  her  bowed  branches! 

Though  battle-wrath  be  frequent 
In  the  holy  heaven-favoured  isle, 
Westward  o'er  the  ocean's  ridge, 
Bear,  O  writmg,  my  blessing! 


672  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

The  difference  between  the  old  classical  metres — used  In  Old 
and  Middle  Irish  verse — and  the  free  metres  of  modern  Irish  may 
briefly  be  explained  by  an  imitation  of  a  classical  verse.  Here  is 
the  original : 

Do  chuadar  as  rinn  mo  ruisg 
Do  tholcha  is  aluinn  eaguisg, 
Is  tuar  orcra  da  n-eisi 
Dromla  fhuar  na  h-aibheisi. 

Dr.  Hyde  gives  an  Imitation  of  this,  as  follows : 

Slowly  pass  my  aching  eye 
Her  holy  hills  of  beauty ; 
Neath  me  tossing  to  and  fro 
Hoarse  cries  the  crossing  billow. 

Now  those  used  to  English  verse  can  make  little  of  this,  be- 
yond the  fact  that  there  are  seven  syllables  in  each  line.  Note, 
however,  that  there  is  an  intricate  system  of  Internal  assonances 
and  alliterations  (slowly  and  holy,  tossing  and  crossing,  etc.)  while 
the  chief  peculiarity  is  that  the  rhyming  and  syllables  are  not,  as 
in  English  verse,  equally  stressed.  Fro  Is  stressed,  but  Its  rhyme 
Is  unstressed — "low"  In  billow.  Further  than  this,  it  must  be  men- 
tioned that  certain  groups  of  letters  were  held  to  rhyme,  so  that 
"maid"  rhymed  with  MacCabe,  these  groups  being  distinct  and 
rigidly  observed.  From  this  It  will  be  seen  that  classic  Gaelic  verse 
could  not  live  as  a  popular  art.  Keating  gave  the  popular  forms 
of  versification — already  common  In  Scotland — a  standing  that  they 
could  not  achieve  while  they  were  confined  to  folk-compositions, 
and  soon  after  his  days,  the  old  metres  disappeared. 

Daithi  O'BruadaIr,  a  poet  of  the  Willlamite  wars,  was  the  last 
aristocratic  poet,  but  Egan  O'Rahilly,  who  lived  in  the  first  half 
of  the  1 8th  century — the  century  of  the  Penal  Laws,  when  Cath- 
olics, I.e.,  the  nation,  were  forbidden  the  rudiments  of  education, 
had  much  of  the  austere  dignity  of  the  past  in  his  st}'le.  He  it  was 
^^ho  composed  "Gile  na  Gile,"  the  most  refined  and  melodious  of 
all  those  multi-rhyming  songs  in  which,  during  the  i8th  century,  < 
Ireland  was  sung  of  as  a  discrowned  maiden,  Cathleen-ny-Houli- 
han,  Shlela-n^'-Gara,  or  Moirln-ny-ChuIllenaln,  awaiting  the  King's 
son  who  should  free  her  and  enthrone  her  once  more. 

Brightness  of  brightness  came,  in  loneliness,  advancing 
Crystal  of  cr>^stal,  her  clear  grey  eyes  were  glancing, 


THE  MODERN  LITERATURE  OF  IRELAND     673 

Sweetness  of  sweetness,  her  soft  words  flowed  entrancing, 
Redness  and  whiteness  her  cheek's  fair  form  enhancing. 

A  curious  story,  probably  untrue,  but  quite  typical  of  the  times, 
tells  that  poor  O'Rahilly  was  once  standing  by  when  a  planter  min- 
ister ordered  a  certain  tree  to  be  hewed  down.  The  workers 
(Catholic  hewers  of  wood  and  drawers  of  water)  refused  to  lay 
axe  to  the  trunk  on  account  of  some  historic  associations.  The 
minister's  son  climbed  the  tree  and  began  to  hew  branches,  but  fell, 
and  was  caught  in  a  cleft  and  hanged.  O'Rahilly  at  once  made  a 
verse  beginning  Is  viaitJi  do  thoradh  a  chrahin,  viz.,  "Good  is  your 
fruit,  O  tree;  may  it  flourish  on  every  branch.  My  grief  that  the 
trees  of  Eire  are  not  loaded  with  the  same  fruit  every  day!" 

Sean  O'Neachtain  of  Meath,  contemporary,  composed  sparkling 
lyrics  comparable  to  nothing  in  English  but  Herrick,  and  WTOte 
humorous  tales  satirising  the  Gaels  of  the  day  who  talked  broken 
English  under  the  impression  that  they  were  speaking  Shakespeare's 
tongue.  Tarlach  O'Carolan — best  known  as  Carolan — lived  about 
the  same  time.  His  meeting  with  Goldsmith  has  been  written  of 
as  a  meeting  of  the  dying  Gaelic  and  the  new-born  Anglo-Irish 
literatures,  but  the  conceit  is  scarcely  justified,  for  Carolan  was 
more  musician  than  poet,  merely  writing  words  for  tunes.  His 
music  was  such  that  we  may  believe  that,  had  Ireland  been  free 
to  cultivate  national  art,  he  would  have  exalted  the  wonderful  tradi- 
tional music  into  a  lofty  art,  as  Chopin  did  with  the  national  music 
of  Poland. 

Sean  Clarach  MacDonnell,  at  whose  house  in  Co.  Cork  the 
"bardic  sessions"  of  the  southern  poets,  i.e.,  literary  evenings  as- 
sisted with  good  fare,  were  held,  was  more  exuberant,  more  popu- 
lar, than  any  who  had  gone  before  him,  and  his  passionate,  joyous, 
rollicking  songs  are  sung  to  this  day.  Sometimes,  in  serious  mood, 
he  drew  terrible  pictures  of  the  plight  of  the  Gael  under  the  brutal 
foreign  planters.  Of  one  such  usurper  he  declares  that  "he  has 
tethered  the  famine  in  a  cleft  of  the  mountains  to  prey  upon  the 
people" — an  image  terrible  enough  for  i^schylus. 

Donacha  Rua  Macnamara  is  chiefly  remembered  for  his  poem, 
"The  Fair  Hills  of  Eire  O,"  which  is  so  exquisite  an  exile-song, 
that  a  score  of  translations  into  English  have  been  made: 

Take  my  heart's  blessing  over  to  dear  Eire's  strand 

And  the  fair  hills  of  Eire  O ! 
To  the  Remnant  that  love  her — our  forefather's  land — 

Fair  hills  of  Eire  O! 


674  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

How  sweet  sing  the  birds,  o'er  mount  there  and  vale 
Like  soft  sounding  chords,  that  lament  for  the  Gael — 
And  I  o'er  the  surge,  far,  far  away  must  wail 
The  fair  hills  of  Eire  O! 

It  is  particularly  interesting  to  note,  in  the  numerous  popular 
poets,  how  the  ancient  heroic  names  occur  in  their  songs. 
O'Tuama,  keeper  of  a  tavern,  laments  the  passing  of  the  Gaelic 
aristocracy,  comparing  them  to  "Warlike  MacMorna,  tremendous 
in  the  chase;  gallant  Oscar,  spear-shatterer  of  legions;  young,  gen- 
erous Conall,  bringer  of  help" — and  in  a  final  line  that  Virgil  might 
envy,  he  cries:  "Nior  clos  dom  Gall  ba  dheallrach  leo"  [I  never 
heard  of  Englishmen  of  their  hke!].  Thus  did  the  heroic  figures 
remain  through  the  centuries  symbols  of  the  ideal,  enriching  the 
speech  and  thought  of  the  people  with  beautiful  allusions.  To- 
wards the  end  of  the  i8th  century  we  meet  Eoghan  Rua  O'Sullivan, 
the  most  wonderful  maker  of  adjectival  symphonies  who  ever  com- 
posed Gaelic  verse.  His  songs  are  mighty  rushes  of  melodious 
language,  sense  sometimes  failing  under  sheer  loveUness  of  sound. 
Swinburne  is  his  faint  reflex  in  modern  English  poetry.  Yet  this 
remarkable  man  worked  as  a  farm  labourer.  It  is  recorded  that 
his  employer's  son,  puzzled  by  some  passage  of  Greek  set  him  by 
his  tutor,  was  astonished  to  find  O'Sullivan  able  to  assist  him! 

Merriman,  author  of  The  Midnight  Court,  may  be  mentioned 
as  closing  the  i8th  century.  This  lengthy  and  richly-phrased  poem 
is  a  Rabelaisian  skit  on  the  contemporary  shortage  of  marriage- 
able young  men,  and  it  stands  unique  in  the  Gaelic  literature  of  that 
age  in  originality.  Save  the  mannerism  of  their  style,  there  was 
scarcely  anything  to  distinguish  one  of  the  i8th  century  singers 
from  another — all  sang  of  love,  of  wine,  of  repentance  and  of 
Cathleen-ny-Houlihan  in  much  the  same  style  and  even  the  same 
phrases;  only  Merriman  stood  apart,  a  man  of  piquant  personality, 
daring  wit  and  conscious  literary  artistry. 

Though  the  Munster  poets  were  the  most  exuberant  and  are  to- 
day the  most  famous,  there  was  an  important  Northern  school  of 
song,  of  which  MacCuarta,  O'Doirnin,  MacAlendon  and  Mac- 
Cooey  are  famous  names.  It  is  said,  with  some  aptness,  that  the 
North  had  matter  without  style  and  the  South  style  without  matter. 
At  least,  the  Northern  writers,  now  being  edited,  display  much 
strength  and  vigour  of  thought  that  is  lacking  in  O'Sullivan.  On 
the  whole,  the  course  of  modern  Irish  poetry  may  be  compared  to 
the  descent  of  a  river  from  the  first  trickles  at  the  frozen  heights 
of  classicism   (O'Bruadair  and  O'Rahilly)   to  a  growing  stream 


THE  MODERN  LITERATURE  01    I  RIBAND     675 

(O'NeachtaIn)  which  at  last  becomes  a  rushing  torrent  in  the  low 
country  (O'Sullivan  and  his  popular  contemporaries). 

The  Ulster  school  lived  longest.  In  1795  Belfast  had  a  Gaelic 
magazine.  Many  of  the  Northern  leaders  in  '98  were  students  of 
Gaelic,  and  a  nascent  revival  was  proceeding.  Some  of  Maria 
Edgeworth's  writings  were  done  into  Irish  and  printed  in  Belfast 
in  1S33.  A  bardic  session  was  held  in  Dundalk  in  1820,  Art 
Bennett,  a  Gaelic  scribe,  scholar  and  poet,  was  still  living  in  Co. 
Armagh  in  1879,  and  since  men  still  living  knew  him,  we  may 
truly  ch;iin  that  Gaelic  literature  is,  in  the  North,  an  unbroken 
continuity  to  this  day. 

Early  in  the  19th  century,  the  first  gleams  of  the  new  dav.-n 
appeared.  In  the  Penal  night,  Ireland  had  almost  grown  ashamed 
or  forgetful  of  her  past.  But  Petrie,  O'Curry  and  O'Donovan, 
following  some  preliminary  work  by  O'Reilly,  the  lexicographer, 
and  Hardiman,  the  collector  of  songs,  performed  the  great  work 
which  restored  Ireland's  traditions.  These  three  giants  unveiled 
the  forgotten  past  in  their  researches  into  Gaelic  typography  and 
editing  of  Gaelic  annals.  O'Curry  and  O'Donovan  were  both  poor 
and  one  might  say  despised  labourers,  but  no  men  ever  did  such 
mighty  nation-building  as  they.  Tom  Moore,  writing  an  Irish  his- 
tory, one  day  saw  O'Curry  w^orking  at  the  huge  manuscripts  of  the 
Annals,  and  listened  with  amazement  at  the  scholar's  account  of 
the  sealed  Gaelic  literature.  At  last  he  said:  "I  ought  never  to 
have  undertaken  an  Irish  history.  These  great  works  w'ere  not 
written  by  fools,  and  I  know  nothing  of  them."  He  had  sung  of 
"the  long-faded  glories"  of  Eirinn,  taking  them  all  on  trust.  He 
and  his  generation  knew^  nothing  of  the  Irish  past  save  what  was 
revealed  by  hostile  English  historians  and  vague  native  tradition. 
O'Curry  and  O'Donovan  gave  Ireland  back  her  national  memory. 

Several  academic  societies  did  good  w^ork  during  the  century 
in  printing  Gaelic  classics — notably  the  Osslanic  Society  and  the 
Society  for  the  Preservation  of  the  Irish  Language.  Standish 
Hayes  O'Grady,  the  most  prom.Inent  figure  in  these  societies,  was 
the  greatest  Gaelic  litterateur  after  O'Donovan  and  O'Curry.  In 
"Silvia  Gadelica,"  two  huge  volumes,  he  edited  a  large  number  of 
Fenian  and  other  texts,  with  a  spirited  translation  that  did  more 
to  revive  appreciation  of  classic  Irish  than  Is  generally  realised.  It 
is  not  every  man  who  can  read  English  who  can  appreciate  Shake- 
speare, and  a  knowledge  of  Irish  does  not  Imply  an  understanding 
of  the  subtle  humour  and  delicate  beauty  of  Its  Hterature.  O'Grady 
had  a  liver  appreciation  of  the  nuances  of  Irish  prose  than  any  other 
of  his  day — he  was  himself  able  to  write  a  richly  humorous  Irish 


676  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

style — and  so  his  translations,  with  their  wondrous,  reckless,  imag- 
inative language  reveal  the  richness  of  classic  Irish  with  the  power 
of  brilliant  criticism. 

O'Grady's  influence  was  great  on  Mr.  W.  B.  Yeats,  Dr.  Doug- 
las Hyde,  Padraic  Pearse,  and  others  who  have  taken  prominent 
parts  in  the  Gaelic  and  Anglo-Irish  literary  movement  of  to-day. 
Dr.  Douglas  Hyde's  "Literary  History  of  Ireland"  (1898)  was 
the  bible  of  the  Gaelic  League.  It  is  a  treasury  of  wonders.  His 
pen,  as  it  were  a  magic  wand,  transformed  the  Ireland  of  late 
Parnell  days  from  being  a  sordid  hovel  to  a  regal  palace  in  the 
eyes  of  the  living  Gael.  He,  Father  Dineen,  and  others  began  to 
edit  the  classics  of  Irish  letters  and  to  compose  a  new  literature 
in  Gaelic.  Dr.  Hyde's  playlets  were  the  earliest  fruits  of  the  re- 
vival. Most  of  what  was  written  in  the  new  Irish  was,  however, 
of  small  literary  value.  Writers  quite  reasonably  concentrated  at- 
tention on  developing  a  modern  idiomatic  style,  and  so  a  piece  of 
good  reporting  from  "the  speech  of  the  people,"  useful  as  a  text 
for  students,  was  more  valued  than  a  tale  or  poem  of  originality 
written  in  an  indifferent  or  artificial  style.  Nine-tenths  or  more  of 
the  copious  Gaelic  publishing  of  the  last  25  years  has  been  of  lin- 
guistic rather  than  literary  value,  and  the  attempt  to  produce  a 
Gaelic  drama  has  failed,  save  in  translations  from  Anglo-Irish  ar- 
tists, such  as  the  Irish  versions  of  W.  B.  Yeats's  "Cathleen-ny- 
Houlihan,  Seumas  MacManus's  "Lad  from  Largymore"  and 
Corkery's  "Clan  Falvey." 

The  search  for  a  modern  Gaelic  style  reached  success  in  the 
epoch-making  work  of  Canon  Peter  O'Leary  (died  1920).  An 
t-Athair  Peadar,  as  we  call  him,  wrote  exactly  as  the  good  speakers 
of  the  old  generation  talked.  He  poured  scorn — too  much  scorn, 
perhaps — on  the  "scholars"  who  fabricated  a  book-style.  He 
broke  away  from  the  stately  long  sentences  of  classic  Irish  as 
Macaulay  broke  away  from  the  Gibbonesque  long  English  sentence, 
and  like  Macaulay,  he  coined  a  short-sentence  style  that  is,  above 
all  else,  lucid.  His  "Seadna,"  a  folk-story  told  with  much  elabora- 
tion, descriptive  of  the  life  of  the  country  side,  is  his  great  master- 
piece. It  ranks  as  pure  literature,  and  may  be  read  in  an  English 
translation.  His  Irish  translation  of  "The  Imitation  of  Christ" 
goes  out  of  print  as  fast  as  it  can  be  printed.  A  dozen  or  so  other 
books  from  his  pen  are  modern  renderings  of  classic  Irish  ro- 
mances, etc. 

Next  to  Canon  O'Leary,  Padraic  O'Conaire  is  the  most  suc- 
cessful modern  Irish  writer.     His  novels  and  short  tales  in  Irish 


THE  MODERN   EITEKATURE  OF  IRELAND     677 

are  the  "best-sellers"  printed  in  Ireland.  lie  has  not  so  rich  a 
style  as  the  master  of  modern  Irish  prose,  but  he  is  tlie  most  "mod- 
ern" of  Irish  or  Anglo-Irish  writers.  A  grim  and  gloomy  realism, 
combined  with  a  skill  in  story-tcHing  not  excelled  by  Maupassant, 
make  him  a  writer  whose  works  cannot  be  put  down  or  ignored, 
even  if  they  be  distasteful  to  the  reader.  I  lis  inllucnce  is  seen  in 
Liam  O'Riiin,  the  most  promising  of  younger  writers,  who  has  writ- 
ten wonderfully  realistic,  if  drab,  tales  of  modern  Dublin,  and,  hav- 
ing perfected  a  style  based  partly  on  the  O'Leary  tradition  and 
partly  on  the  classic  literature  that  O'Leary  neglected,  has  given 
us  a  standard  work  in  translating  Mickiewicz's  "Book  of  the  Polish 
Pilgrimage,"  a  holy  book  of  nationalism  that  has  not  yet  appeared 
in  English. 

"An  Seabhac"  and  "Conan  Maol"  are  two  other  writers  of 
short  tales  whose  work  cannot  be  overlooked.  The  former  has 
written  a  volume  of  humorous  stories  that  arc  classic  records  of 
country  humour  and  models  of  a  racy  style.  The  latter  is  severely 
dignified  in  style  and  will  live,  though  not  winning  great  popularity. 

Padraic  Pearse's  Gaelic  works  are  varied.  His  short  tales, 
done  in  the  colloquial  manner,  lack  idiomatic  finish,  but  have  the 
strength  of  French  short  stories.  They  may  be  read  in  translation. 
They  mark  a  departure  in  our  literature  by  introducing  the  "ex- 
plosive opening"  and  other  modernisms  which  were  cried  out 
against  by  Gaelic  purists,  but  have  been  established  by  O'Conaire's 
highly  modern  art.  Pearse  stands  almost  alone  in  understanding — 
as  O'Grady  understood — the  dignity  of  the  artificial  classic  style, 
and  he  used  this  style  very  beautifully  in  some  Gaelic  political  es- 
says which  yet  await  appreciation.  His  poetry  was  classic  In  metre, 
but  highly  individual  in  matter.  Old  fashioned  critics  who  objected 
to  the  individuality  of  Pearse's  verse  did  not  realise  that  he  was 
harking  back  to  the  personal  richness  of  the  Golden  Age. 

There  are  living  other  Irish  writers  who  excel  O'Leary, 
O'Conaire  and  Pearse  in  scholarship,  in  beauty  of  style,  and  per- 
haps in  potentiality,  but  they  have  yet  to  do  their  best  work,  and 
it  would  be  invidious  to  attempt  comparisons.  In  the  Gaelic  quar- 
terly, An  Branar,  their  work  may  be  seen.  But  the  three  names 
here  quoted  are  names  that  stand  for  personalities,  each  strongly 
original  and  all  dissimilar.  Between  the  idyllic  ruralism  of 
O'Leary,  the  modernism  of  O'Conaire,  the  passion,  the  vision,  the 
splendour  of  Pearse,  there  is  room  for  a  very  notable  literature  to 
grow  up.  There  are  many  most  encouraging  signs  of  its  early  ap- 
pearance. 


678  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

II.    The  Literature  of  Anglo-Ireland 

Gaelic  Ireland  is  the  real  Ireland,  the  secret  Ireland.  Only  in 
the  last  twenty-five  years  has  this  been  realised.  Up  to  1893 
(when  the  Gaelic  League  was  founded)  Irish-Ireland  was  con- 
temned, even  by  Irish  patriots,  and  the  pseudo-Ireland,  the  super- 
ficial, historically  insignificant  English-speaking  Ireland,  was  ac- 
cepted as  the  true  reality.  Up  to  the  date  of  the  Great  Famine, 
the  bulk  of  the  nation  was  Irish  speaking.  Even  down  till  the  end 
of  the  last  century,  English-writing  authors  in  Ireland  mostly  came 
of  a  caste  partly  separated  from  the  mass  of  the  people.  Only  in 
our  own  days  has  Ireland  been  genuinely  articulate  in  the  EngHsh 
language,  and  the  best  of  modern  Anglo-Irish  literature  owes  some- 
thing to  English  literature,  while  failing  to  express  certain  untrans- 
latable elements  of  Irish-Ireland  thought  and  feeling.  Still, 
Anglo-Irish  literature  is  a  not  undistinguished  body  of  work.  It 
falls  into  two  chief  divisions. 

The  first  of  these  is  the  i8th  century  group.  Molyneux  was 
the  first,  famous  for  his  "Case  of  Ireland,"  ordered  to  be  burnt  by 
the  hangman  because  it  contained  such  passages  as  this:  "To  tax 
me  without  my  consent  is  little  better  than  downright  robbing  me" 
and  "There  may  be  ill  consequences  if  the  Irish  come  to  think  of 
their  rights  and  liberties  left  to  depend  on  the  will  of  a  legislature 
wherein  they  are  not  parties."  This  spirited  work  played  its  part 
later  in  inspiring  the  American  revolutionaries,  but  Molyneux'  brave 
words  in  favour  of  liberty  were  intended  to  apply  to  the  colonists 
only:  the  authentic  nation,  the  Gaelic  race,  the  Catholic  popula- 
tion, he  feared  and  detested  as  much  as  any  of  his  political  op- 
ponents. 

Similarly  Bishop  Berkeley,  whose  pamphlet.  The  Querist,  is 
often  quoted  as  NationaHst  propaganda,  exhibits  in  his  political 
writings  the  same  narrow  colonial,  or  ascendancy,  vision.  The 
Querist  Is  directed  against  the  ill  economy  of  the  wasteful  As- 
cendancy : 

Whether  an  Irish  lady,  set  out  with  French  silks  and  Flanders  lace, 
may  not  be  said  to  consume  more  beef  and  butter  than  a  hun- 
dred of  our  labouring  peasants? 

Whether  nine-tenths  of  our  foreign  trade  be  not  carried  on  singly 
to  support  the  article  of  vanity? 

Whether  it  is  not  madness  for  a  poor  nation  to  imitate  a  rich  one? 

Whether  a  woman  of  fashion  ought  not  to  be  declared  a  public  enemy? 

Whether  as  seed  equally  scattered  produccth  a  goodly  harvest,  even 
so  an  equal  distribution  of  wealth  doth  not  cause  a  nation  to 
flourish  ? 


THE  MODERxN  LITERATURE  OF  IRELAND     679 

But  when  Berkeley  goes  on  to  ask.  whether  Ireland  could  not 
support  her  population  in  full  comfort  even  were  a  brass  wall  built 
around  the  island,  he  is  but  the  settler  discussing  the  potentialities 
of  captured  land.  He  asks  whether  "the  upper  parts  of  this  peo- 
ple" are  not  "English  by  blood,  language,  religion,  manners,  in- 
clination and  interest."  The  evils  he  inveighed  against  did  not 
touch  the  Gaelic  masses,  for  their  trouble  was  not  uneven  distribu- 
tion of  wealth,  but  political  and  economic  annihilation. 

Berkeley's  celebrated  works  on  philosophy  belong  to  another 
field  than  pure  literature,  but  their  English  is  esteemed  as  rank- 
ing with  the  finest  in  lucidity  and  eloquence.  We  may  note  that  he 
is  often  written  of  as  being,  in  philosophy,  as  Irish  as  Locke  was 
English  and  Hume  Scottish.  This  is  as  just  as  it  is  plausible,  for 
Berkeley's  thought  was  on  the  Platonic  side  of  that  line  which  is 
said  to  divide  all  men  into  Platonists  and  Aristoteleans;  and  from 
the  Druids  and  Duns  Scotus  down,  Irish  speculators  have  been 
found  on  the  Platonic  side. 

Swift  was  the  most  notable  of  the  colonial  writers,  and  the  near- 
est to  a  national  figure,  for  his  personality  is  inseparable  from  the 
traditions  of  Dublin.  He  was  an  Englishman  born  and  educated 
in  Ireland,  but  hating  his  life  in  that  country.  Some  instinct  in 
his  nature  made  him  unusually  sensitive  to  environment,  for  despite 
his  English  blood,  he  is  a  true  Irish  type  of  the  line  Shane  O'Neill, 
Parnell,  G.  B.  Shaw.  The  humbug-piercing  cynicism,  the  cold- 
blooded satire,  the  love  of  overthrowing  other  people's  idols  that 
characterise  that  line  of  Irishmen  were  supremely  represented  in 
him.  So  mercilessly,  so  truthfully,  did  he  satirise  the  feuds  of 
sects,  that  he  was  suspected  by  the  dense  of  intending  to  ridicule 
all  religion.  When  he  solemnly  proposed  that  Irish  poverty  be 
cured  by  using  babies  as  food,  he  was  quite  in  the  Irish  tradition  of 
solemnly  shocking  criminal  indifference  with  the  logical,  if  absurd, 
working  out  of  its  principles.  He  was  Irish,  too,  in  his  feminism. 
In  the  1 8th  century,  a  Turkish  attitude  to  women  prevailed,  and 
it  needed  courage  in  a  man  of  his  creed  and  class,  to  declare  that 
"the  same  virtues  equally  become  both  sexes." 

Goldsmith,  who  resembled  Swift  in  wit  and  chivalry,  was  of  a 
tenderer  nature,  and  perhaps  came  nearer  to  expressing  the  Irish 
spirit  in  his  writings,  though  they  were  not  directly  associated  with 
Ireland.  Like  Swift,  he  came  into  contact  with  Gaelic  Ireland,  for 
if  Swift  did  an  Irish  poem  (O'Rourke's  feast)  into  English  and 
(perhaps)  derived  the  plot  of  "Gulliver's  Travels"  from  the  Gaelic 
story  "Eisirt,"  Goldsmith  met  Carolan  in  the  flesh.  Had  Gold- 
smith been  born  in  a  cottier's  hut,  had  he  frequented  the  humble 


68o  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

bardic  courts,  he  might  have  assumed  Kcating's  mantle,  and  bent 
Irish  prose  to  the  range  of  modern  thought.  In  "The  Deserted 
Village"  we  feel  we  are  touching  Ireland.  In  1740  (when  Gold- 
smith was  aged  12)  Ireland  was  desolated  by  a  famine  that  dis- 
peopled whole  villages — 400,000  people  perished.  Hence  the 
gloomy  colours  of  the  famous  poem.  The  lament  contains  some 
sound  Irish  political  economy,  and  the  whole  is  a  vignette  of  i8th 
century  Ireland. 

Ill  fares  the  land,  to  hastening  ills  a  prey 
Where  wealth  accumulates  and  men  decay : 
Princes  or  lords  may  flourish  or  may  fade, 
A  breath  could  make  them  as  a  breath  has  made ; 
But  a  bold  peasantry,  their  country's  pride 
When  once  destro3-ed  can  never  be  supplied. 

Goldsmith  and  Sheridan  hold  high  places  in  English  drama, 
ranking  only  below  Shakespeare.  Something  more  than  a  thread 
connects  these  i8th  century  Anglo-Irish  dramatists  with  Wilde  and 
Bernard  Shaw,  masters  of  social  comedy  in  our  own  days.  The 
satiric  trait  in  the  Irish  temperament  (strengthened  by  Irish  his- 
tory!) finds  congenial  expression  in  the  drama;  verbal  wit,  flashing 
dialogue,  colloquial  prose,  all  vital  elements  of  a  dramatic  style, 
come  easily  to  the  Irish  pen.  The  flexibility  of  style  which  marks 
Anglo-Irish  prose  writers,  particularly  the  dramatists,  is  traceable  to 
the  animation  of  Irish  conversation,  which  in  turn  is  attributable  to 
our  bilingual  conditions.  The  grammatic  opulence  of  the  Gaelic 
tongue  makes  Irish  use  of  the  English  language  lively  and  apt;  and 
authors  ignorant  of  Gaelic  itself  may  reap  benefit  from  the  vitality 
of  popular  speech.  To  this  day  in  Ireland  an  expressive,  rhythmic 
English  is  spoken  such  as  the  English  Elizabethans  heard  around 
them,  though  it  died  in  England  not  long  after  their  great  days. 
Anglo-Irish  prose  offers  the  most  imitative  worthy  models,  the 
bright,  easy,  clear  and  forceful  English  of  Berkeley,  Goldsmith  and 
Swift  contrasting  with  the  stilted  and  laborious  prose  of  Johnson  or 
Gibbon. 

The  cause  to  which  we  attribute  this  flexibility  of  style  is  also 
accountable  for  Anglo-Irish  writers'  eminence  in  translation.  Fran- 
cis' "Horace,"  Gary's  "Dante,"  Mangan's  renderings  from  Irish, 
German  and  Oriental  tongues,  Fitzgerald's  "Omar" — these  are  but 
a  few  examples. 

Mention  must  not  be  omitted  of  Grattan's  orations — ornate, 
eloquent,  unsurpassable  rhetoric.  But  a  contemporary  of  the  great 
parliamentarian    calls    for   more   particular   notice — Wolfe   Tone. 


THE  MODERN  LITERATURE  OF  IRELAND     68 1 

Tone's  "Autobiogaphy"  is  one  of  the  very  greatest  works  of  Anglo- 
Irish  literature,  little  as  it  is  appreciated  by  the  critics.  Padraic 
Pearse  used  to  carry  it  about  with  him  like  a  Gospel,  and  indeed, 
it  is  one  of  the  gospels  of  Irish  nationality.  It  reveals  the  most 
lovable  personality  who  ever  set  pen  to  paper  in  Ireland.  We 
cannot  read  it  today  without  tears  for  his  wistful  memories  of  his 
runaway  marriage  on  "one  beautiful  morning  in  June,"  thrills  for 
his  patriotic  ideals,  bitterness  for  his  defeat,  and  heartfelt  enthusi- 
asm for  his  heroic  example. 

Thomas  Moore  was  accused  by  Hazlitt  of  "turning  the  wild 
harp  of  Erin  into  a  musical  snuff-box" — a  criticism  worthy  of  a 
man  with  a  satiric  Irish  strain.  It  corrects  the  idolisation  of 
Moore  which  prevailed  in  the  anglicised  19th  century.  But  while 
we  do  right  to  remember  that  Moore's  prettiness  is  not  the  majesty 
aad  passion  of  the  authentic  Gael,  yet  he  should  be  honoured  be- 
cause, in  however  artificial  a  manner,  he  did  keep  alive  a  belief  in 
"the  days  of  old" 

.  .  .  ere  the  emerald  gem  of  the  western  world 
Was  set  in  the  crown  of  a  stranger. 

He  was  of  the  prevailing  "romantic"  school:  but  romance  was 
better  than  darkness,  in  the  absence  of  certainty. 

The  second  division  of  Anglo-Irish  literature  comprises  the 
writers  of  the  "Nation,"  the  men  of  '48  and  their  immediate  suc- 
cessors. These  energetic  young  men  set  out  to  create  a  national 
literature  in  English.  They  owed  nothing  to  the  i8th  century 
school.  Belonging  to  the  Ascendancy  class,  they  knew  nothing  of 
the  Gael,  save  what  was  being  introduced  to  the  scholars'  attention 
by  O'Curry  and  O'Donovan.  Their  rousing  national  ballads  were 
mostly  composed  on  foreign  models,  and  John  Mitchel's  mighty 
prose  was  marred  by  imitation  of  rhetorical  Carlyle.  The  great- 
est by  far  was  Thomas  Davis.  His  was  a  mind  of  encyclopedic 
range,  though  not  very  deep  learning.  Ardently  and  persuadingly 
he  pleaded  in  his  glowing  essays  for  a  national  art,  for  reading- 
rooms,  for  historical  studies,  for  industrial  development.  His 
poems  have  never  been  excelled  as  patriotic  verse.  "The  West's 
Awake"  will  never  lose  popularity,  but  his  songs  of  rural  life,  prais- 
ing sturdy  country  manners  and  simple  joys,  were  equally  part  of 
his  prophetic  message  to  his  people.  His  supreme  teaching  was — 
the  return  of  Gaelicism.  "Ireland  free,"  he  said,  "yes,  but  at  all 
hazards,  Ireland  Gaelic."  Laughed  at  by  the  superficial,  he 
preached  revival  of  the  Gaelic  tongue,  and  set  about  its  study  him- 


682  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

self.  He  died  with  but  three  crowded  years  of  work  to  his  credit. 
The  Famine  came  and  struck  down  all  the  national  energies.  It 
was  left  to  our  own  days  for  men  to  take  up  Davis's  work,  and  his 
essays  are  the  program  of  the  Irish-Ireland  movement  to-day. 

Though  Davis  was  greatest  as  a  national  teacher,  Clarence 
Mangan  was  greatest  as  a  hterary  artist.  He  differed  from  Davis, 
too,  in  being  immersed  In  Gaelic  style;  his  poetry  is  full  of  Gaelic 
imagery  and  music.  He  Is  to  Irish  what  Chapman  is  to  Homer. 
His  Gaelicism  renders  him  strange  and  difficult  to  English  critics; 
otherwise  he  would  be  recognised  as  one  of  the  greatest  poets  using 
English  in  his  days.  He  was  capable  of  magnificent  symbolism  as 
in  this  lament  for  the  Irish  princes : 

Theirs  were  not  souls  wherein  dull  Time 
Could  domicile  decay,  or  house  Decrepitude, 

and  of  unforgettable  passionate  imagery,  as  in  Dark  Rosaleen, 
Meehal  Dhu  MacGioUa  Keerin  and  C athleen-ny-H oulihan. 

Sir  Samuel  Ferguson  must  be  mentioned  with  Mangan  because, 
though  his  style  was  less  racily  Gaelic,  and  derived  more  from 
classical  study,  he  aided  in  presenting  Gaelic  tradition  through  Eng- 
lish verse.  He  was  more  scholarly  and  more  artistic  than  the  po- 
litical writers  of  the  Nation,  but  his  patriotism  was  less  from  the 
heart.  His  poem  describing  The  Burial  of  King  Cormac — telling 
how  the  Boyne  water  carried  away  the  corpse  of  the  King  who 
wished  not  to  be  buried  with  his  pagan  sires — gives  us  both  the 
atmosphere  of  the  Boyne  country  and  a  true  picture  of  the  splendid 
and  barbaric  pre-patrlclan  age.  His  Lays  of  the  Western  Gael 
bring  up  a  vivid  pageant  of  the  Red  Branch  figures. 

The  reader  who  possesses  Mitchel's  Jail  Journal  (the  second 
gospel  of  Irish  nationality),  the  Spirit  of  the  Nation  (an  anthology 
of  the  Nation  poets),  the  Essays  of  Davis,  and  the  poems  of  Man- 
gan and  Ferguson,  has  a  fairly  complete  collection  of  Anglo-Irish 
literature  of  this  group. 

We  have  thus  far  made  no  allusion  to  fiction,  for  the  reason 
that  it  is  in  poetry  and  the  essay  that  Ireland  found  some  degree 
of  national  expression,  while  fiction  is  a  more  external  or  impres- 
sionist matter.  Maria  Edgeworth's  name  is  a  great  one  in  Eng- 
lish literature,  and  her  brilliant  tales  of  i8th  century  Ascendancy 
life  in  Ireland  deserve  attention,  though  they  cannot  be  described 
as  an  expression  of  the  nation.  Carleton's  tales  contain  a  rich  gal- 
lery of  pictures  of  the  people's  life  in  the  early  19th  century,  but 
their  anti-Irish  bias  renders  them  displeasing  to  modern  readers. 


THE  MODERN  LITERATURE  OF  IRELAND     683 

Love  and  Lever  wrote  rollicking  tales  which  are  similarly  disap- 
proved of  because  they  distorted  Irish  life  to  please  the  prejudices 
of  a  contemptuous  English  maaket.  The  judicious  reader,  of 
course,  can  peruse  these  works  with  interest  and  profit,  but  they 
are  intrinsically  unnational.  Kickham's  Knocknagow  is  the  one  out- 
standing Irish  novel  of  the  age  that  is  national,  inoffensive  and 
historic. 


CHAPTER  LXXVIII 

SINN    FEIN 

The  world  is  witnessing  in  Ireland  an  extraordinary  national  renais- 
sance, which  expresses  itself  in  literature,  art,  industry,  social  ideal- 
ism, religious  fervour  and  personal  self-sacrifice.  Deprived  of  the 
means  of  learning,  impoverished  and  ground  down,  the  Irish  people 
for  200  years  have  not  known  culture  or  freedom,  and  their  history 
for  that  period  is  gloomy  reading. 

The  country  in  these  long  years  lay  fallow,  but  the  soil  was 
good.  In  the  closing  years  of  the  19th  century  the  untilled  field  was 
ploughed  up  and  sown  in  by  the  Gaelic  League.  From  this  educa- 
tional movement  which  began  in  1893  ^^^  whole  revival  of  Irish- 
Ireland  may  be  dated.^ 

Recovering  some  measure  of  strength  at  last  after  the  exhaus- 
tion of  the  famine  years,  but  disheartened  and  confused  by  the  col- 
lapse of  the  Parnell  movement,  Ireland  welcomed  the  Gaelic  League 

1  At  the  very  beginning  of  the  Gaelic  League  movement  a  Gaelic  song,  sung 
from  the  gallery  of  a  Dublin  theatre  by  William  Rooney  and  some  fellow  en- 
thusiasts (the  first  of  its  kind  ever  heard  in  such  place)  had  thrilling  effect  upon 
many  of  the  hearers — especially  upon  Ethna  Carbery  who  commemorated  the 
event  in  her  poem: 

A  GAELIC  SONG 

A  murmurous  tangle  of  voices, 

Laughter  to  left  and  right, 
We  waited  the  curtain's  rising, 

In  a  glare  of  electric  light ; 
When  down  through  the  din  came,  slowly. 

Softly,  then  clear  and  strong, 
The  mournful  minor  cadence 

Of  a  sweet  old  Gaelic  song. 

Like  the  trill  of  a  lark  new-risen, 

It  trembled  upon  the  air, 
And  wondering  eyes  were  lifted 

To  seek  for  the  singer  there ; 
Some  dreamed  of  the  thrush  at  noontide. 

Some  fancied  a  linnet's  wail. 
While  the  notes  went  sobbing,  sighing, 

O'er  the  heartstrings  of  the  Gael. 

The  lights  grew  blurred,  and  a  vision 

Fell  upon  all  who  heard — 
The  purple  of  moorland  heather 

By  a  wonderful  wind  was  stirred ; 
684 


SINN  FEIN  68s 

as  a  new  and  hopeful  means  of  exerting  her  national  energies.  The 
League  spread  like  tire.  With  its  pageants,  its  countryside  "feise- 
anna"  or  festivals,  its  Gaelic  song  and  music,  rich  with  memories, 
its  lectures  on  the  forgotten  glories  of  the  Gael,  it  roused  the  whole 
mind  of  the  country.  Thairiig  atiam  in  Eirinn — a  soul  came  into 
Ireland.  The  popular  imagination  recovered  a  vision  of  historic 
Ireland,  that  traditional  nation  whose  heroes  were  not  the  orators 
of  College  Green  but  the  O'Neills  and  the  Fianna  and  the  chivalry 
of  the  Red  Branch.  Twenty-five  years  agot,  the  multitude  were 
stark  ignorant  of  the  names  of  Conall  Cearnach,  Luke  Wadding, 
Ceitinn,  Raftery:  to-day  the  traditional  lore  is  at  least  as  fam- 
iliar as  the  English  lore  which  had  threatened  utterly  to  usurp  it. 
To-day,  too,  Gaelic  education  has  its  numerous  summer  colleges 
and  diocesan  colleges;  it  has  assumed  something  like  its  proper  na- 
tional position  in  all  the  better  seminaries,  and  no  scholar  can  enter 
the  National  University  without  a  knowledge  of  the  Irish  tongue. 

The  centre  of  gravity  in  national  life  changed  from  the  angli- 
cised towns  to  the  rural  population,  sturdy,  unspoilt,  patriotic,  virile, 
the  offspring  and  living  representatives  of  the  traditional  Gael. 
Hence  Irish  politics  began  forthwith  to  reflect  the  mind  of  the  real 
Irish  race. 

Green  rings  of  rushes  went  swaying. 

Gaunt  boughs  of  Winter  made  moan; 
One  saw  the  glory  of  Life  go  by, 

And  one  saw  Death  alone. 

A  river  twined  through  its  shallows, 

Cool  waves  crei)t  up  on  a  strand, 
Or  fierce,  like  a  mighty  army, 

Swept  wide  on  a  conquered  land; 
The  Dead  left  cairn  and  barrow, 

And  passed  in  noble  train, 
With  sheltering  shield,  and  slender  spear — 

Ere  the  curtain  rose  again. 

The  four  great  seas  of  Eire 

Heaved  under  fierce  ships  of  war, 
The  God  of  Battles  befriended. 

We  saw  the  Star  I  the  Star ! 
We  nerved  us  for  deeds  of  daring. 

For  Right  we  stood  against  Wrong; 
We  heard  the  prayer  of  our  mothers, 

In  that  sweet  old  Gaelic  song. 

It  was  the  soul  of  Eire 

Awaking  in  speech  she  knew, 
Wl'.en  the  clans  held  the  glens  and  the  mountains. 

And  the  hearts  of  her  chiefs  were  true: 
She  hath  stirred  at  last  in  her  sleeping, 

She  is  folding  her  dreams  away, 
The  hour  of  her  destiny  ncareth — 

And  it  may  be  to-day — to-day! 


686  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

We  now  see  Ireland,  in  the  nev/  century  new-awakened  to  self- 
consciousness,  a  stout  rural  nation,  filled  with  new  pride  in  its  past, 
and  feeling  after  means  to  achieve  a  worthy  future.  Throughout 
the  country,  a  band  of  enthusiasts  toils  at  an  intellectual  movement 
— studies  a  difficult  and  educative  language,  reads  history  and  all 
manner  of  books  on  national  construction,  and  acts  as  a  ferment  to 
the  whole  people. 

Extraordinary  little  newspapers  and  magazines,  written  volun- 
tarily by  enthusiasts,  began  to  appear.  The  most  important  was  the 
United  Irishman,-  edited  by  Mr.  Arthur  Griffith  (the  Hamlet  of 
the  whole  story)  and  contributed  to  by  scores  of  brilliant  writers 
of  verse,  drama,  tale,  essay  and  research-work.  This  weekly,  vol- 
untary, paper,  published  work  that  has  since  taken  rank  among  the 
immortal  things  of  Irish  literature.  Parallel  to  this  journalistic 
movement,  a  dramatic  movement,  led  by  W.  B.  Yeats  and  Lady 
Gregory,  was  proceeding  in  the  Abbey  Theatre. 

This  intellectual  ferment  called  for  a  political  expression.  You 
could  not  have  ail  young  Ireland  brimful  with  enthusiasm  for  the 
glories  of  the  Gael,  primed  with  ambition  to  see  again  on  Irish 
soil  a  hale  and  lovely  polity  like  that  of  old,  eager  to  use  hand 
and  brain  in  patriot  work,  and  yet  rest  content  to  mark  time  behind 
a  (Parliamentary)  political  movement  that  seemed  to  have  lost 
momentum,  and  which  certainly  gave  no  promise  that  it  was  seek- 
ing an  Ireland  such  as  was  now  envisioned. 

In  1905  Mr.  Griffith  and  his  friends  put  before  the  nation  a 
new  political  movement.  In  Dublin  on  Nov.  28,  1905,  a  National 
CounciP  was  called  into  being  for  the  purpose  of  organising  the 
nation  with  a  view  to  withdrawing  the  representatives  sitting  at 
Westminster  and  setting  up  a  provisional  Irish  Parliament  made  up 
of  these  members  and  representatives  of  public  bodies.  This  de 
facto  Parliament  would  call  upon  the  people  to  co-operate  with  it 
voluntarily  in  the  administration  of  Ireland.  In  a  newly-founded 
weekly,  Sinn  Fein  (succeeding  the  lJni)ed  Irishman),  Mr.  Griffith 
proceeded  to  show  how  the  nation  could  thus  conduct  its  own  aifairs 
even  while  the  national  parliament  was  denied  recognition  by  out- 
side powers. 

Thus,  through  the  Harbour  Boards,  difficulties  could  be  im- 
posed in  the  "dumping"  of  foreign  goods,  which  would  amount  to 

2  Preceded  by  the  Shan  Van  Vocht,  which,  edited  by  Ethna  Carbery  and 
Alice  MilHgan,  first  awaked  the  new  national  enthusiasm,  and  did  splendid  pioneer 
work. 

3  For  sake  of  historical  record  it  may  be  stated  that  those  who  first  met  and 
formed  this  National  Council  were:  Arthur  Griffith,  Maud  Gonne  MacBride, 
Alderman  Tom  Kelly,  Henry  Dixon,  Seumas  MacManus,  and  Edward  Martyn. 


SINN  FEIN  687 

a  system  of  protection  for  Irish  industries.  The  public  could  be 
organised  for  the  support  of  native  industry,  and  capital  could  be 
encouraged  by  the  oBer  of  rate-free  sites,  etc.  Arbitration  Courts 
could  be  set  up  everywhere,  superseding  the  British  courts  in  civil 
matters.  National  insurance  could  be  undertaken.  National  banks 
could  divert  from  foreign  fields  the  Irish  money  which  could  so 
much  more  profitably  be  invested  in  buying  up  Irish  land,  financing 
Irish  developments  and  extending  Irish  control  ol  home  resources. 
A  national  mercantile  marine  could  be  co-operatively  bought  and 
set  to  carrying  Irish  produce  to  those  Continental  markets  which 
offered  so  much  better  prices  than  the  English  markets  to  which 
English  ships  carried  Irish  cattle  and  manufactured  goods.  Irish 
commercial  agents — consuls — could  be  sent  to  the  great  foreign 
trade  centres.* 

It  was  this  policy  of  boycotting  foreign  institutions,  and  of 
"non-co-operation"  with  the  usurping  power,  which,  under  Deak's 
leadership,  won  Hungary  the  status  of  an  independent  nation  in 
the  struggle  with  Austria  that  culminated  in  1867.  Griffith's  per- 
sonality is  in  ways  reminiscent  of  Deak's.  In  Hungarian  history 
you  will  read  that  Deak  was  above  all  other  things,  inflexible.  He 
was  not  an  '"'extremist,"  but  he  was  trusted  by  those  who  went  far- 
ther than  he  did  because  they  knew  that  he  would  never  be  betrayed 
into  standing  for  a  party  instead  of  for  a  nation.  He  would  do 
nothing  to  help  Austria  goveri;  Hungary.  He  preached  the  pure 
doctrine  of  nationality.  The  blandishments  of  the  Emperor,  paper 
promises  of  a  constitution,  the  actual  setting-up  of  a  subordinate 
Home-Rule  parliament;  all  failed  to  extort  one  sign  of  recognition 
from  this  Iron  leader.  When  even  all  his  demands  were  promised 
him  if  he  would  promise  in  return  Hungarian  military  aid,  he  re- 
fused to  be  moved.  Freedom  was  a  right,  not  a  thing  to  be  bar- 
gained for.  Only  when  the  free  Hungarian  constitution  was  brought 
Into  being  did  he  extend  the  hand  of  friendship. 

That  has  been  Arthur  Griffith's  attitude,  and  the  fact  that  his 
policy  has  made  such  remarkable  progress  is  due  to  his  iron  refusal 

•  This  policy  was  not  wholly  a  novel  one.  Daniel  O'Connell  once  contem- 
plated summoning  a  Council  of  Three  Hundred,  withdrawing  representation  at 
Westminster,  and  proceeding  to  legislate  for  the  country.  The  idea  had  been  en- 
tlni-^iastically  taken  up  by  the  Young  Irelanders  but  when  O'Connell  found  he  had 
a  militant  and  united  nation  behind  him.  he  abandoned  the  scheme.  That  it  had 
frightened  the  British  supremacy  is  clear  from  Lord  John  Russell's  dictum:  "In 
six  months  the  power  and  function  of  government  will  be  wrested  from  our 
hands,  and  the  Lord  Lieutenant  will  sit  powerless  in  Dublin  Castle."  The  Arbitra- 
tion Courts  which  had  been  prepared  with  a  view  to  superseding  the  English 
courts,  were  surrendered  as  well  as  the  Council,  and  Ireland  heard  no  more  of 
the  proposal  until  it  was  brought  to  mind  by  Griffith. 


688  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

to  compromi-se  on  any  point,  or  to  parley,  until  liberty  is  brought 
into  being.  A  pen-portrait  thus  describes  him:  .  .  .  "A  small 
man,  very  sturdily  built,  nothing  remarkable  about  his  appearance 
except  his  eyes,  which  are  impenetrable  and  steely ;  taciturn,  deliber- 
ate, speaking  v/hen  he  does  speak  with  the  authority  and  finality  of 
genius,  totally  without  rhetoric,  under  complete  self-control,  and 
the  coolest  and  best  brain  in  Ireland."  And:  "He  believes  in- 
tensely in  himself,  and  he  has  no  real  faith  in  anybody  else,  so  that 
he  is  always  more  or  less  cold  tov/ards  anybody  who  tries  to  do  any 
political  work  in  or  about  his  own  particular  sphere.  .  .  .  Once 
he  has  made  up  his  mind  on  anything  he  never  changes.  In  con- 
troversy he  is  like  a  bull-dog:  he  is  always  the  last  to  let  go,  and 
by  that  time  there  isn't  much  left  of  the  other  man's  case.  As  a 
controversialist  he  is  able  and  .  .  .  unscrupulous,^  but  he  is  nearly 
always  right."  The  same  writer  adds  that  "he  is  naturally  a  be- 
liever in  evolutionary  methods  in  politics  rather  than  in  revolu- 
tionary methods,  and,  in  a  free  Ireland,  would  I  think  be  found  on 
the  side  of  what  The  Times  would  call  'stability.'  He  is  no  great 
believer  in  the  rights  of  man,  and  modern  radical  catch-cries  leave 
him  cold;  his  creed  being  rather  the  rights  of  nations  and  the  du- 
ties of  man,  the  rights  of  a  nation  being  freedom  and  the  allegiance 
and  service  of  all  its  children,  and  the  rights  of  man  being  to  fear 
God  and  serve  his  nation.  He  believes  in  the  State  as  against  the 
individual." 

We  give  this  extended  account  of  Arthur  Griffith,  because  it 
may  justly  be  said  that  his  personality  is  the  Sinn  Fein  movement. 
Though  he  alone  could  not  have  made  Sinn  Fein  the  power  in  Ire- 
land that  it  is,  yet  those  brilliant  minds,  those  fighters  and  doers, 
who  brought  his  movement  to  its  present  position,  would  without 
him  have  been  disunited  and  perhaps  conflicting  forces.  In  particu- 
lar, the  Volunteer  movement,  had  It  stood  as  a  Physical  Force 
movement  alone,  would  have  resulted  in  a  disastrous  and  disheart- 
ening failure  such  as  took  the  heart  out  of  former  generations  in 
Ireland.  When  Easter  Week  was  over,  and  the  insurgents  were 
crushed,  the  country  was  not  broken  as  after  '98  or  '48  or  '67,  be- 
cause the  large  fabric  of  the  comprehensive  Sinn  Fein  policy  re- 
mained, and  the  sacrifice  of  Pearse  and  his  comrades  served  but  as 
a  stimulus  to  the  masses  to  carry  on  the  work  of  industrial  revival, 
language-restoration,  etc. 

Griffith,  in  his  long  years  of  propaganda,  had  taught  the  rising 

5  It  is  just  to  say,  here,  that  the  writer  of  this  foot-note,  long  intimate  with 
Griffith's  work,  can  recall  nothing  to  justify  this  surprising  charge. — S.  M.  M. 


SINN  FEIN  689 

generation  that  nationality  was  to  be  served  in  every  act  of  life. 
The  pages  of  Sinn  Fein  teemed  with  ideas,  represented  every  phase 
o(  national  existence.  Art,  literature,  the  drama,  economics,  in- 
dustry, sociology;  all  such  topics  were  discussed  by  enthusiasts,  and 
plans  were  even  laid  for  a  national  decimal  coinage  of  which  the 
unit  was  to  be  the  Garl  (equivalent  to  the  Franc).  When  in  19 10 
Mr.  Redmond  secured  the  Balance  of  Power  in  the  British  Parlia- 
ment, Mr.  Griffith  suspended  the  organising  of  Sinn  Fein  as  a  po- 
litical party,  giving  the  Parliamentary  leader  a  free  hand  to  achieve 
whatever  he  could  achieve  for  Ireland  with  the  parliamentary 
weapon.  For  years,  then,  Sinn  Fein  was  apparently  dormant,  its 
only  large  activity  being  the  publication  of  the  weekly  with  its  con- 
structive and  critical  articles.  Mr.  Griffith  believed  that  the  parlia- 
mentary dice  was  weighted  against  Ireland,  and  that  at  the  critical 
moment,  the  rival  British  parties  would  coalesce,  rather  than  be 
played  off  against  each  other  to  yield  Irish  freedom.  So  he  bided 
his  time.  It  may  here  be  remarked  that  one  man  could  have  wielded 
the  weapon  of  Abstention  with  force  at  that  time.  Mr.  Redmond 
had  the  leadership  of  the  nation  and  could  have  secured  its  approval 
of  a  dramatic  leaving  of  the  House  of  Commons  when  the  Liberals 
played  Ireland  false.  It  is  a  tragedy  that  (for  whatever  cause) 
he  was  not  able  to  co-operate  with  Arthur  Griffith  in  this  way. 
Much  blood  and  sorrow  might  have  been  spared. 

Unhappily  Redmond  allowed  himself  to  be  coerced  by  the 
threats  of  Sir  Edward  Carson,  and  early  in  19 14,  accepted  the  prin- 
ciple of  Partition.  Weakness,  and  perhaps  anglicisation  led  him 
to  almost  abject  surrender,  and  ever  since,  English  politicians  have 
used  the  authority  of  an  (rish  leader  for  a  policy  of  dividing  the 
Irish  nation.  In  Ireland,  there  was  horror  and  almost  despair. 
Meanwhile,  Nationalists  had  organised  a  Volunteer  force  number- 
ing up  to  200,000  to  repel  the  threat  of  Sir  Edward  Carson's 
Volunteers,  who  were  armed  with  the  connivance  of  English  mili- 
tary authorities  and  at  the  expense  of  English  Unionists.  There 
was  even  talk  of  Civil  War  on  the  eve  of  the  Great  War:  but  this 
must  be  largely  discounted  as  journalistic  sensationalism,  since  the 
Ulster  Volunteer,  who  would  not  even  subscribe  for  his  own  equip- 
ment, not  parade  without  the  free  gift  of  a  bowler-hat,  was  not 
likely  to  play  the  hero  in  the  field  against  men  fighting  for  a  real 
cause.  Indeed,  when  the  Great  War  came,  only  one  in  ten  of  these 
loyal  warriors  enlisted  for  the  defence  of  the  Empire  which  they 
professed  to  love  so  dearly. 

But  the  Great  W^ar  found  the  Irish  situation  under  the  influence 
of  another  element  than  Unionism,   Parliamentarianism  and  Sinn 


690  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

Fein — an  element  which  we  have  not  yet  referred  to,  to  wit,  Fe- 
nianlsm,  or  Republicanism.  A  Physical  Force  party,  aiming  at  an 
independent  Irish  Republic,  owned  a  monthly  paper,  Irish  Freedom, 
and  through  a  series  of  "Wolfe  Tone  Clubs,"  exerted  an  influence 
on  public  opinion  that  was  far  from  being  negligible.  This  party 
enjoyed  the  allegiance  of  several  of  the  best  brains  of  modern  Ire- 
land: in  particular,  it  numbered  among  its  leading  adherents,  Pa- 
draic  Pearse,  one  of  the  most  remarkable  men  of  his  age. 

Parnell  had  said  that  Fenianism  was  the  backbone  of  the  na- 
tion. Though  not  a  Physical  Force  man  himself,  he  did  nothing  to 
check  the  activities  of  those  who  believed  in  freeing  Ireland  by 
armed  conflict:  he  refused  to  be  "England's  policeman."  And  so 
his  own  movement  was  the  stronger  because  his  opponents  knew 
that  if  it  were  withdrawn  they  would  have  to  deal  with  the  desperate 
men  who  stood  behind.  Even  so,  Grattan  once  had  used  the  men- 
ace of  the  Volunteers  of  1782.  But  Fenianism  appeared  to  the 
outer  world  to  have  perished  in  our  own  days.  A  few  old  Fenians 
here  and  there,  "embers"  kept  the  fire  of  freedom  aflame  in  the 
country,  and  some,  like  the  venerable  John  O'Leary,  preached  that 
Phvsical  Force  was  needed,  not  because  it  was  capable  of  winning 
against  England,  but  because  sacrifice  alone  would  keep  Nationality 
alive. 

How  far  Fenianism  survived  as  an  organisation  only  the  ini- 
tiates could  tell;  but  it  is  a  known  fact  that  Fenianism  definitely 
took  up  arms  again  some  years  before  the  war. 

The  Fenians  adopted  from  Fintan  Lalor  the  motto:  "Repeal 
not  the  Union,  but  the  Conquest."  These  were  lean  years  for  Sinn 
Fein,  but  these  two  small  parties  of  enthusiasts  worked  side  by  side 
without  acrimony.  Each  was  equally  devoted  to  the  full  Irish-Ire- 
land program  of  a  Gaelicised  nation.  The  Fenians  were  the  active 
element  in  the  Volunteers  when  that  extraordinary  armed  move- 
ment came  into  being:  but  they  did  not  at  first  control  the  new  de- 
velopment. 

Such,  then,  were  the  factors  in  the  Irish  situation  on  which  the 
Great  War  descended  in  August,  19 14. 


CHAPTI'R  LXXIX 

EASTER    RISING 

'Tis  said  that  the  first  shots  in  the  Great  War  were  fired  in  Ireland. 
This  happened  on  July  26th,  19 14,  a  beautiful  summer  Sunday.  It 
came  about  thus: 

Early  in  19 14  the  Carsonite  Volunteers,  with  the  connivance  of 
British  sympathisers  in  hIo;h  places,  ran  a  bi<2^  cargo  of  arms  ashore 
at  Larne,  and  distributed  them  over  Ulster  by  motors  flying  through 
the  night.  The  exploit  was  carried  out  with  excellent  generalship, 
and  one  life,  that  of  an  over-excited  official,  v/as  lost.  Those  were 
dull  days  in  world  affairs — the  calm  before  the  storm — and  the 
press  received  the  news  with  voracious  joy.  Every  newspaper  pub- 
lished thrilling  (often  imaginative)  accounts,  garnished  with  maps 
and  war-artists'  pictures.  The  public  enjoyed  a  sensation  bigger 
than  anything  since  the  Boer  War.  Forthwith,  the  British  Gov- 
ernment prohibited  the  importation  of  arms  into  Ireland,  lest  the 
Nationalists  should  secure  weapons  too. 

On  Sunday,  July  19th,  the  Dublin  Volunteers  were  mobilised 
for  a  route  march.  A  big  column  assembled  at  the  Volunteer 
grounds  at  Clontarf  after  Mass,  and  received  orders  to  march 
towards  Howth.  Only  one  or  two  officers  knew  what  the  day's 
program  was,  and  the  section  commanders  and  rank  and  file  obe- 
diently tramped  out  along  the  side  of  Dublin  Bay,  turning  off  to  the 
left,  according  to  orders,  where  a  bye-road  leads  to  Baldoyle,  a 
little  village  near  a  racecourse.  The  Volunteers  w-ere,  as  usual, 
watched  by  police.  This  being  the  first  big  muster  of  Volunteers, 
perhaps  a  suspicion  passed  through  the  minds  of  both  the  Volun- 
teers and  the  police,  that  some  coup  was  being  planned.  However, 
arrived  at  Baldoyle,  the  column  w^as  dismissed  and  allowed  to  take 
refreshments.  After  an  hour  or  so,  the  whistles  sounded,  and  the 
men  were  marched  back  to  Dublin.  Nothing  remarkable  had  hap- 
pened. There  was  talk  that  at  the  next  route  march  there  would 
probably  be  some  drill  in  field  operations.   .   .   . 

On  the  following  Sunday,  the  volunteers  were  again  mobilised. 
Nearly  a  thousand  paraded.     As  they  hurried  from  all  parts  of 

691 


692  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

Dublin  to  the  parade  ground,  they  saw  announcements  on  the 
Sunday  paper  placards  of  a  serious  international  crisis  that  had  been 
brought  about  through  Austria's  quarrel  with  Serbia.  The  very 
sensitive  minds  felt,  perhaps,  the  first  tremors  of  the  coming 
cataclysm. 

Out  towards  Howth  they  marched  once  more,  singing  their 
marchings  songs,  "Clare's  Dragoons,"  "Step  Together,"  and  the 
"Soldiers'  Song."  Only  a  few  knew  the  words  of  this  last  and 
none  guessed  that  in  less  than  three  years  it  would  be  as  popular 
with  the  Irish  race  as  "God  Save  Ireland."  Out  the  Howth  Road 
they  swung  along  and  past  Kilbarrack  churchyard;  but  instead  of 
turning  to  the  left  for  Baldoyle,  they  were  led  past  Sutton  on 
towards  the  great  hill  of  Howth  itself. 

When  the  column  reached  the  narrow  isthmus  which  links 
Howth  to  the  mainland,  the  island  of  Ireland's  Eye  could  be  seen  to 
the  left  across  the  sunny  green  waters.  Past  it,  making  for  Howth 
Harbour,  a  small  yacht  was  sailing.  None  of  the  Volunteers,  save 
perhaps  three  men,  knew  what  that  yacht  was  carrying  in  her  hold. 
When  the  Volunteers  reached  the  foot  of  Howth  pier,  they  were 
halted.  The  yacht  was  then  nearing  the  mouth  of  the  harbour. 
Suddenly,  as  the  white  sails  dropped  and  the  little  craft  ran  under 
the  lighthouse,  and  around  the  pierhead,  the  order  was  passed  along 
the  line  to  double  down  the  pier.  Vaguely  sensing  that  something 
notable  was  afoot,  the  Volunteers  ran.  Small  contingents  of  picked 
men  appeared  from  no  one  knew  where  and  guarded  the  foot  of 
the  pier  with  automatic  pistols.  Coast  guards  venturing  to  interfere 
found  themselves  looking  into  the  muzzles  of  lethal  weapons  and 
desisted.  Police,  going  to  barracks  to  telephone  to  Dublin  discov- 
ered that  wires  had  been  cut  and  that  Howth  was  isolated.  And 
then — 

The  column  had  been  halted  along  the  pier.  The  little  yacht 
was  moored  at  the  pierhead.  Heavy  batons  of  wood  with  leather 
wrist-straps  were  dealt  out  and  a  hundred  or  so  Volunteers  were 
armed  therewith.  Suddenly  it  was  noticed  that  in  the  summer  sun- 
light straw-bound  objects  were  being  handed  up  from  the  boat  to 
those  Volunteers  who  held  the  pierhead.  Straining  eyes  saw  the 
straw  torn  away,  and  the  Irish  Volunteers'  first  rifles  appearing! 

An  indescribable  shriek  of  cheers  went  up.  The  column  broke, 
and  men  dashed  forward,  eager  to  get  arms.  For  a  few  minutes 
the  officers  had  difficulty  in  restoring  order.  "Have  patience,"  they 
said.     "Don't  fear — there's  enough  to  go  'round." 

And  so,  in  a  few  minutes,  every  Volunteer  held  a  heavy  rifle 


EASTER  RISING  693 

in  his  hands,  while  motors  shot  away  with  further  stands  and  boxes 
of  ammunition. 

Loudly  were  the  armed  men  cheered  by  holiday  makers  at 
Howth,  people  on  tramtops  and  by  roadside,  as  they  marched 
back  to  the  city,  their  riHes  on  their  shoulders.  Word  of  their 
approach  was  carried  ahead  of  them,  by,  it  may  be  assumed,  a 
police  motor.  Bodies  of  police  marched  behind  them,  and  when, 
after  9  miles'  tramping,  they  neared  Clontarf,  the  Volunteer  cycle 
scouts  rode  back  to  the  column  with  word  that  a  detachment  of 
British  soldiers  blocked  the  way  into  the  city.  The  marching 
column  drew  up  a  few  score  feet  from  the  sinister  khaki  line.  Their 
officers  received  from  a  police  official  the  intimation  that  they  must 
surrender  their  arms.  The  officers  temporised.  The  police  official, 
on  some  technical  point,  was  acting  beyond  his  powers,  though  in 
the  spirit  of  his  authorities.  The  discussion  between  the  two  parties 
was  accordingly  prolonged.  While  the  argument  over  technicalities 
lasted  the  Volunteers  quietly  dispersed  and  got  away  across  fields 
to  safe  hiding  places  for  their  guns.  And  so  battle  was  avoided. 
Yet  it  was  touch-and-go,  and  had  ammunition  been  served  out 
instead  of  prudently  held  back  by  the  Volunteer  leaders,  there 
would  undoubtedly  have  ensued  a  bloody  episode  with  huge  casu- 
alties.^ 

But  though  the  armed  men  thus  got  their  weapons  away  without 
a  clash  of  arms,  the  day  was  not  to  end  in  peace.  The  khaki  forces 
marching  back  to  barracks  were  hooted  by  a  mob  that  resented  an 
attempt  to  disarm  Nationalists  while  Carsonites  were  encouraged 
to  arm.  The  soldiers  fired  two  volleys  into  the  crowd.  Four 
people  were  in  cold  blood  shot  dead  and  about  fifty  wounded. 

This  tragic  occurrence  shocked  the  whole  country.  Mr. 
Asquith's  efforts  to  gloze  over  the  shooting  of  civilians  infuriated 
the  insulted  nation.  The  victims'  funeral  was  one  of  the  most 
impressive  events  ever  witnessed  in  Dublin.  Hundreds  of  thou- 
sands participated.  Volunteers  kept  order  and  fired  a  military 
salute  over  the  graves.    There  was  a  breath  of  revolution  in  the  air. 

And  then  the  Great  War  began.     Everyone  felt  that  those  shots 

1  One  body  of  worthy  ones,  who  materially  aided  in  the  saving  of  the  guns — 
as  well  as  in  other  good  projects — was  the  fine,  and  well-trained  body  of  patriotic 
Irish  lads,  the  Fianna  na  hEireann.  They  were  a  body  of  brave  boys  enrolled  by 
a  brave  Irishwoman,  who  fought  gallantly,  and  suffered  sorely  for  Ireland,  the 
Countess  Markievicz.  The  admirable  Con  Colbert,  who  smilingly  met  the  martyr 
death  dealt  to  the  patriot  leaders  of  the  Easter  Rising,  was  one  of  the  Fian — and 
had  become  a  chief  trainer  of  them.  He  had  an  able  assistant  in  another  lovable 
Fian  graduate,  and  rebel  leader,  Liam  Mellowes. 


694  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

at  civilians  in  Dublin  had  been  the  first  blows  in  the  conflict.  Appeals 
were  now  made  to  Irishmen  to  rally  to  the  defence  of  England! 
Mr.  Asquith,  visiting  Dublin  to  address  a  great  ticket  meeting,  had 
to  approach  the  hall  through  armed  guards,  and  the  demonstration 
secured,  it  is  said,  only  six  recruits." 

When  Mr.  Redmond,  who  had  promised  unreserved  Irish  aid 
in  the  war  without  even  stipulating  that  national  freedom  should 
first  be  ensured,  went  farther,  and  declared  that  the  Irish  Volunteers' 
duty  was  to  enlist  en  masse  under  England's  flag,  the  founders  of 
the  Volunteer  organisation  revolted,  and  the  movement  was  split. 
The  original  Volunteers  were  a  minority,  but  they  were  a  deter- 
mined body  of  men,  and  as  Irish  nationality  received  one  rebuff 
after  another,  and  coercion  was  used  against  Irishmen  of  inde- 
pendent standing,  an  increasing  body  of  discontented  or  disillusioned 
people  passed  over  to  the  "extreme"  camp.  In  19 14  the  majority 
was  with  Mr.  Redmond.  By  the  beginning  of  19 16  his  Volunteers 
had  melted  away  and  he  was  a  lonely,  disappointed,  failing  man.  On 
St.  Patrick's  Day  of  that  year,  a  wonderful  demonstration  took 
place,  a  vast  body  of  Volunteers  parading  in  College  Green  before 
the  old  Parliament  House,  and  saluting  Eoin  MacNeill,  recognised 
leader  of  the  recalcitrants.  It  was  then  clear  that  the  Volunteer 
movement  was  definitely  in  the  opposite  camp  to  Mr.  Redmond, 
and  was  both  powerful  and  determined.  Nobody  doubted  now 
that  an  armed  conflict  between  this  well-organised  body  and  the 
forces  of  the  Crown  was  something  more  than  a  lively  possibility. 

Professor  MacNeill,  however,  was  known  to  be  a  cautious  and 
moderate  man,  who  then  followed  a  policy  far  short  of  the  republi- 
can. He  was  in  favour  of  accepting  and  defending  Home  Rule.  He 
wished  to  see  the  Volunteers'  organisation  brought  to  a  pitch  of 
completeness  that  would  enable  the  leaders,  at  the  war's  end,  to 
confront  England  with  an  armed  nation  demanding  its  promised 
freedom.  He  was  not  in  favour  of  striking  for  a  republic  to  be 
achieved  by  force  of  arms,  though  it  is,  of  course,  impossible  to  say 
whether  he  would  not  have  agreed  to  an  insurrection  had  Germany 
been  able  to  send  forces  and  arms  that  would  render  such  action 
seriously  formidable  to  British  power. 

How  came  it,  then,  that  insurrection  without  German  aid  ulti- 
mately came  about?  The  answer  is  found  in  the  personality  of  two 
men — Padraic  Pearse  and  James  Connolly. 

Without  doubt,  Pearse  was  one  of  the  most  remarkable  men 

2  The  meeting  was  attended  liy  Mr.  Redmond's  faithful  "loyalists"  and  the 
Anglo-Irish.  Admission  by  ticket  was  arranged,  to  prevent  the  real  Irish  from 
smashing  it  up. 


EASTER  RISING  695 

ever  born  in  Ireland.  His  curious  and  powerful  writings  expound 
a  philosophy  that  sets  the  Irish  cause  in  the  light  of  a  tremendous 
religious  mission.  As  an  educationalist  alone,  Fearse  came  with  a 
message  destined  to  work,  profound  revolution  in  the  nation's 
intellectual  life.  Starting,  as  it  were,  where  the  Gaelic  League 
left  off,  to  wit:  at  the  conviction  that  Irish  must  be  restored  to  the 
position  it  enjoyed  in  Gaelic  days  if  the  nation  is  to  preserve  Its 
apostolicity,  he  went  farther,  and  showed  that  the  whole  system  of 
education  in  Ireland,  and  the  intellectual  standards  of  the  educated, 
must  be  utterly  changed.  He  advocated  bilingualism  on  the  ground 
that  it  made  for  rich  intellectual  development,  and  having  studied 
bilingual  education  in  Belgium,  he  expounded  it  in  the  press  and  in 
practice.  Irish  was  made  the  school  language  at  St.  Enda's,  his 
school,  only  the  sciences  in  which  a  Gaelic  vocabulary  is  lacking 
being  taught  in  English.  But  his  educational  ideals  went  far  farther 
than  bilingualism.  He  held  that  *heroic  literature,  the  national 
sagas,  should  take  a  prime  place  in  school  curricula.  At  St.  Enda's 
every  boy  was  made  as  familiar  with  Cuchulainn  and  Fionn  as  in 
other  schools  he  would  be  with  Macaulay.  Heroic  pageants  and 
Passion  Plays  were  enacted  while  lectures  from  eminent  literati 
introduced  the  lads  to  realms  of  modern  culture.  Further,  the 
common  relation  of  master  and  pupil  was  changed  for  that  of 
teacher  and  disciple.  Pearse  held  that  Our  Lord,  moving  with  the 
Twelve  about  the  countryside  and  feeding  them  on  the  richness  of 
His  wisdom,  was  the  ideal  type  towards  which  education  should 
aspire. 

Pearse  held  that  English  commercialism  was  the  wickedest 
thing  that  ever  corrupted  the  hearts  of  great  nations.  Irish  nation- 
ality, on  the  other  hand,  he  saw  as  a  sacred  trust,  committed  to 
the  race  by  God,  who  spoke  through  Tone  and  Mitchel  and  Davis 
and  Labor  as  the  Four  Evangelists  of  Ireland,  and  M-as  crucified  in 
Robert  Emmet,  who  made  the  supreme  sacrifice  to  keep  the  spirit 
of  the  nation  alive.  Every  generation,  Pearse  said,  must  make 
protest  In  blood  against  foreign  dommlon;  otherwise  Ireland's  claim 
to  Independent  nationhood  would  be  annulled.  He  quoted  the  in- 
spired utterance  that  "without  blood  there  is  no  remission  of  sins," 
and  both  In  his  school  and  in  his  writings  preached  ceaselessly  the 
beauty  of  sacrifice.  In  one  of  his  most  typical  school  plays,  a  saintly 
youth  takes  the  place  of  the  king  at  the  head  of  a  falling  army,  and 
by  the  gift  of  his  young  life  wins  a  victory.  "Let  me  do  this  little 
thing,  O  King,"  says  the  boy  as  he  goes  forth  to  death.  That  was 
Pearse's  most  typical  and  most  actually  personal  line. 

When  the  war  came,  Pearse  brooded  even  more  seriously  on 


696  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

the  need  of  an  armed  rising.  When  every  other  subject  people 
rose  for  freedom,  was  Ireland  alone  to  make  no  sign?  She  must 
fight,  if  not  with  hope  of  success,  then  in  the  spirit  of  a  blood 
sacrifice  to  demonstrate  her  undying  resolve  to  win  ultimate  free- 
dom. This  Pearse  preached  to  the  people,  speaking  at  meetings 
where,  with  a  religious  solemnity,  he  nlade  his  hearers  stand  as  for 
the  recitation  of  the  Creed  in  Church,  and  repeat  after  him:  "I 
believe  in  One  Irish  Nation,  and  that  Free." 

And  yet  Pearse  was  slow  to  consent  to  the  Rising.  Undoubtedly 
he  expected  and  relied  on  an  armed  conflict  in  Ireland  before  the 
Great  War  should  end,  but  he  was  resolved  to  strike  when  the  blow 
should  have  best  chance  of  success.  It  is  generally  believed,  and  is 
probably  the  case,  that  James  Connolly  was  responsible  for  the 
hurrying  of  things  to  an  issue. 

Connolly  was  a  Socialist,  and  the  Socialist  Republican  Party 
which  he  founded  before  the  '98  Centenary  was  an  active  force  in 
the  revival  of  separation.  He  believed  in  the  Marxian  doctrine  of 
Social  Revolution  with  more  earnestness  than  the  Socialists  of 
other  countries,  who  professed  to  be  revolutionaries,  but  feared 
revolution  no  less  than  other  classes  of  the  community.  Connolly 
worked  at  all  times  to  bring  about  that  violent  revolt  against  the 
Capitalist  system  from  which  the  new  order  was  expected  to  rise. 
Pearse,  no  less  than  Connolly,  was  opposed  to  the  Capitalist  order 
and  looked  to  see  new  Ireland  blossom  as  a  co-operative  common- 
wealth; but  he  did  not  share  Connolly's  reliance  on  Class  War: 
he  hoped  to  see  patriotism,  by  inspiring  all  classes  with  a 
lofty  ideal,  direct  the  nation  to  a  nobler  order  than  the  present. 
Connolly,  however,  was  no  doctrinaire  Socialist:  he  was  not  pledged 
to  a  communistic  future,  and  would  have  supported  any  program 
which  made  for  democracy  in  industry  and  equitable  d'stribution  of 
wealth  and  power.  He  was  as  intensely  patriotic  as  any  anti- 
socialist,  and  when  awaiting  execution  said  to  his  daughter:  "Other 
socialists  will  not  understand  why  I  am  here — they  forget  that  I 
am  an  Irishman." 

Connolly  is  «aid  to  have  told  his  friends  in  19 14  that  he  would 
not  let  the  war  end  without  striking  a  blow  for  revolution.  In  the 
early  part  of  19 16,  his  paper  preached  revolt  in  unmistakable  terms. 
Undoubtedly  his  propaganda  hastened  the  ultimate  decision. 
During  the  Lent  preceding  the  Rising  he  published  such  fiercely 
rebellious  matter  that  no  reader  could  doubt  his  intention.  It  was 
expected  that  the  Castle  would  raid  Liberty  Hall  and  destrov  the 
revolutionary  printing  press.  So,  to  defend  liberty  of  utterance,  a 
Citizen  Army  guard  stood  with  loaded  rifles,  day  and  night,  pre- 


EASTER  RISING  697 

pared  to  resist  to  the  end.  Just  a  week  before  Easter,  the  Irish 
Tricolour  was  hoisted  over  the  Hall  as  if  the  Republic  were  already 
in  being.  The  atmosphere  was  tense.  Various  raids,  captures  of 
arms,  strange  threats  and  rumours,  filled  the  public  mind  with  the 
impression  that  something  sensational  was  afoot.  It  was  thought 
that  an  attempt  might  soon  be  made  to  disarm  the  Volunteers,  and 
people  vaguely  wondered  what  resistance  could  be  offered. 

On  Easter  Sunday  two  mysterious  items  in  the  papers  sent  a 
thrill  of  sensation  through  the  country.  The  first  was  a  report  of 
how  a  motor  carrying  unknown  persons,  driving  furiously  in  the 
dark  towards  the  Kerry  coast,  had  taken  a  wrong  turn  and  plunged 
into  an  arm  of  the  sea.  The  second  was  this  note,  signed  by  Eoin 
MacNeill,  chairman  of  the  Volunteers: 

"Owing  to  tlie  very  critical  position,  all  orders  given  to  Irish 
Volunteers  for  to-morrow,  Easter  Sunday,  are  hereby  rescinded, 
and  no  parades,  marches,  or  other  movements  of  Irish  Volunteers 
will  take  place.  Each  individual  Volunteer  will  obey  this  order 
strictly  in  ever}'  particular." 

It  needed  little  Imagination  to  guess  that  the  motor  car  accident 
had  been  in  connection  with  some  landing  of  arms  or  persons,  and 
Professor  MacNeill's  order  clearly  showed  that  some  stupendous 
crisis  had  just  been  passed. 

What  had  happened  was,  that  Roger  Casement  had  landed  in 
Kerry,  had  failed  to  be  met  by  those  who  were  to  take  him  to  his 
destination,  and  had  been  captured  by  police,  identified,  and  hurried 
away,  a  prisoner,  to  London.  Simultaneously,  a  liner,  now  named 
the  And,  which  accompanied  Casement's  submarine,  disguised  as  a 
Norwegian  timber  ship,  but  really  carrying  20,000  rifles,  millions 
of  rounds  of  ammunition,  with  machine  guns  and  explosives,  had 
been  stopped  by  a  British  patrol  boat  near  Tralee,  where  the  arms 
were  to  be  landed.  Flying  the  German  flag,  the  Aud  was  scuttled 
by  its  own  crew. 

A  Rising  had  been  planned  for  Easter  Sunday.  The  news  of 
Casement's  arrest  and  the  loss  of  the  cargo  of  arms  had  reached 
the  Volunteer  headquarters,  and  it  is  believed  that  Casement  at  the 
last  moment  got  an  appeal  through  to  abandon  the  project.  It  is  not 
known  whether  the  Volunteer  council  as  a  whole  had  decided 
on  insurrection,  or  whether  it  was  the  secret  intention  of  the 
Fenian  section  only.  But  in  any  case,  the  proposal  was 
negatived  and  Eoin  MacNeill  sent  the  Countermanding  Order 
broadcast  through  the  land.  The  manoeuvres  arranged  for 
Easter  Sunday — which  from  drill  were  to  have  been  transformed 


698  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

into  action — were  abandoned,  and  the  Insurrection  appeared  to  be 
definitely  and  finally  "off." 

But  on  Easter  Monday,  soon  after  noon,  the  Irish  Republic  was 
proclaimed  in  Dublin,  and  the  insurgent  Tricolour  suddenly  broke 
on  startled  eyes  from  the  flagstaff  above  the  General  Post  Office  in 
the  heart  of  the  Irish  capital. 

What  caused  the  change  of  plan?  This. — The  British  govern- 
ment learnt  from  the  sinking  of  the  Aud  how  nearly  insurrection 
had  come  to  pass,  and  the  decision  was  made  to  seize  the  Volunteer 
executive  and  break  up  the  organisation.  No  sooner  was  the 
decision  made  than  it  was  communicated  to  the  threatened  parties 
by  their  Secret  Service.  On  Easter  Sunday  the  Volunteer  council 
sat  to  consider  a  situation  which  was  in  substance  this :  a  simul- 
taneous rising  throughout  the  country  had  been  rendered  imprac- 
ticable by  the  Countermanding  Order.  But  if  no  blow  was  struck 
there  and  then,  the  possibility  of  striking  a  blow  at  any  time  would 
be  lost,  for  the  Castle  was  to  arrest  all  the  leaders  during  the 
coming  week.  Should  they  submit  to  disarmament  thus,  or  should 
they  strike  in  Dublin  with  whatever  sporadic  support  might  be 
rendered  through  the  country? 

It  is  said  that  the  decision  to  strike  was  reached  by  only  a 
majority  of  one.  Eoin  MacNeill  and  those  who  felt  with  him  con- 
sistently opposed  unaided  insurrection.  Sean  MacDiarmada,  Tom 
Clarke  and  Thomas  MacDonagh  were,  on  the  other  hand,  com- 
mitted to  the  insurgent  policy.  Pearse  is  believed  to  have  favoured 
the  moderate  counsel,  but  Connolly  declared  that  the  Citizen  Army 
at  any  cost  would  strike  before  it  was  disarmed,  and  so,  having 
preached  at  all  times  the  duty  of  Irishmen  to  vindicate  their  national 
faith  by  sacrifice,  Pearse  gave  the  vote  for  insurrection  which  turned 
the  course  of  Irish  history. 

It  seemed  a  forlorn  hope.  Did  the  insurgents  think  to  win  on 
the  field  of  battle?  When  all  was  over,  people  gasped  at  the 
apparent  madness  of  a  few  ill-armed  youths  in  throwing  down  the 
gage  to  an  empire.  But  a  week  before,  the  Rising  was  by  no  means 
an  extravagant  proposal.  Had  the  And  safely  landed  its  cargo,  to 
be  followed  by  further  consignments  at  some  point  on  the  coast 
held  by  the  now-equipped  insurgents,  then  a  certain  belt  or  area 
of  the  country  could  have  been  captured,  entrenched,  and  held  for 
an  indefinite  period.  Some  100,000  men  could  have  been  secured 
for  the  fighting  line.  To  crush  an  insurrection  of  such  magnitude 
— supported  perhaps  by  German  air  and  naval  raids  on  the  Enghsh 
coast  and  by  the  establishment  of  German  submarine  bases  in  ports 
seized  by  the  rebels — England  would  have  needed  practically  to 


EASTER  RISING  699 

withdraw  her  forces  on  the  Western  Front.  It  is  not  too  much 
to  say  that  the  issue  of  the  war  in  the  West  might  have  been  wholly 
changed  had  a  well-armed,  all-Ireland  insurrection  taken  place. 

The  Easter  Monday  Rising,  however,  had  no  such  military 
prospects  of  success.  There  was  always,  of  course,  the  chance  that 
a  German  success  on  the  Western  Front  would  break  England's 
defences  and  allow  substantial  help  to  be  sent  before  the  Rising  was 
crushed,  but  this  proved  a  vain  hope.  A  small  ineffectual  shelling 
of  the  English  coast  was  all  that  Germany  performed  in  Ireland's 
aid.  The  insurgents  put  little  reliance  on  German  succour:  they 
Avent  out  fully  prepared  to  meet  defeat  and  death,  believing  the 
Rising  to  be  an  honourable  necessity,  and  hoping  that  it  would 
ultimately  prove  successful  by  rousing  the  spirit  of  the  nation  and 
making  the  Irish  cause  once  more  an  International  question. 

On  the  morning  of  Easter  Monday,  April  24th,  19 16,  the 
Dublin  battalions  paraded,  bearing  full  arms  and  one  day's  rations. 
Shortly  after  noon,  the  General  Post  Office,  the  Four  Courts,  three 
of  the  railway  termini,  and  other  Important  points  circling  the 
centre  of  Dublin,  were  rushed  and  occupied.  The  Proclamation  of 
the  Irish  Republic  was  published  in  big  placards: 

Pohiackt  na  hEireann 

The  Provisional  Government  of  the  Irish  Republic 

To  the  People  of  Ireland: 

Irishmen  and  Irishwomen!  In  the  name  of  God  and  of 
the  dead  generations  from  which  she  receives  the  old  tradition 
of  nationhood,  Ireland,  through  us,  summons  her  children  to 
her  flag,  and  strikes  for  her  freedom.  .  .  . 

f^e  declare  the  right  of  the  people  of  Ireland  to  the 
ownership  of  Ireland,  and  to  the  unfettered  control  of  Irish 
destinies,  to  he  sovereign  and  indefeasible.  .  .  .  In  every 
generation  the  Irish  people  have  asserted  their  right  to 
National  freedom  and  sovereignty;  six  times  during  the  past 
three  hundred  years  they  have  asserted  it  in  arms.  Standing 
on  that  funda7nental  right  and  again  asserting  it  in  arms  in 
the  face  of  the  world,  we  hereby  proclaim  the  Irish  Republic 
as  a  Sovereign  Independent  State,  and  we  pledge  our  lives  and 
the  lives  of  our  comrades  to  the  cause  of  its  freedom,  of  its 
welfare,  and  of  its  exaltation  among  the  nations.   .  .  . 

The  Republic  guarantees  civil  and  religious  liberty,  equal 
rights  and  equal  opportunities  to  all  its  citizens,  and  declares 
its  resolve  to  pursue  the  happiness  and  prosperity  of  the  whole 


700  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

nation  and  of  all  its  parts,  cherishing/  all  the  children  of  the 
nation  equally,  and  oblivious  of  the  differences  carefully 
fostered  by  an  alien  government,  which  have  divided  a  minority 
from  the  majority  in  the  past.  .  .  . 

fVe  place  the  cause  of  the  Irish  Republic  under  the  pro- 
tection of  the  Most  High  God,  whose  blessing  we  invoke  upon 
our  arms.  .  .  .  In  this  supreme  hour  the  Irish  nation  must, 
by  its  valour  and  discipline,  and  by  the  readiness  of  its  children, 
to  sacrifice  themselves  for  the  common  good,  prove  itself 
worthy  of  the  august  destiny  to  which  it  is  called. 

Signed  on  behalf  of  the  Provisional  Government, 
Thomas  J.  Clarke, 
Sean  MacDiarmada,  Thomas  MacDonagh, 

P.  H.  Pearse,  Eamonn  Ceannt, 

James   Connolly,  Joseph  Plunkett. 

There  was  little  fighting  on  the  first  day  of  the  Rising.  Wholly 
unprepared,  since  it  was  believed  that  the  Volunteers  had  aban- 
doned the  project,  the  British  authorities  were  taken  by  surprise 
and  could  not  immediately  muster  forces  to  attack  the  insurgents 
before  they  had  "dug  themselves  in."  Two  important  points  within 
the  Dublin  war  area  were,  however,  held  by  the  British,  namely, 
Trinity  College,  which  was  defended  by  the  Officers'  Training 
Corps,  and  Dublin  Castle.  The  former  dominated  the  old  Parlia- 
ment House  and  two  leading  thoroughfares.  The  latter  could 
have  been  taken  easily  enough,  but  the  Volunteers  suspected  it  to  be 
more  strongly  garrisoned  than  it  actually  was,  and  abstained  from 
attack  until  troops  were  got  in,  and  it  was  too  late.  It  was  on 
the  Tuesday  that  a  British  force  of  some  4,500  men,  with  artillery, 
attacked  the  rebel  strongholds,  and  secured  the  Castle.  Fierce 
fighting  with  rifle,  bomb  and  bayonet  went  on  in  buildings  near  the 
Castle,  these  being  cleared  of  insurgents  after  desperate  hand-to- 
hand  battles.  A  cordon  was  then  drawn  around  the  north  of  the 
city,  some  of  the  rebel  outposts  being  attacked  and  broken  with 
rifle  or  artillery. 

Meanwhile  large  reinforcements  were  being  hurried  into  Ire- 
land, via  Kingstown,  and  on  Wednesday,  the  south  side  of  the  city 
was  brought  within  the  cordon,  which  then  began  to  be  tightened, 
while  the  insurgents,  receiving  no  addition  of  strength  to  fortify 
their  somewhat  loose  hold  of  a  large  area,  consolidated  their 
position.  The  British  forces  marching  in  from  Kingstown  had,  how- 
ever, to  fight  their  way.  At  Mount  Street,  the  canal  was  covered 
by  a  Volunteer  force  in  corner  houses.     The  invading  column  was 


EASTER  RISING  701 

fired  on,  and  a  ferocious  battle  ensued.  The  rebels — who  were  but 
a  few  men — were  ultimately  dislodged  or  destroyed  by  waves  of 
bombing  raids.  The  British  casualties  were:  officers  killed  4, 
wounded  14;  men,  216  killed  or  wounded. 

On  the  Thursday  the  encircling  forces  pressed  closer  and  pene- 
trated to  the  central  scene  of  operations,  though  every  inch  of  the 
advance  was  contested  by  snipers  and  little  bodies  of  desperate, 
daring  men.  Liberty  Hall  had  been  shattered  by  gunfire  from  the 
river,  and  now  shells  ignited  great  buildings  in  O'Connell  Street, 
On  Thursday  night,  the  city  was  under  a  canopy  of  crimson  smoke, 
while  ritle,  machine  gun  and  cannon  contested  in  a  furious  crescendo. 
The  lines  of  communication  between  the  insurgent  strongholds  were 
broken,  and  the  British  forces  concentrated  on  reducing  head- 
quarters, the  General  Post  Office,  over  which  the  Republican  flag 
still  flew. 

Meanwhile  what  was  happening  in  the  rest  of  Ireland? 

When  news  reached  the  country  battalions  that,  despite  the 
Countermanding  Order,  a  Rising  had  begun,  there  were  necessarily 
divided  counsels.  All  over  Ireland,  the  thought  of  a  few  hundred 
youths,  ill-armed,  standing  their  ground  against  the  might  of 
Britain,  sent  an  unforgettable  thrill.  Men  knew  that  the  circle  of 
fire  and  steel  was  contracting  'round  the  daring  insurgents,  and 
everywhere  they  wrung  their  hands,  saying:  "Can  we  do  nothing?" 
What  could  they  do?  The  very  best  organised  counties  had  not 
munitions  for  an  hour's  fight.  Still,  here  and  there,  the  cast  was 
made.  The  Co.  Dublin  Volunteers,  acting  from  Swords,  pierced 
into  Co.  Meath,  taking  R.  I.  C.  barracks,  and  fighting  a  pitched 
battle  at  Ashbourne  with  a  constabulary  force  that  was  defeated  at 
the  cost  of  heavy  casualties.  Dr.  Hayes,  later  elected  to  the  Dail, 
was  the  leading  figure  in  this  smaller  campaign. 

In  Co.  Galway  Liam  Mellows  led  a  large  body  of  insurgents  on 
Galway  city.  A  gunboat  in  Galway  Bay  dispersed  them  by  shell- 
fire.  At  Athenry,  the  insurgent  camp  was  surrounded,  and  dis- 
persed when  the  hopelessness  of  resistance  became  clear.  Liam 
Mellows  escaped  capture  by  that  remarkable  resourcefulness  which 
enabled  him  to  make  Galway  so  formidable. 

In  Co.  Wexford  Enniscorthy  was  seized  on  the  Thursday  morn- 
ing, and  the  Republican  flag  was  hoisted  over  the  Athenaeum.  The 
greater  part  of  northern  Co.  Wexford  was  also  taken.  Great 
administrative  skill  was  shown,  order  being  maintained,  not  by  the 
armed  Volunteers,  but  by  a  civil  force,  the  Irish  Republican  Police. 
A  large  military  force  with  artillery  was  sent  to  capture  Enniscorthy, 
but  happily  the  extremely  bloody  struggle  that  might  have  taken 


702  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

place  was  avoided.  News  came  on  Saturday  that  Dublin  had  sur- 
rendered and  that  Pearse  had  ordered  all  Volunteers  to  lay  down 
their  arms.  As  with  the  force  at  Swords,  representatives  of  the 
insurgents  were  motored  to  Dublin  under  a  safe  conduct  and  the 
white  flag,  to  see  Pearse  in  person.  Heartbroken,  the  delegates 
returned  from  the  prison  to  the  rebel  town.  Their  impulse  to  fight 
a  despairing  fight  to  a  finish  was  overcome  by  the  good  offices  of 
an  inter-denominational  Peace  Committee,  and  they,  too,  joined  in 
the  surrender. 

How  had  the  surrender  come  about? 

On  Friday,  a  terrific  bombardment  had  set  the  centre  of  Dublin 
city  wholly  ablaze.  Banks,  churches  and  business  places  were  aflame 
and  tottering.  The  loss  of  life  among  non-combatants  was  appall- 
ing. Amid  the  carnage,  Pearse  wrote  his  final  manifesto.  Con- 
nolly lay  wounded  with  a  bullet  through  the  thigh,  still  directing 
the  defence. 

"I  desire  now"  [Pearse  wrote]  "lest  I  may  not  have  an  oppor- 
tunity later,  to  pay  homage  to  the  gallantry  of  the  Soldiers  of  Irish 
Freedom  who  have  during  the  past  four  days  been  writing  with  fire 
and  steel  the  most  glorious  chapter  in  the  later  history  of  Ire- 
land. .  .  . 

'Tor  four  days  they  have  fought  and  toiled  almost  without 
cessation,  almost  without  sleep,  and  in  the  intervals  of  fighting,  they 
have  sung  songs  of  the  freedom  of  Ireland.  No  m*an  has  complained, 
no  man  has  asked  'why?'  Each  individual  has  spent  himself,  happy 
to  pour  out  his  strength  for  Ireland  and  for  freedom.  If  they  do 
not  win  this  fight,  they  will  at  least  have  deserved  to  win  it.  But 
win  it  they  will,  though  they  may  win  it  in  death.  .  .  . 

"If  we  accomplish  no  more  than  we  have  accomplished,  I  am  satis- 
fied. I  am  satisfied  that  we  have  saved  Ireland's  honour  ...  of  the 
fatal  countermanding  order  which  prevented  those  plans  from  being 
carried  out,  I  shall  not  speak  further.  Both  Eoin'MacNeill  and  we 
have  acted  in  the  best  interests  of  Ireland. 

"For  my  part,  as  to  anything  I  have.done  in  this,  I  am  not  afraid 
to  face  either  the  judgment  of  God  or  the  judgment  of  posterity." 

Here  we  see  Pearse  facing  impending  defeat.  His  reference 
to  Eoin  MacNeill  suggests  that  he  felt  it  was  well  that  a  Rising  had 
been  made,  and  also  well  that  the  whole  country  had  not  come  into 
it.  A  localised  rising  was  enough  to  give  Ireland  her  blood  sacri- 
fice: MacNeill's  order  had  spared  many  who  would  otherwise  have 
been  lost.  If  military  victory  was  impossible,  it  was  well  that  the 
necessary  sacrifice  was  limited. 

Commandant  Daly  had  destroyed  the  Linen  Hall  Barracks  but 


EASTER  RISING  703 

was  now  surrounded  at  the  Four  Courts.  Countess  Markievicz, 
after  being  driven  out  of  trenches  in  Stephens'  Green,  was  defend- 
ing the  College  of  Surgeons.  Commandant  McDonagh  was  sur- 
rounded in  Jacob's  factory.  Commandant  de  Valera,  whose  men 
had  so  tenaciously  resisted  the  advance  from  the  south,  was  now 
holding  Boland's  Mills,  while  Commandant  Ceannt  held  part  of  the 
South  Dublin  Union. 

On  Saturday,  the  General  Post  Office  was  set  aflame,  and  the 
Republican  Provisional  government  had  to  evacuate  its  so-bravely 
defended  headquarters.  In  the  dash  to  Moore  Street — a  neighbour- 
ing bye-way — The.  O'Rahilly,  who  had  opposed  the  Rising  with 
MacNeill,  but  had  gone  out  in  it  because  he  felt  himself  committed 
to  that  course,  was  shot  dead.  From  the  new  headquarters  soon 
after  noon,  a  message  was  sent  by  Pearse,  by  the  hand  of  a  Red 
Cross  nurse,  asking  for  terms.  These  were  refused,  and  at  2 
o'clock,  Pearse  surrendered  to  Sir  John  Maxwell  unconditionally. 
He  then  sent  out  notices  to  the  Commandants  of  surviving  Volun- 
teer bodies,  ordering  arms  to  be  laid  down: 

"In  order  to  prevent  the  further  slaughter  of  unarmed  people,  and 
in  the  hope  of  saving  the  lives  of  our  followers,  now  surrendered 
and  hopelessly  outnumbered." 

And  so  the  Rising  ended,  the  outstanding  forces  laying  down 
arms  on  the  Sunday. 

But  the  tragic  story  was  as  yet  only  beginning. 

Arms  had  not  been  laid  down,  sniping  had  not  died  into  silence, 
the  smoke  of  the  terrific  conflagration  in  the  heart  of  Dublin  had 
not  settled,  before  a  huge  roundup  of  Irish  Irelanders  began  all 
over  Ireland.  In  every  village  there  were  arrests.  To  have  been 
heard  speaking  Irish  was  in  some  cases  cause  enough  for  the  bread- 
winner to  be  torn  from  the  family.  The  horrors  of  the  congested 
prisons  are  too  disgusting  to  narrate.  Soon  the  hundreds  and  hun- 
dreds of  prisoners  were  sent  to  rat-ridden  internment  camps  across 
the  water. 

In  ones  and  twos  fifteen  leaders  ^  of  the  Rising  were  shot  after 

3  The  leaders  shot  were : — Padraic  Pearse  and  his  brother  William,  James 
Connolly,  Eamonn  Kent,  Michael  O'Hanrahan,  Sean  MacDermott,  Con  Colbert, 
J.  J.  Houston,  Thomas  Kent  (shot  in  Cork),  Joseph  Mary  Plunkett,  Edward  Daly, 
Michael  Mallon,  Thomas  MacDonagh,  Tom  Qark  and  John  MacBride. 

Sir  John  Maxwell,  in  command  of  the  British  Army  in  Dublin,  deserves  having 
his  name  transmitted  to  posterity  in  conjunction  with  the  names  of  the  martyred 
ones.  In  response  to  the  cry  of  the  British  nation  for  the  blood  of  "scoundrel?" 
guilty  of  the  fearful  crime  of  fighting  their  land's  invader,  Sir  John,  with  an 
expedition   that    won    him   praise,   blotted    out    the    lives   of    fifteen    of    Ireland's 


704  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

secret  military  trial.  Many  of  the  executed  prisoners  were  mere 
boys.  All  the  signatories  of  the  Republican  declaration  were  put 
to  death.  Some  death  sentences,  however,  were  commuted  to 
sentences  of  imprisonment  for  life,  happily  for  Ireland,  Comman- 
dant de  Valera  escaping  thus. 

The  callous  shooting  of  the  boy  prisoners,  most  of  all,  roused 
in  Ireland  a  terrific  storm  of  indignation.  The  remarkable  spirit 
of  religious  devotion  displayed  by  the  doomed  men  stirred  the 
depths  of  Irish  emotion.  Sinn  Fein  became  at  once  the  creed  of  all 
Nationalist  Ireland.  The  British  had  dubbed  the  rebel  movement 
"Sinn  Fein."  And  in  the  furnace  of  national  suffering,  all  parties 
who  stood  for  the  nation  were  welded  into  one,  and  the  name  "Sinn 
Fein"  was  accepted. 

After  a  year  the  prisoners  were  released  for  the  purpose  of 
English  propaganda  in  America.  During  their  imprisonment  a 
man  hitherto  known  only  as  an  obscure  mathematical  professor, 
a  silent  Gaelic  League  and  Volunteer  worker,  had  been  strangely 
recognised  as  the  national  leader.  This  was  Eamon  de  Valera. 
At  the  Release,  he  shot,  as  it  were,  to  the  nation's  lead  in  a  flash. 
One  week,  his  name  was  scarcely  known;  the  next  he  was  recognised 
as  the  man  on  the  bridge.  Character  alone  was  the  cause  of  this 
remarkable  ascendancy.  Cool,  resolved,  gentle,  masterly,  humble, 
firm:  Eamon  de  Valera  impressed  all.  He  is  no  great  orator  like 
Pearse;  he  does  not  pretend  to  have  Griffith's  marvellous  mastery 
of  political  science,  and  indeed,  talks  always  of  Griffith  as  his 
teacher:  but  he  combines  the  idealism  of  one  with  the  statesmanship 
of  the  other.  Pearse  performed  the  revolutionary  task  he  set  him- 
self, but  we  cannot  imagine  him  as  counsellor  in  days  of  peace  or 
negotiation;  Griffith  alone  could  not  win  the  nation's  adherence. 
The  stars  were  lucky  when  Ireland  was  given  three  men  so  remark- 
able in  one  generation.  But  where  in  political  history  is  there  a 
finer  spectacle  than  the  superb  self-sacrifice  with  which  Griffith 
handed  the  leadership  of  Sinn  Fein  to  his  young  disciple,  saying: 
"The  people  of  Ireland  now  have  a  leader  who  is  both  soldier  and 
statesman"? 

When,  one  year  later  again,  that  is,  in  191 8,  England  decreed 
the  conscription  of  Ireland's  manhood  to  save  her  from  the  great 

noblest — of  the  world's  rtoblest.  The  manful  Connolly  was  lying  in  hospital, 
helpless,  and  possibly  dying  from  the  wounds  got  in  the  fight.  But  the  blood  of 
the  vanquished  and  dying  was  necessary  to  the  victor's  complete  and  happy  satis- 
faction. So,  the  helpless  one  was  borne  on  a  stretcher  to  tiie  place  of  execution, 
solicitously  propped  up  against  a  support  and  shot  dead.  The  rebel's  foul  crime 
was  expiated.  The  Just  One,  the  Owner  of  Ireland,  was  temporarily  appeased. — 
S.  M.  M. 


EASTER  RISING  705 

German  advance,  it  was  'round  de  Valera  that  the  whole  nation 
rallied.  His  coolness  and  wisdom  saved  Ireland  from  a  bloody 
defeat,  and  secured  a  moral  victory.  Very  nearly  was  Ireland 
plunged  into  a  life-and-death  struggle,  but  de  Valera's  resolved 
bearing,  and  the  splendid  succour  offered  by  the  Church,  held  the 
whole  people  firm  and  calm.  Before  the  determined  nation, 
fortified  with  spiritual  strength,  those  who  had  planned  a  des- 
perate onslaught  hesitated,  and  at  last  withdrew.  Irish  conscription 
was,  at  the  last  moment,  abandoned,  and  Ireland  for  the  first  time 
in  many  centuries  escaped  the  scourge  prepared  for  her. 

In  December,  at  the  General  Election,  all  Nationalist  Ireland 
declared  its  allegiance  to  the  Republican  ideal,  and  the  Sinn  Fein 
policy  of  abstention  from  Westminster  was  adopted.  In  January, 
the  republican  representatives  assembled  in  Dublin  and  founded 
Ddil  Eireann,  the  Irish  Constituent  Assembly,  proclaiming  the 
Republic  once  again.  A  message  was  sent  to  the  nations  of  the 
world  requesting  the  recognition  of  the  free  Irish  State,  and  a 
national  government  was  erected. 

The  best  history  of  the  Sinn  Fein  movement  is  The  Evolution  of 
Sinn  Fein,  by  Prof.  R.  M.  Henry  of  Belfast  University  [Talbot 
Press].  A  useful  companion  is  P.  S.  O'Hegarty's  small  brochure 
Sinn  Fein:  An  Illumination  [Maunsel].  Also  Aodh  de  Blacam's 
Towards  the  Republic,  which  deals  with  Sinn  Fein  social  ideals  as 
well  as  historj^ 

Griffith's  Resurrection  of  Hungary  is  important.  Francis  P. 
Jones'  History  of  Sinn  Fein  [Kenedy]  is  fine. 


CHAPTER  LXXX 

THE  LAST  WAR? 

No  sooner  had  the  new  Government  begun  to  function,  established 
its  Courts,  appointed  Consuls,  started  a  stock-taking  of  the  country's 
undeveloped  natural  resources,  and  put  a  hundred  constructive 
schemes  to  work,  than  Britain  stepped  in,  with  her  army  of  Soldiers 
and  Constabulary,  to  counter  the  work,  harassing  and  imprisoning 
the  workers.  This  move  of  England's  called  forth  a  secretly  built-up 
Irish  Republican  Army  (developed  from  The  Irish  Volunteers), 
which,  early  in  1920,  began  a  guerilla  warfare,  and  quickly  suc- 
ceeded in  clearing  vast  districts  of  the  Constabulary  who  were  ever 
England's  right  arm  in  Ireland. 

Lloyd  George  met  this  not  only  by  pouring  into  Ireland  regi- 
ments of  soldiers  with  tanks,  armored  cars,  aeroplanes,  and  all  the 
other  terrorising  paraphernalia  that  had  been  found  useful  in  the 
European  War,  but  also  by  organising  and  turning  loose  upon  Ire- 
land an  irregular  force  of  Britons,  among  the  most  vicious  and 
bloodthirsty  known  to  history — the  force  which  quickly  became 
notorious  to  the  world  under  the  title  of  the  Black  and  Tans.  And 
then,  with  carefully  planned  purpose  to  quickly  break  the  Irish 
spirit  and  subdue  the  nation,  was  waged  upon  the  Irish  people — 
alike  combatants  and  non-combatants,  Irish  women  as  well  as 
men,  toddling  child  and  tottering  aged — a  war  of  vengeance,  un- 
paralleled for  blind  fury  and  fearful  cruelty  by  any  war  in  any 
civilised  country  of  the  world  since  the  seventeenth  century.  The 
wholesale  burning  of  a  hundred  villages,  towns,  cities,  the  looting, 
the  spoliation  of  the  inhabitants,  though  in  themselves  appalling, 
were  as  nothing  compared  with  the  cold-blooded  murders  per- 
petrated by  the  British,  and  the  elaborate  refinement  of  torture, 
worse  far  than  death,  which  they  visited  on  non-combatants  as 
well  as  combatants — fearful  tortures  that  frequently  only  ended 
when  slow  death  snatched  from  them  their  prey. 

It  was  intended  that  the  job  of  "settling  Ireland"  should,  like 
Cromwell's  campaign  on  which  it  was  modelled,  be  sharp,  short,  and 
decisive.  It  should  be  over  and  done  with  ere  the  outside  world 
awoke  to  the  fearful  reality  of  what  was  happening.     And  the 

706 


THE  LAST  WAR?  707 

English  press,  with  a  bare  two  or  three  honourable  exceptions,  the 
English  correspondents  of  foreign  newspapers,  and  the  English 
cable  service,  well  did  their  part  to  back  the  British  army  in  the 
field.  They  saw  to  it  that  not  only  was  the  hideousness  of  their 
campaign  in  Ireland  concealed  from  the  world,  but  that  instead, 
the  brave  Irish  boys,  fighting  for  freedom  a  fearfully  unequal  fight, 
were  lied  about  and  painted  to  the  world  as  corner  boy  ruffians. 
And,  loyally  doing  their  bit  in  the  disgraceful  campaign  of  hood- 
winking the  world,  the  highest,  most  "Honourable"  Government 
officials,  from  Premier  Lloyd  George  down  to  Irish  Secretary  Sir 
Hamar  Greenwood,  from  their  places  in  the  British  House  of  Com- 
mons deliberately  and  persistently  falsified  the  accounts  of  occur- 
rences in  Ireland,  denied,  without  wincing,  the  barbarous  crimes  of 
the  British  which  they  knew  and  approved  of,  and  unblushingly 
fathered  upon  the  clean-fighting  Irish  boys  callous  and  diabolical 
cruelties  that  were  native  alone  to  the  breasts  of  their  own — even  to 
insinuating  that  the  murders,  by  disguised  and  masked  British  ruf- 
fians, of  Mayor  MacCurtain  of  Cork  and  Mayor  Clancy  of  Lim- 
erick were  perpetrated  by  their  own  Republican  comrades,  who 
slew  them  as  traitors.  Thus  did  the  Honourable  British  gentlemen 
blacken  the  dead  as  well  as  the  living. 

Yet  the  well-planned  campaign  for  the  quick  wasting  of  Ireland, 
and  breaking  of  Ireland's  spirit  did  not  come  off  on  schedule.  The 
atrocities  which  were  meant  to  frighten  and  subdue,  only  stimulated 
the  outraged  nation  to  more  vigour:  and  by  the  time  the  fight  was 
expected  to  end  it  was  found  to  be  only  well  begun.  And,  carefully 
as  the  army  of  falsifiers  guarded  every  gate  by  which  the  truth 
might  escape  to  the  world,  tricklings  of  truth  had  begun  to  find  their 
way  out,  and  the  v/orld  vs-as  beginning  to  whisper  of  strange  British 
doings  in  Ireland.  More  than  by  anything  else,  probably,  the  world 
was  awakened  to  the  truth  of  the  situation  in  Ireland  through  the 
extraordinary  heroism  of  Terence  MacSwiney  (Mayor  of  Cork  in 
succession  to  the  martyred  MacCurtain),  who  in  protest  against 
the  foreign  tyranny  which  seized  and  jailed  him  as  a  criminal  for 
the  guilt  of  working  for  his  country,  refused  to  eat  in  British  dun- 
geon, till,  after  three  months  of  slow  and  painful  starving  to  death, 
with  the  wondering  world  literally  by  his  bedside  watching  his  death 
agonies,  he  at  length  went  to  join  the  joyful  company  of  martyrs 
who  had  died  that  Ireland  might  live. 

The  world  was  stirred.  The  terrible  truth  about  Britain's  rape 
of  Ireland  began  to  be  realised — and  began  to  call  forth  muttered 
foreign  protest.  Only  then,  when  they  realised  that  they  were  found 
out,  an  appreciable  portion  of  the  Britons  themselves  began  to 


7o8  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

protest — chiefly,  not  to  save  Ireland,  but  to  save  Britain's  face.^ 
The  general  aspect  of  the  British  Campaign  in  Ireland  is  best 
summarised,  perhaps,  in  the  findings  of  the  American  Commission 
on  Conditions  in  Ireland — a  Commission  whose  members  were  se- 
lected by  the  American  Committee  of  One  Hundred — this  latter 
being  composed  of  many  of  the  most  representative  men  and 
women  in  America,  Protestant,  Catholic,  Methodist,  Presbyterian 
and  Jew — including  Governors  of  States,  Senators,  Congressmen, 
Protestant,  Catholic  and  Methodist  Bishops,  College  Presidents, 
Editors,  Business  men.  Labor  men.  Following  are  the  most  re- 
markable of  their  findings : 

"1.  The  Imperial  British  Government  has  created  and  introduced 
into  Ireland  a  force  of  at  least  78,000  men,  many  of  them  youthful  and 
inexperienced,  and  some  of  them  convicts;  and  has  incited  that  force 
to  unbridled  violence. 

^  The  Protestant  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  speaking  in  the  House  of  Lords 
(Feb.  22nd,  1921)  said,  with  just  indignation,  "What  is  being  done  in  Ireland  is 
exactly  what  we  condemned  the  Germans  for  doing  in  Belgium." 

The  Moderator  of  the  Presbyterian   Church   in  England,   Rev.   Duncan  Mac- 
Gregor,  said,  "The  result  of  the  present  policy  is  that  British  rule  has  become  a 
by-word  and  a  scoff  in  every  country  in  Europe,  and  across  the  Atlantic.  ...  I  won- 
der whether  the  whole  Church  of  God  cannot  speak  with  united  voice  on  so  clear  . 
and  crying  a  moral  issue." 

Ex-Prime  Minister  Asquith  declared,  "Things  are  being  done  in  Ireland  with 
the  knowledge  and  approval,  if  not  under  the  direction  of,  Government  officials, 
which  would  disgrace  the  blackest  annals  of  the  lowest  despotism  of  Europe." 

The  British  Labor  Party  found  themselves  forced  to  send  a  Commission  to 
Ireland  to  investigate.  After  journeying  to  the  various  parts  of  Ireland  most 
affected  by  the  war  machine,  and  interviewing  witnesses  to  some  of  the  most  terrible 
of  the  occurrences,  as  well  as  leading  men  and  officials  of  both  sides,  they  found 
themselves  forced  ,to  give  a  report  that  made  myriads  of  their  British  people  gasp. 
The  gist  of  their  findings  may  be  conveyed  in  one  sentence  taken  from  the  closing 
paragraph  of  their  report:  "Things  are  being  done  in  Ireland,  in  the  name  of 
Britain,  which  must  make  her  name  stink  in  the  nostrils  of  the  whole  world." 

Hon.  C.  F.  G.  Masterman  at  Macclesfield :  "Speaking  with  a  full  sense  of  my 
responsibility  as  former  Cabinet  Minister,  I  declare  the  evidence  is  overwhelming 
that  a  systematic  policy  of  terror  is  being  pursued  in  Ireland — defended  by  Lloyd 
George,  backed  up  by  the  flagrant  lies  of  Sir  Hamar  Greenwood,  and  organised  by 
officials  in  high  places  in  Dublin.  The  attempt  is  not  merely  to  punish  the  guilty, 
but  to  break  the  whole  spirit  of  Ireland  by  inflicting  punishment  upon  people  who 
are  as  innocent  as  babes  unborn.  That  was  the  system  which,  under  the  German 
invasion  of  Belgium,  turned  the  whole  world  against  Germany.  Yet  in  every  par- 
ticular the  things  going  on  in  Ireland  to-day  are  a  replica — in  some  cases  they  are 
worse  than — the  things  the  Germans  did  in  Belgium." 

Lord  Hugh  Cecil  (in  the  House  of  Commons,  on  March  1st,  1921)  :  "The 
methods  adopted  in  Ireland  have  no  precedent  whatever  in  the  story  of  the  restora- 
tion of  law  and  order  by  previous  governments  in  the  nineteenth  century." 

General  Gough,  formerly  of  the  British  Army — one  of  the  Army  leaders  who. 
when  a  follower  of  Carson,  in  1914,  threatened  to  mutiny  if  "Home  Rule"  was 
forced  upon  the  Orangemen— now  wrote  a  letter  to  the  press  (March  1st,  1921) 
in  the  course  of  which  he  said :  "Law  and  order  has  given  place  to  a  bloody  and 
brutal  anarchy,  in  which  the  armed  agents  of  the  Crown  violate  every  law  in  aim- 
less and  vindictive  and  insolent  savagery.  England  has  departed  further  from  her 
own  standards,  and  further  from  the  standards  even  of  any  nation  in  the  world, 
not  excepting  the  Turk  and  the  Zulu,  than  has  ever  been  known  in  history  before." 


THE  LAST  WAR?  709 

"2.  The  Imperial  British  forces  in  Ireland  have  indiscriminately 
killed  innocent  men,  women,  and  children;  have  discriminately  assas- 
sinated persons  suspected  of  being  republicans;  have  tortured  and  shot 
prisoners  while  in  custody,  adopting  tlie  subterfuges  of  'refusal  to 
halt'  and  'attempting  to  escape' ;  and  have  attributed  to  alleged  'Sinn 
Fein  extremists'  the  British  assassination  of  prominent  Irish  Repub- 
licans. 

"3.  House  burning  and  wanton  destruction  of  villages  and  cities 
by  Imperial  British  forces  under  Imperial  British  officers  have  been 
countenanced  and  ordered  by  officials  of  the  British  Government,  and 
elaborate  provision  by  gasoline  sprays  and  bombs  has  been  made  in 
a  number  of  instances  for  systematic  incendiarism  as  part  of  a  plan 
of  terrorism. 

"4.  A  campaign  for  the  destruction  of  the  means  of  existence  of 
the  Irish  people  has  been  conducted  by  the  burning  of  factories,  cream- 
cries,  crops,  and  farm  implements,  and  the  shooting  of  farm  animals. 
This  campaign  is  carried  on  regardless  of  the  political  views  of  their 
owners,  and  results  in  widespread  and  acute  suffering  among  women 
and  children. 

"5.  Acting  under  a  series  of  proclamations  issued  by  the  competent 
military  authorities  of  the  Imperial  British  forces  hostages  are  carried 
by  forces  exposed  to  the  fire  of  the  Republican  Army ;  fines  are  levied 
upon  towns  and  villages  as  punishment  for  alleged  offenses  of  in- 
dividuals ;  private  property  is  destroyed  in  reprisal  for  acts  with  which 
the  owners  have  no  connection ;  and  the  civilian  population  is  subjected 
to  an  inquisition  upon  the  theory  that  individuals  are  in  possession 
of  information  valuable  to  the  military  forces  of  Great  Britain.  These 
acts  of  the  Imperial  British  forces  are  contrary  to  the  laws  of  peace 
or  war  among  modern  civilised  nations." 

In  the  spring  of  192 1  there  was  galloped  through  the  English 
Parliament  a  "Home  Rule  Bill"  for  Ireland — whose  object  was, 
by  giving  the  eastern  part  of  Ulster,  the  Orange  corner,  a  Parlia- 
ment of  its  own,  to  detach  it  from  the  rest  of  Ireland,  thus  dividing 
the  nation  on  sectarian  lines,  and  by  the  Orangemen's  aid  strength- 
ening the  foreign  grip  on  the  whole  country.  The  Orangemen  (all 
British  in  blood) — ever  the  Ascendancy  in  Ireland  treading  on  the 
necks  of  the  real  Irish — had  professed  that  they  feared  to  trust 
themselves  to  the  certain  intolerance  of  an  Irish  Parliament — 
though  the  true  fact  was  well  known  to  English  statesmen:  even 
Sir  Hamar  Greenwood,  who  blackened  Nationalist  Ireland  by  every 
device  in  his  power,  having  had  to  state  in  the  British  House  of 
Commons,  "I  am  constrained  to  confess  that  the  North  is  the  only 
part  of  Ireland  where  people  are  interfered  with  on  account  of 
their  religion."  These  Northeasterners  in  July,  1920,  celebrated 
their  coming  freedom  from  an  intolerant  Irish  Parliament  by  in- 


710  THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 

stituting  a  series  of  pogroms  against  the  minority  among  them — in 
the  course  of  which  in  twelve  months  more  than  one  hundred  of  the 
minority  were  killed  by  being  beaten,  stabbed,  kicked,  or  shot  to 
death,  and  more  than  one  thousand  injured,  while  the  homes  and 
belongings  of  several  hundreds  were  burnt,  and  six  thousand  Na- 
tionalists driven  out  of  employment.  It  is  to  be  remembered  in  this 
connection  that  the  motto  of  these  noble  Orangemen  is  "Civil  and 
Religious  Liberty." 

Premier  Lloyd  George,  having  ignored  the  rising  tide  of  world 
indignation  until  Britain's  hold  on  Ireland's  northeastern  corner  was 
well  secured  and  clamped,  then  had  King  George  go  to  Belfast  to 
open  Britain's  branch  Parliament  there,  and  speak  a  prepared  piece, 
calling  for  union  among  the  people  he  was  dividing,  and  asking  also 
for  peace  between  England  and  Ireland.  And  then  in  deference  to 
his  King's  pious  wish  (so  he  informed  the  world)  the  Prime  Min- 
ister invited  Sinn  Fein  to  a  parley.  Ireland  had  proved  uncon- 
querable by  any  other  means. 

President  De  Valera,  for  the  Irish  Republic,  accepted  the  invi- 
tation. A  truce  was  arranged  between  the  invader's  army  and  the 
army  of  the  Republic  in  July,  1921.  And  the  English  Prime  Minis- 
ter received  with  honour  the  head  of  that  body  which  he  had  with 
long  and  faithful  persistence  denounced  to  the  world  as  "the 
Irish  murder  gang." 

To  De  Valera,  in  this  parley,  offer  was  made  to  give  Ireland 
what  George  called  "Dominion  status" — supposedly  that  amount  of 
freedom  under  the  British  Crown  which  is  the  lot  of  Canada  and 
Australia — but  less  the  control  by  Britain  of  the  Irish  harbours,  seas, 
skies,  and  some  other  such  perquisites — which  offer  was  promptly 
and  unanimously  rejected  by  An  Dail  Eireann.  Rather  than  sanc- 
tion Britain's  covetous  and  dishonest  grab  of  anything  that  was 
Ireland's  the  Irish  representatives  preferred  that  their  people  should 
return  to  the  wilderness. 

Then,  after  resorting  to  threat  of  a  renewed  war  upon  Ireland 
far  more  fierce  than  had  gone  before — which  threat  caused  no  weak- 
ening of  the  Irish  resolve — the  English  Prime  Minister  invited 
Ireland  to  send  delegates  to  a  peace  conference,  on  the  understand- 
ing that  the  idea  of  separating  Ireland  from  the  British  Crown 
should  not  be  considered.  De  Valera,  for  An  Dail  Eireann,  re- 
fused such  condition.  And,  beaten  from  one  position  after  another, 
Premier  Lloyd  George  finally  called  for  a  conference,  free  of  con- 
ditions, to  be  held  in  London  on  October  i  ith,  192 1.  And  President 
De  Valera  accepted  the  invitation. 


THE  LAST  WAR?  711 

[On  this  page  write,  or  paste  in,  the  result  of  the  Peace  Conference.] 


CHAPTER  LXXXI 

THE    DAWNING 

The  final  chapter  of  the  story  of  the  Irish  Race  will  not  be  written 
till,  please  God,  many  a  long  and  glorious  Irish  day  shall  yet  have 
come  and  gone.  The  final  chapter  of  our  partial  story  cannot  be 
better  written  than  in  the  words  of  Ethna  Carbery,  who  shortly 
before  her  early  death  saw  with  her  spirit  eyes  the  radiant  Dawn 
dethroning  Eire's  dark  Night  of  Sorrow — and  in  beautiful  words 
pictured  for  us  her  vision — 

MO  CHRAOIBHIN  CNO.^ 

A  Sword  of  Light  hath  pierced  the  dark!     Our  eyes  have  seen  the  Star! 
Oh,  Eire,  leave  the  ways  of  sleep  now  days  of  promise  are! 
The  rusty  spears  upon  your  walls  are  stirring  to  and  fro, 
In  dreams  they  front  uplifted  shields — Then  wake, 
Mo  Chraoibhin  Cno! 

The  little  waves  creep  whispering  where  sedges  fold  you  in, 
And  round  you  are  the  barrows  of  your  buried  kith  and  kin ; 
Oh!  famine-wasted,  fever-burnt,  they  faded  like  the  snow 
Or  set  their  hearts  to  meet  the  steel — for  you, 
Mo  Chraoibhin  Cno! 

Their  names  are  blest,  their  caoine  sung,  our  bitter  tears  are  dried; 
We  bury  Sorrow  in  their  graves,  Patience  we  cast  aside ; 
Within  the  gloom  we  hear  a  voice  that  once  was  ours  to  know — 
'Tis  Freedom — Freedom  calling  loud.  Arise, 
Mo  Chraoibhin  Cno! 

Afar  beyond  that  empty  sea,  on  many  a  battle-place, 

Your  sons  have  stretched  brave  hands  to  Death  before  the  foeman's  face — 
Down  the  sad  silence  of  your  rest  their  war-notes  faintly  blow. 
And  bear  an  echo  of  your  name — of  yours. 
Mo  Chraoibhin  Cno! 

^  Fronounced  mo  chreeveen  no,  "My  cluster  of  nuts" — my  brown-haired  girl, 
i.  e.,  Ireland.  During  our  many  dark  ages  when  it  was  treason  for  our  singers 
to  sing  of  Ireland,  the  olden  poets  sang  of,  and  to,  their  beloved,  under  many  such 
endearing  and  figurative  titles. 

712 


THE  DAWNING  713 

Then  wake,  a  gradh!    We  yet  shall  win  a  gold  crown  for  your  head, 
Strong  wine  to  make  a  royal  feast — the  white  wine  and  the  red — 
And  in  your  oaken  mether  the  yellow  mead  shall  flow 
What  day  you  rise  in  all  men's  eyes — a  Queen, 
Mo  Chraoibhin  Cno! 

The  silver  speech  our  fathers  knew  shall  once  again  be  heard ; 
The  fire-lit  story,  crooning  song,  sweeter  than  lilt  of  bird  ; 
Your  quicken-tree  shall  break  in  flower,  its  ruddy  fruit  shall  glow, 
And  the  Gentle  People  dance  beneath  its  shade — 
Mo  Chraoibhin  Cno! 

There  shall  be  peace  and  plenty — the  kindly  open  door; 
Blessings  on  all  who  come  and  go — the  prosperous  or  the  poor — 
The  misty  glens  and  purple  hills  a  fairer  tint  shall  show. 
When  your  splendid  Sun  shall  ride  the  skies  again — 
Mo  Chraoibhin  Cno! 


THE  FOUR  WINDS  OF  EIRINN 

The  Poems  of  Ethna  Carbery 

New    Enlarged   Edition,  with   Memoir  by   Seumas   MacManus,   and  with   Portrait  of   the  Author 

Fiona  Macleod,  in  an  article  upon  "The  Four  Winds  of  Eirinn"  in  The  Fortnightly 
Review,   said : — 

"One  copy  of  such  a  book  as  'The  Four  Winds  of  Eirinn'  is  enough  to  light  many  unseen 
fires.  ...  In  essential  poetic  faculty  Ethna  Carbery  falls  behind  no  Irish  poet  save  Mr.  Yeats 
and  'A.  E.'  As  an  Irish  writer  for  an  Irish-public,  I  doubt  if  any  of  these  just  named  has 
more  intimately  reached  the  heart  of  the  people.  Than  Mr.  Yeats,  Ethna  Carbery,  while  not 
less  saturated  with  the  Gaelic  atmosphere,  possesses  a  simplicity  of  thought  and  diction  foreign  to 
the  most  subtle  of  contemporary  poets.  .  .  .  Her  earliest  as  her  latest  verse  has  the  quality  of 
song  and  the  vibration  of  poetry." 

Joaquin  Miller  says: — The  Four  Winds  of  Eirinn  gave  me  the  most  delightful  memories  of 
my  life.  The  music  of  it  lives  and  lingers  as  some  far  faint  song  of  the  minstrels  of  old  time, 
that  1  may  never  hear  again;  as  perfume  and  memory  blending  in  one;  and  indescribable.  It 
brought  me  the  atmosphere  of  a  diviner  age. 

Joyce  Kilmer  (New  York  Times) : — Ethna  Carbery  is  one  of  the  few  real  poets  of  the  last 
hundred  years. 

The  (London)  Daily  News — In  this  book  we  move  from  wonder  to  wonder.  It  is  natural 
magic  in  the  truest  sense  of  the  word.  No  less  remarkable  than  the  prodigality  of  fancy  is 
the  richness  and  variety  of  melody  wliich  animate  its  sounds.  The  music  is  everywhere  true, 
and  as  full  as  it  is  new.  One  marvels  at  the  spontaneousness  of  every  thought  and  every  word. 
With  as  little  effort,  or  premeditation,  as  the  birds  in  the  Land  of  Perpetual  Youth,  sang  this 
gifted  child  of  Irish  song. 

Leinster  Leader — It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  poetry  of  such  quality  should  at  once 
soar  on  deathless  wings  to   Fame. 

The  Globe — Ethna  Carbery  surpasses  all  other  poets  of  the  Celtic  school  in  the  heart 
quality  of  her  verse.  .  .  .  Hers  is  a  pure  white  passion  for  beauty,  such  as  is  revealed  by  the 
few  poets  of  the  world. 

Meath  Chronicle — She  was  one  of  the  noblest  daughters  Ireland  has  ever  claimed.  Her 
glowing  genius,  and  the  womanly  tenderness  of  her  poet-heart,  live  in  the  songs  she  has  left  us 
as  a  heritage. 

Aberdeen   Free   Press — The  most  striking  production   of   the   Irish   Literary   Revival. 

United  Irishman — She  was  herself  a  poem  incarnate;  tender  and  sweet,  and  true  and  pure, 
gracious  and  refined  as  one  of  her  Irish  princesses,  and  kindly  as  one  of  her  peasants.     God  gave 
her   grand,    rare   gifts,   and   she   dedicated   them   to   a   high,   holy    cause.      Her   life   was   all   too 
short,  but  her  works  will  live  after  her  for  all  time. 
Price  $1.50  (and  10c.  postage).    From  THE  IRISH  PUBLISHING  CO.,  Box  1300,  New  York  City. 

PROSE  WORKS  OF  ETHNA  CARBERY 
IN  THE  CELTIC  PAST,  Hero  Tales 
THE    PASSIONATE    HEARTS,    Love    Stories 
With,  cover  design,  in  three  colours,  by  "A.  E." 

Irish  Independent — Seldom,  if  ever,  has  the  most  potent  of  passions  which  stir  the  souls  and 
sway  the  destinies  of  mankind  been  painted  with  more  beauty  and  power. 

New  York  Times — They  are  full  of  the  beautiful  pathos  of  Irish  poetry,  the  magic  of 
Irish  music,  and  the  elusive  charm  of  Irish  folk-lore,  and  convey  the  atmosphere  of  sincerity, 
which  only  flows  from  a  pen  dipped  in  the  author's  own  heart. 

Cork  Sun — Prose  poems,  combining  the  melody  of  the  lyre>  the  dignity  of  the  epic,  and 
the  vivid  movement  of  the  drama. 

To-day — These  stories  throb  with  an  ardent,  passionate  love.  They  are  beautiful.  I 
cannot  write  any  better  of  them. 

New  York  Sun — Nothing  in  the  new  Irish  revival  is  more  Irish  than  these  books. 

Glasgow  Herald — Their  very  titles  are  instinct  with  a  vague  beauty.  They  come  with  a 
sense   of   revelation.  .  .  .  They   are   full   of  passion   and   joy    and   sadness. 

Morning  Advertiser — "The  Passionate  Hearts"  is  magically  appeaUng. 

Manchester  Guardian — Full  of  enthusiasm  and  exaltation. 

The   (Newark)    Daily  Advertiser — Full  of  joy   and   passion. 

Each  book  $1.50  (and  10c.  postage).     IRISH  PUB.  CO..  Box  1300,  New  York  City. 


714 


AN  HONOR-ROLL 

1  COULD  not  have  given  up  three  years  of  time,  and  Incurred  the 
very  heavy  cost  of  producing  this  volume,  but  for  the  big  aid  given 
me  by  the  special  supporters  whose  names  are  here  set  down.  Each 
of  them,  a  warm  lover  of  Ireland  and  Ireland's  story,  offered  with 
glad  readiness  to  sponsor  the  work,  and  generously  guaranteed  to 
take  a  large  number  of  copies  of  it. 

To  every  one  of  these  large-hearted  ones,  who  thus  made  the 
v/ork  possible,  I  here  record  my  deep  gratitude — and  this  in  a  very 
special  manner  applies  to  those  marked  **  whose  princely  gener- 
osity prompted  them  to  pay  in  advance  for  the  copies  which  they 
bespoke. 

To  all  of  the  book's  supporters  I  am  ever  thankful, 

Seumas  MacManus. 


••A  FEW  IRISHMEN  and  Irish-Americans  in  Bolivia   (per  Caspar  Nicolls,  Oruro). 


••BALLESTY,     PATRICIO,     Buenos    Aires, 
S.  A. 
BARRETT,  REV.  THOS,  H.,  LL.D..  Buf- 
falo 
BARRY,  REV.  M.  K.,  Caldwell,  Kan. 
•♦BARRY,  WM.  P.,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

BATTLE,  GEO.  GORDON,  New  York  City 
BOYLE,  RT.  REV.  H.  C,  Pittsburgh.  Pa. 
"BRADY,  REV.  D.  J.,  Elizabeth,  N.  J. 

BRADY,  REV.  FRANCIS  A.,  Philadelphia 
••BRADY,  NICHOLAS  F.,  New  York  City 

BRADY,  THOS.  F.,  San  Antonio,  Tex, 
••BRENNAN,    JOHN    (of    Savannah),    New 

York  City 
••BRENNAN,    MICHAEL,    San    Antonio    de 
Areco,  Argentina 
BRIAN  BORU  CLUB  (per  Daniel  Bacon). 

New   York  City 
BROSNAN,  REV.  MICHAEL,  St.  George's, 

N'fdland 
BROUGHAL.  REV.  DENIS  J.,  Philadelphia 
BROWN,  MRS.  DENIS,  Staunton,  Va. 
BROWNE,  J.  P.,  Saskatoon,  Sask. 
BROWNRIGG.  H.  W.,  St.  John's,  N'fdland 
BUTLER,  REV.  FRANCIS  J.,  Sommerville. 

Mass. 
CALLAGHAN,  REV.  JAS.  P.,  Chicago,  HL 
GALLERY,  JAS.  G..  Pittsburgh,  Pa. 
CALWELL,  ARTHUR  A.,  Melbourne 
••CAMPBELL,  RICHARD.  New  York  City 
CANEVIN,    RT.    REV.    F.    REGIS,    D.D., 

Pittsburgh.    Pa. 
CARMELITE    FATHERS    (per    Vy.    Rev. 
Peter  E.  Magennis),  New  York  City 


715 


CARNEY,   FRANCIS  J..   Boston,   Mass. 
CARROLL,     REV.     LAWRENCE    A.,     E. 

Pittsburgh,    Pa. 
CASEY,   REV.  JOS.   A.,  Chicago,   111. 
CASEY,  REV.  MICHAEL  J.,  St.  Paul 
CASHIN,      HON.      M.      P.,      St.      John's, 
N'fdland 
^•CAVANAGH,    REV.    WALTER    E.,    P.P., 

Almonte,    Canada 
**CHITTICK,     RT.     REV.    JAS,    J.,     Hyde 

Park,  Mass. 
•CITIZENS   OF  THE   IRISH    REPUBLIC 
(per  Matt  Butler,  Secy.),  New  York  City 
•CLANCY,  JNO.  J.,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 
COAKLEY,  DANIEL  H.,   Boston 
COGHLAN,   MSGR.   GERALD   P.,   Phila., 
Pa. 
♦COCKRAN,  BOURKE,  New  York  City 
COHALAN,  JUSTICE  DANIEL   F.,   New 

York  City 
COLLERAN,  J.  P.,  Youngstown,  O. 
COLLINS,    REV.    RICHARD,    San    Jose, 

Cal. 
COLLINS,    REV.    THOS.    H.,    Wheeling. 

W.  Va. 
CONLEY.   COLONEL  L.    D.,   New  York 

City 
CONNOLLY,  RT.  REV.  J.  N.,  N.  Y.  City 
COONEY.  REV.  THOS.,  Naugatuck,  Conn. 
COPPINGER,  REV.  JOS.   F.,  So.  Boston 
COTTER,  JAS.  E.,  Apalachicola,  Fla. 
•COYNE,  REV.  CHAS.  J.,  Pittsburgh 
•COYNE.  MARTIN.  Box  1306.  Jerome.  Ariz. 
CREAGH,  REV.  JNO.  T.,  Brookline 


7i6 


THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 


CREEGAN,  PATK.,  Condon,  Ore. 
CRIMMINS,  COLONEL  M.  L.,  New  York 

City 
CROKE,  REV.  ANDREW,  Chicago 
••CRONIN,  JNO.  ].,  Girard,  O. 

CROWLEY,   REV.   JNO.  T.,  Phila.,   Pa. 
CROWLEY,  REV.  TIMOTHY  E.,  St.  Paul 
CULLINANE,  REV.  P.  J.,  Detroit. 
••CUMMINS,     REV.     JNO.     F.,     Roslindale, 
Mass. 
CURLEY,  JAS.   M.,   Jamaica  Plains,   Mass. 
CURTIN,    REV.    CORNELIUS,    Fairview, 

Mont. 
CURTIN,    REV.    T.    A.,    Newton    Centre, 

Mass. 
DAWSON,  WM.  J.,  Elks  Club,  Detroit 
DEMPSEY,  VY.  REV.  M.  J.  P.,  Detroit 
DENNISON,   REV.  JNO.  J.,   Chicago 
DILLON,  REV.  GERALD,  Scobey,   Mont. 
DOHENY,   EDWD.   L.,  New  York   City 
DOHERTY,  NEIL  F.,  Boston 
DOLAN,  REV.  HENRY  A.,  Batavia,  N.  Y. 
DOLAN,   REV.   FRANCIS   X.,   D.D.,   Dor- 
chester, Mass. 
DONNELLY,   RT.   REV.  JOHN   E.,  Mon- 
treal 
DOODY,  REV.  DANIEL,  Utica,  N.  Y. 
•♦DOOLEY,  MICHAEL  F.,   Providence 
DOUGHERTY,  MISS  LIDA,  San  Patricio, 

Tex. 
DRAKE,  MRS.  E.  M.,  Regina,  Sask. 
••DRISCOLL,  DANIEL  J.,  Reading,  Pa. 
•♦DUFFY,     MISS     TERESA,     Ritz-Carlton, 
New  York  City 
DUVAL,  C.  L.,  New  York  City 
••DRYER,  A.  T.,  Sydney.  Aus. 

DWYER,   REV.   WM.  J.,   Gloucester,  Mass. 
EMMANUEL,  MOTHER  M.,  Mt.  St.  Mary, 

Newburgh,  N.  Y. 
EMMETT   KNIGHTS    (per  M.   J.    Walsh), 

Nome,  Alaska 
EMMETT    CLUB    (per   Thos.    P.    Reilly), 
Naugatuck,  Conn. 
••ERNSTMAN,  GEO.,  Oxnard,  CaL 

FARRAGHER,     MICHAEL     J.,     Youngs- 
town,  O. 
FARRELL,  JAS.  A.,  New  York   City 
••FAUGHNAN,  REV.  JNO.,  Pittsburgh,  Pa. 

FAY,  REV.  THOS.  P.  P.,  Ottawa 
••FEENEY  BROTHERS,  Buenos  Aires 

FITZGERALD,  E.,  Mayor  of  New  Haven 
••FITZPATRICK,  T.    B.,   Boston 

FLAHAVAN,  JER.,  Ansonia,  Conn. 
••FLANAGAN,  JAS.  P.,  Welch,  W.  Va. 
••FLANNERY,  REV.  EDMUND,  Santa  Lu- 
cia, Argentina 
FOGARTY,  REV.  PATK.  F.,  Phila.,  Pa. 
FOLEY,  RT.  REV.  MSGR.  WM.,  Chicago 
FORD,  PETER  J.,   Wilmington,  Del. 
FOYE.  F.  J..  Brown-sville,  Pa. 
FRANK,  JOHN,  Kendall,  Mont. 
GAHAN,  DR.  THOMAS,  Buenos  Aires 
•'GALLAGHER,  JNO.,  Youngstown,  G. 


GALLAGHER,    RT.    REV.    MICHAEL   J., 

Detroit,  Mich. 
GALLAGHER,   PATK.,   525   W.   124th  St., 
New  York  City 
••GALVIN,  JNO.,  Fort  RusseU,  Wyo. 
•*GANLY,    PADRAIC,   Buenos   Aires 

GANNON,   FRANK  S.,   New  York   City 
**GANNON,   PATK.,    Snohomish,   Wash. 

GARRITY,  THOS.  J.,  Parkersburg,  W.  Va. 
•♦GAUGHAN,  MR.  M.  J.,  McKeesport,  Pa. 
GAVAGAN,    JUSTICE    EDWD,    J.,    New 
York  City 
**de  GEARTY,  MRS.  M.  A.,  Buenos  Aires 
**GEARTY,    REV.    R.    J.,    San    Antonio    de 
Areco,  Argentina 
GERSIE,  MRS.  G.  L.,  Passaic,  N.  J. 
••GIBBONS,   JNO.    T.,    New   Orleans 
••GIBBS,  M.  P.,  K.  C,  St.  John's,  N'f'dland 
GILLEN,  REV.  THOS.  A.,  Pittsburgh 
GILSON,  JUDGE  JNO.   J.,  New   Haven 
GOODWIN,     BERNARD,     E.     Rochester, 

N.  Y. 
GORMLEY,  MISS  JANE  A.,  Providence 
GOUGH,  REV.  W.  P.,  Phila.,   Pa. 
••GOURLEY,  WM.  B.,  Paterson,  N.  J. 

GRAHAM,  JNO.,   Hotel  Statler,   Cleveland, 
O. 
••GREANEY,  REV.  JNO.  J.,  Woodlawn,  Pa. 
GREEN,  VERY  REV.  JAMES  F.,  O.S.A., 

Chicago 
GREENSIL,  REV.  JNO.  J.,  Phila.,  Pa. 
GRIFFIN,    VY.    REV.    EDWD.    P.,    Pitts- 
burgh 
GRIFFIN,  REV.  JOHN  F.,  Holyoke,  Mass. 
GRIMES,    RT.    REV.   JOHN,    D.D.,    Syra- 
cuse, N.  Y. 
GUERIN,  JUSTICE  EDMUND,  Montreal 
GUILFOILE,    FRANCIS    P.,    Waterbury, 

Conn. 
GUILFOILE,  JOS.,  Waterbury,  Conn. 
••HAGERTY,  MISS  E.  F.,  Greenwich,  N.  Y. 
HANNA,     MOST     REV.     ARCHBISHOP 

EDW.  J.,  D.D.,  San  Francisco,  Cal. 
HANNIGAN,  REV.  JOS.  J.,  Phila.,  Pa. 
••HARE,  J.  S.  M.,  Galesburg,  111. 

HARRIGAN.  JNO.  F.,  Worcester,  Mass. 

HAYNES,    MISS    LIZZIE,    Sydney,    Aus. 
HEALY,  MAJOR  M.  F.,  New  York  City 
••HEALY,  RICHARD,  Worcester,  Mass. 

HEARN,  JNO.  J.,  Westfield,  Mass. 
••HEAVEY,  J.   J.,   K.S.G.,   Valparaiso,   Chile 
HEENEY,  REV.  BERNARD  C,  Chicago 
HENNESSY,  JNO.  A.,  Providence,  R.  I. 
HENRY,   JAS.   A.,    Linwood,    Pa. 
HEWLETT,   REV.  ERAS.  A.,  Detroit 
HIBERNIAN    SOCIETY    (per    W.    Ryan, 

President),  Baltimore,  Md. 
HIBERNIAN  SOCIETY   (per  Judge  Peter 

W.  Meldrim),  Savannah,  Ga. 
HICKEY,  RT.  REV.  WM.  A.,  Providence, 

R.  I. 
••HILLIARD,  MRS.  F.  T.,  Detroit,  Mich, 


AN  HONOR-ROLL 


717 


••HOGAN,  GEO.,  Norfolk,  Va. 

HURLEY.  RT.  REV,  MONS.   EDWD.   F., 
Boston,  Mass. 
•*HURLEY,  M.  A.,   PocatcUo,   Idaho 

HYNES,  REV.   BERNARD  J.,   Pittsburgh, 
Pa. 

HYNES,  REV.  JAS.  A.,  Chicago,   111. 

IRISH     AMERICAN     ASSN.     (per     Patk. 
Mulrooney),  Wilmington,  Del. 

IRVINE.    TOM     (of    Derry     Walls),     Ed- 
monton, Alta. 

ISENBKRG,    MRS.    HANS,    Lihue    Kauai, 
Hawaiian  Islands 

JENNINGS,     REV.     DR.    GILBERT     P., 
Cleveland,  O. 


JOY.   EDWARD,   Syracuse,   N.   Y. 

KANE.   MISS  KATE  L..  Rochester,  N.  Y. 

KEANE.   DENNIS,  New   Haven 
♦•KEANE.  RT.  REV.  FRANCIS,  Pittsburgh 

KEEGAN,      DR.      EDWD.,      St.      John's, 
N'fdland 

KEEGAN,  PETER  C,  Van  Buren,  Me. 
••KEELEY.     MISS     MARGARET,     Euclid, 
Minn. 

KEENAN,  JAS.  E.,  Owen  Sound,  Ont. 
♦♦KENDALL,  MRS.  S.  N.,  Madison,  Wis. 
••KENNY,   REV.   DR.,   Youngstown,   O. 
••KENNEDY,  DANIEL,  Elniira,  N.  Y. 

KENNEDY.  JAMES,  Teller,  Alaska 
♦•KENNEDY.  P.  M.,  Youngstown,   O. 

KIELY,   MICHAEL  E.,  Waterbury,   Conn. 

KIERNAN,  JNO..  SR.,   New  York  City 

KILLEEN,  JNO.   P..  Pittsburgh 
KIRLIN,  VY.  REV.  JOS.  L.  J..  Phila.,  Pa. 
KIRWIN,   VY.   REV.  JAS.   M.,   Galveston, 

Tex. 
LOMASNEY,  MARTIN  M.,  Boston,  Mass. 
LUDDY,  TIM.,   Waterbury,   Conn. 
LYNCH,   MICHAEL,    Newburgh,    N.   Y. 
LYNCH,  REV.  WM.  J.,  Chicago 
LYONS.   REV.   GEO.    A..   So.    Boston 

MAHON,   REV.   THOS.    F.,   Cleveland 

MALLOY,  REV.  FRANCIS  A..  Cleveland 

MALONEY,    THOS.    J.     (Lorillard     Co.). 
New  York  City 

MANN.   MRS.    WM.,   Bayonne,   N.  J. 

MANNIX,   THOS.,    Portland,    Ore. 

MARTIN,   REV.    DR.,    Youngstown,   O. 

MARTIN,   GEO.  J.,  W.   Newton,   Mass. 
••MEAD,  MAYOR  JNO.  C,  Ansonia,  Conn. 

MEARS,   REV.   E.,   Youngstown,  O. 

MEATHE,   REV.   MATTHEW,  Detroit 

MEENAN,  P.  J.,  Pittsburgh,  Pa. 

MEHEGAN.  MR.  J.  J.,   Kinston,   N.   C. 

MEIGHEN.  THOS.  J.,  Preston,  Minn. 
••MINOGUE,    REV.    THOS.     F.,    Anselmo, 
Neb. 

MOGAN,   PATK.,   Fairbanks,   Fox,  Alaska 

MONAHAN,  REV.   IAS.   C,  Phila.,  Pa. 


MOONEY,  J.  P.,  Lakewood,  O. 
••MOONEY,  RT.  REV.  JOS.   F.,  New  York 
City 

••MORGAN.   WM.,   Fray   Bcntos.  Uruguay 
••MORIARTY,  JNO.   E.,   Waterbury,  Conn. 

MORONEY,  W.  J..   Dallas,  Tex. 

MORRISON,    MRS.    THOS.    F.,    Chanutc, 
Kas. 

MULLINS,  WM..  Flint,  Mich, 
MURPHY,   REV.   DENIS  N.,   Wilmerding, 
Pa. 
••MURPHY,  EDWD.,  Rosario,  Argentina 
MURPHY,  RT,  REV.  EUGENE  M.,  Phila.. 
Pa. 
••MURPHY.   REV.   GEO.   P.,    Cleveland 

MURPHY,  REV.  JAS.  J.,  Brighton,  Mass. 
••McALENNEY,     REV.     P,     F.,     Hartford, 
Conn. 
McBRIDE,  MICHAEL,  San  Diego,  Cal. 
McCABE,   VY.   REV,   FRANCIS   J.,    Pitts- 
burgh 
McCABE,  REV.  F,  X..  De  Paul  University, 

Chicago 
McCABE,   REV.  JNO.  J..   Detroit 
••McCAFFERTY,  JAS.  A.,   Brooklyn.   N.  Y. 

McCaffrey.    HUGH.    Peru.    Ind. 
••McCANN,    SISTER    MARY   AGNES,   Mt, 

St.  Joseph,  O. 
♦•McCANNA,  C.  ROY.  Burlington,  Wis. 

McCarthy,  J.  J.,  Ogallala,  Neb. 
••McCONEGLY,   JNO.    D.,    Homestead.    Pa. 
Mccormick,  j.  S.,  San  Francisco,  Cal. 
McCORT,  RT.  REV.  JOHN  JOS.,  Altoona, 

Pa. 
McCRAN,  SENATOR  THOS.  F.,  Paterson. 

N.  J. 
McDERMOTT,  REV.  I.,  Jenkintown,  Pa. 
••McDERMOTT,  RT.  REV.   C,  A,,  McKees- 
port.  Pa. 
McDonnell,  RT.  rev.   patk.  j.,  Chi- 
cago 
McDONOUGH,    STEPHEN    J.,    Baltimore. 

Md. 
McEVOY,    FRANK   P.,    Waterbury,    Conn. 
McFADDEN,  rev.   MICHAEL  A..  Swan- 
ton,  O. 
••MoFARLAND.  STEPHEN.  New  York  City 
••McGANN.   MICHAEL  F.,  New  Haven 

McGARRY,  REV.  JNO.  J.,  Boston,  Mass. 
••McGARRITY,  JOS.,  Phila.,  Pa. 
McGARRY.  JNO.    A..    Chicago.   111. 
McGILLEN,  P..  New  York  City 
••McGINNISS,    BRIG.    GEN.    J.    R.,    Cleve- 
land 
McGRATH,     rev.     CHRISTOPHER     C, 

Somerville,  Mass. 
McGRATH,    HON.    JNO.    F.,    Waterbury, 

Conn. 
McGUIRE,   FRANK    (Radow   &   McGuirc), 

New  York  City 
McKAY,  REV.  DR.  ALEX.  B.,  Phila.,  Pa. 


7i8 


THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRISH  RACE 


McLaughlin,  DENIS,  Brooklyn 
McMAHON,  JNO.  J.,  Cleveland 
McMANUS,  J.  A.,  Gretna,  Va. 
McMANUS,   REV.    MICHAEL   T.,   Brook- 
line 
McMULLEN,  HUGH,   Cumberland,  Md. 
McNAMARA,  S.  J..  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 
McQUEENY,  MISS  MARY  F.,  New  York 

City 
McWHORTER,  MRS.  MARY  F.,  Chicago 
••MacARTAIN,     PADRAIC,     Sterling    City, 

Cal. 
••MacGUIRE.  DR.  CONSTANTINE  J.,  SR., 

New  York  City 
MacNAMARA,    THOS.,    JR.,    Youngstown, 

O. 
NAGLE,  JNO.  H.,  Hall  of  Records,   New 

York  City 
NAGLE,   PATK.   S.,   Kingfisher,   Okla. 
••NALLY,    EDWD.   J.    (Marconi   Co.),    New 

York  City 
NASH,  REV.  JOHN  J.,  D.D.,  Buffalo 
NOONAN,  CHARLES,  New  York  City 
OWEN    ROE    CLUB     (per    Wm.    Flood), 

New  York  City 
••OWENS,  REV.  EUGENE,  Buchtel,  O. 
••O'BOYLE,    PATRICIO,    Rosario   de   Santa 

Fe,  Argentina 
O'BRADY,  J  AS.,  Arrecifes,  Argentina 
O'BRIEN,   C.  D.,  St.  Paul.  Minn. 
O'BRIEN,   REV.   DANIEL.   Buffalo 

O'BRIEN,  THOS.,  Albany,  N.  Y. 
O'CONNELL,  JOS.   F.,  Boston 
O'CONNELL,  REV.  P.  J.,  Cleveland 

••O'CONNELL,     HIS     EMINENCE     CAR- 
DINAL WM.,  Boston 
O'CONNELL,   WM.  J.,   Des   Moines,   la. 
O'CONNOR,  REV.  JAS.  J..  Pittsburgh 
O'CONNOR,  REV.  JEREMIAH,  St.  Paul 
O'CONNOR,  REV.  P.  J.,  Pittsburgh 
O'DONNELL,    MR.    PATK.    J.,    Cleveland 

••O'DONNELL,  REV.  R..  Alderbrook,  N.  Y. 

O'DWYER,  REV.  C,  O.M.I.,  International 
Falls,  Minn. 

O'FARRELL,  C.  M.   (Carson,  Pirrie,  Scott 
&  Co.),  Chicago 

O'FARRELL,  SANTIAGO,  Buenos  Aires 

O'FLAHERTY,   JAS.    (Home    News),    The 
Bronx 
••O'GALLAGHER,  FRANCIS  B.,  Chicago 

O'GARA,   REV.   THOS.    F.,   Chicago,  111. 

O'KANE.  FRANCIS.  Phila.,  Pa. 

O'KEEFE,  P.  J.,  Chicago 

O'KEEFFE,  REV.   D.  J.,   Daytona,   Fla. 
••O'LEARY.  MISS  MARY  THERESA,  Los 

Angeles 
••O'NEILL,   FRANCIS,  Chicago 

O'NEILL,   REV.  PATK.   F.,  Phila.,   Pa. 

O'REILLY,  VY.   REV.  M.  J.,  CM.,  Syd- 
ney, Aus. 

O'REILLY,  REV.  P.  J.,  Springfield,  111. 


O'ROURKE,  REV.  P.  J.,  St.  Loui»,  Mo. 
O'SHEA,  REV.  TIMOTHY  E..  Chicago 
O'SLATTERY,  REV.  J.    P.,   New   Orleans 
O'SULLIVAN,    REV.     M.,    St.    Bridget's, 

Chicago 
O'TOOLE,  MISS  HELEN,  Wilmington,  Del. 
PADRAIC  PEARSE  BRANCH,  F.  O.  I.  F. 

(per  Miss  M.  L.  Brosnahan),  Washington, 

D.  C. 
PAULIST  FATHERS    (per  Rev.  Thos.    F. 

Burke),  Chicago 
PHELAN,   SENATOR  JAMES   D.,    Wash- 
ington, D.  C. 
POWER,  RT.  REV.  MSGR.  JAS.  W.,  New 

York  City 
••POWERS,   REV.   WM.   F.,   Chelsea,   Mass. 
PRICE.   RICHARD,  Jackson,   Mich. 
PURCELL,    REV.    FRANCIS    A.,    LL.D.. 

Chicago 
QUINN,  JNO.,   Houtzdale,   Pa. 
RAFFERTY,  REV.  MICHAEL  J.,  Phila. 
REA,  REV.  THOS.  R.,  McKeesport,  Pa. 
REEVES,  JAMES,   New   York   City. 
REGAN,  JNO.,  New  Bedford,  Mass. 
REILLY,   THOS.   L.,   Meriden,   Conn. 
••REYNOLDS,  REV.  JNO.,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 
••RING,   REV.  THOS.   G.,   Euclid,  O. 

ROCHE,     JNO.     L.,     International     Falls, 

Minn. 
ROWLEY.  THOS.,  Canton.  lU. 

RYAN,  JOHN  D.,  New  York  City 
RYAN,  JUDGE  O'NEILL,  St.  Louis,  Mo. 
RYAN,   REV.  WM.  A.,  Dorchester,  Mass. 
SARSFIELD    CLUB    (per    M.    O'Connor), 
New  York  City 
••SCANNELL,   REV.   PATK.   J.,   Stoughton, 

Mass. 
♦•SHEA,  JNO.,  Lawrence,  Mass. 

SHERIDAN,     REV.     JNO.     J.,     Syracuse, 
N.  Y. 
••SHIELDS,     MRS.     HENRY     GRATTAN. 

Flemington,  N.  J. 
••SULLIVAN.  JOHN,  New  Bedford,  Mass. 

SCANLAN,  JNO.  N.,  Harvard  Club,  New 

York  City 
SCANLAN,  REV.  P.  J.,  Chicago 
SCHMIDT,  DR.   O.  L.,  Chicago 
SERVITE    FATHERS     (per     Rev.     Philip 

Burke),  Chicago 
SEXTON,  REV.  FRANCIS  J.,  Jersey  City, 

N.J. 
SHANNON,  REV.  THOS.   V.,   Chicago 
SHEEHAN,  REV.  FRANCIS  J.,  Phila.,  Pa. 
••SHEEHAN,     REV.     MICH.t\EL,     Harper's 

Ferry,  la. 
SHEEHAN,    MISS    MARY,    Lenora    Lake. 

Sask.,  Canada  ^^'^ 

SHEWBRIDGE,  REV.  P.  F.,  Chicago 
SISTERS   OF  THE   GOOD   SHEPHERD  "ce. 

Providence 

Mich. 


AN  HONOR-ROLL 


719 


SLATTERY,  REV.  LAWRENCE  \V..  New- 
ton,  Mass. 
Sl^ITH.     REV.     JNO.     TALBOT,     Uobb's 
Ferry,  N.  Y. 
••SMITH,  REV.  JOS.  F.,  Cleveland 
STAPLETON,    REV.    JAS..    Detroit 
SUPPLE,    RT.    REV.    MONS.    PATK.    J.. 
Boston 
••TAAFFE,   M.   (E.   Henninp,  Inc.),  Chicago, 

111. 
••THORN,   ADOLPH   HERMANN,   Milford. 
Mass. 
TORMEY,    WALTER,   Brookfield,   Mo. 
TONER.    REV.    JOS..    Pi<tsl)ureh 
TWOMEY,     REV.     MORTTMER     E.,     So. 
Boston 
••USHER.   TIMOTEO,    Santa    Elena,   Argen- 
tina 
VAHEY,  JAS.  H.  (Vahey  &  Casson),  Bos- 
ton 


VAN    ANTWERP,    RT.    REV.    FRANCIS 

J.,   U.D.,  Detroit 
WALSH,   REV.   DANIEL,  BuflFalo,   N.  Y. 
WALSH,    FRANK    P.,    New    York    City 
WALSH,    REV.   JNO.    J.,   Phila.,    Pa. 
WALSH,  SENATOR  THOS.  J.,  Montana 
nVALL,    RT.    REV.   MSCIR.    FRANCIS   H., 

New  York  City 
WHALEN,    WM.    J.     (of    P.    11.     Coney), 

'I'opeka,  Kan. 
WHEELWRIGHT,     MRS.     C,     Rochester. 

N.  Y. 
WHKT.AN,   REV.   JNO.,   Maggiolo,   Argen 

liiia 
WHITE,  THOS..  Koppel,  Pa. 
WHOLEY,   JAMES,    Providence 
•WOLF  TONE  CLUB   (per  Michael  B.  Mc- 

Greal),  New  Haven 
WRENN,  REV.  FRANCIS,  Akron,  Iowa 


G.AUGHAN,  RE\'.  J.  IL,  Minncaoolis    Minn. 
HUNT,   REV.  BERNARD  A.,  Moorland.  la. 
HUNT,   MARTIN   J.,    Dedham,   Mass. 
•OGAKA,   REV.  THOS.   F..   Chicago,    111. 
O'SHAUGIINESSY,   LORD,   Montreal. 
SIIEEHAX,    MISS    MARY,    Lcnora    Lake, 
Sask..  Canada. 

TEEVINS,  JOHN  J..  Boston,  Mass. 


POWER.    MISS    MARGARET, 
Newfoundland. 


St.     Tnlin's, 


DUE  DATE 
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